OSL's 2013 Caramoor Music Festival to Feature DON CARLOS, SHE LOVES ME & More

From June to August, Orchestra of St. Luke's presents its 34th summer season at the Caramoor Music Festival, taking place in the beautiful al fresco Venetian Theater at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York. The five-concert series offers something for every musical taste, with a Broadway musical, symphonic masterworks, elegant chamber music for unusual groupings, and a longtime tradition of OSL's Caramoor residencies-Bel Canto operas under the baton of Will Crutchfield.

A semi-staged performance of the hit 1960s Broadway musical She Loves Me opens the season June 22 and 23. In this hilarious and touching tale-the inspiration for the movie You've Got Mail-two feuding colleagues slowly come to realize that they are secret pen-pals. The production stars Alexandra Silber, Santino Fontana, Tony Award-winner John Cullum, and Montego Glover, with Ted Sperling as music and stage director.

July 14 brings conductor Peter Oundjian and pianist Yefim Bronfman to the Caramoor stage for one of the season's most anticipated concerts. With his characteristic mix of precision and warmth, Oundjian conducts three masterworks. Verdi's Overture to La forza del destino and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5are favorites of the symphonic repertoire and explore the idea of fate. In La forza del destino, a cruel set of circumstances leads to tragic deaths in one family over several years-each marked by Verdi's "fate" theme, which first appears in this Overture. Similarly, Tchaikovsky's notes on his fifth symphony suggest that the most prominent recurring musical theme throughout the work represents "complete resignation before Fate." In between these passionate works, Yefim Bronfman's "warmly romantic sentiment" (Chicago Tribune) is a perfect match for Beethoven's introspective Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, which is at the same time both expansive and reserved.

OSL's semi-staged opera productions with Caramoor's resident young vocal artists, Bel Canto, will this year feature two Verdi operasconducted by acclaimed Caramoor Opera Director Will Crutchfield. Both will be sung in their rarely-heard original French versionsas part of Caramoor's season-long "Verdi in Paris" theme. On July 6, OSL and Caramoor will stage Les Vêpres Siciliennes, which tells a remarkable story of revenge, patriotism, and family dynamics. In this opera, Verdi embraces not just the French language, but also French musical idioms in form, orchestration, and vocal writing. Cast members include fast-rising opera star Angela Meade, John Osborne, Marco Nisticò, and Burak Bilgili. The opera will be preceded by an afternoon of free events for ticketholders, including a lecture on French vocal music recordings, two recitals of vocal music inspired by the French opera style, and a pre-opera lecture.

Two weeks later on July 20, OSL and Caramoor present Verdi's popular Don Carlos, which sets an emotional tale of moral dilemmas during the time of the Spanish Inquisition to rich, profoundly beautiful music. With compelling characters and thought-provoking, heartbreaking, or awe-inspiring moments in every scene, the opera remains just as relatable to audiences today as it was centuries ago. The young cast includes Jennifer Check, Jennifer Larmore, Arnold Rutkowski, Stephen Powell, and Christophoros Stamboglis. The opera will be preceded by an afternoon of free events for ticketholders, including a lecture on the 1967 discovery of dozens of pages of lost Verdi music, a recital of Don Carlos excerpts that Verdi either cut or revised, a recital of Verdi works inspired by poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller, and a pre-opera lecture.

Bringing the Caramoor season to a close, on August 4, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble performs two works for uncommon instrumentations. Dohnányi's Sextet in C Major, for clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello, and piano features guest artist Natasha Paremski, "a young pianist of prodigious technique and striking stage presence" (The Washington Post). The style of the piece-playful, with sweeping harmonies-became a hallmark of 1940s film music. Beethoven's Septet in E-flat Major, for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, and double bass, balances virtuosic writing for each instrument with elegance and grace reminiscent of Mozart and Haydn.

OSL and Caramoor have a special history: After existing as St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble for five years, the ensemble grew into Orchestra of St. Luke's in 1979 and presented its first symphonic performances at Caramoor.

Caramoor is within easy reach of New York City: Katonah is an hour by car or train. Caramoor offers a luxury coach round-trip from Grand Central Station for most concerts. Please visit Caramoor.org for details.

New this season, members of 45below, OSL's young member program, can purchase half-price tickets to any of OSL's Caramoor concerts. Please visit 45below.org for details.