For Immediate Release
Contact: Cohn Dutcher Associates
 Lois Cohn, 917.339.7187, lcohn@cohndutcher.com
    Josh Marcum, 917.339.7188, jmarcum@cohndutcher.com
David Mayhew, 203.533.5621, david@davidmayhew.net

2008 CARAMOOR INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

PRESENTS

GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK CELEBRATION
WITH MUSIC BY THE
JOHN PIZZARELLI QUARTET
Friday, July 4, 8:00pm

"We can say we're as lucky to listen to [Pizzarelli] as Nat Cole
fans were in the years before he became a legend."
The Village Voice

Katonah, New York - Multi-faceted guitarist, singer, and entertainer, John Pizzarelli returns to Caramoor for an evening of classic standards, beautiful ballads, and hot jazz on Friday, July 4 at 8:00 pm in the Venetian Theater.  The program is entitled The Great American Songbook Celebration.  Using greats like Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra and the songs of writers like Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen as touchstones, Pizzarelli is among the prime contemporary interpreters of the great American songbook, bringing to the tradition his signature style and brilliant guitar playing.

Tickets for The Great American Songbook Celebration are $25.00, $35.00, $47.50, $60.00, and $75.00 and may be ordered by calling the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org.

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, New York.

Born on April 6, 1960, in Paterson, New Jersey, John Pizzarelli has been playing guitar since age six, following in the tradition of his father, guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli.  Hanging out with his father, John Pizzarelli was exposed to all the great jazz music of the era, from Erroll Garner and Les Paul to Django Reinhardt.  He began playing with his father at age 20, before going out on his own.

Mr. Pizzarelli has recorded as a bandleader for RCA, Chesky, Stash and Novus, and in 1997 appeared in the Broadway musical Dream, a revue of Johnny Mercer songs.  In addition to a celebrated career as a bandleader and solo performer, Mr. Pizzarelli is the host of "Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli," a nationally syndicated radio program co-hosted with his wife, Broadway star Jessica Molaskey.  He has been a special guest on recordings for major pop names such as James Taylor, Natalie Cole, and Tom Wopat, as well as leading jazz artists like Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Frigo, Buddy DeFranco, Harry Allen and, of course, Bucky Pizzarelli.  He was recently featured opposite Donna Summer, Jon Secada and Roberta Flack on the Grammy Award winning CD, Songs From The Neighborhood: The Music of Mr. Rogers.

John Pizzarelli has performed numerous times on the country's most popular national television shows such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "The Late Show with David Letterman," "Live With Regis & Kelly," "The Tony Danza Show," "The CBS Early Show," Fox News Channel and Jerry Lewis's Labor Day Telethon.  He continues to set the standard for stylish modern jazz while touring throughout the United States, Europe and Japan, performing classic pop, jazz and swing.

ABOUT CARAMOOR

Caramoor is the legacy of Walter and Lucie Rosen, who built the great house and filled it with their treasures.  Walter Rosen was the master planner for the Caramoor estate, bringing to reality his dream of creating a place to entertain friends from around the world.  Their musical evenings were the seeds of today's International Music Festival.  Realizing the pleasure their friends took in the beauty of Caramoor - the house with its art collection, the gardens, and the musical programs on summer evenings - the Rosens established a Foundation to open Caramoor to the public in perpetuity.

Lucie Rosen survived her husband by seventeen years. During those years, she expanded the Music Festival: the Spanish Courtyard was used as a setting for musical events, as it is today, and, under her direction, the great stage of the Venetian Theater was built.

Caramoor is a Garden of Great Music. "We invite people to come early, explore our beautiful grounds, take a tour of the House Museum, visit our gift shop, enjoy a pre-concert picnic, and discover beautiful music in a relaxed setting," advises Paul Rosenblum, Caramoor's Managing Director. With its unique heritage, Caramoor remains a place where magical summer days and nights are shared and enjoyed by thousands. "Caramoor is the loveliest Festival of them all." - The New York Times

Art and Gardens
Concerts take place in two outdoor theaters: the large, acoustically superb Venetian Theater and the more intimate, romantic Spanish Courtyard.  Caramoor is more than just music - there is beauty at every turn.  The House Museum, the former summer home of Caramoor's founders, Lucie and Walter Rosen, contains a vast collection of Renaissance, Eighteenth Century, and Eastern art objects, including furniture, tapestries, sculpture, paintings, textiles, porcelain, and jade in twenty rooms that are open to the public.  There are entire rooms that were imported from European palaces and villas.  In fact, Caramoor is one of just five mansions in the country that incorporate entire rooms into its collection.  On Thursdays and Fridays, afternoon tea is served in the Summer Dining Room, overlooking the charming Spanish Courtyard.

Caramoor's gardens are also well worth the visit and include nine unique perennial gardens.  Among them are a Sense Circle for the visually handicapped, a Butterfly Garden, Tapestry Hedge, and an Iris and Peony Garden, which may be enjoyed on one's own or seen on a guided tour.

Enjoy a Picnic at Caramoor
Extend your Caramoor experience by arriving for concerts early and enjoying a picnic amidst the beautiful gardens.  Bring your own picnic or pre-order from Great Performances® by calling 212.337.6055.

House Museum
Guided tours of the House Museum are provided from Wednesday through Sunday, 1:00pm-4:00pm with the last tour at 3:00pm.  On Saturdays, during the Festival, tours are given from 1:00pm-5:00pm, with the last tour at 4:00pm.  Tickets are $10 (children 16 and under free).

GETTING TO CARAMOOR

Caramoor is easy to get to by car and mass transportation. 

By car from the West Side of Manhattan and New Jersey, take the Saw Mill River Parkway north to Katonah.  Exit at Route 35/Cross River.  Turn right and, at the first traffic light, make a right turn onto Route 22 south. Travel 1.9 miles to the junction of Girdle Ridge Road. Follow the signs to Caramoor.  (For detailed directions call 914.232.5035 and press 2, or online at www.caramoor.org).  Parking at Caramoor is free.

By train, take the Harlem Division of the Metro-North Railroad to Katonah, New York. Taxi service from the station to Caramoor (5 minutes away) is available.
 

2008 Caramoor International Music Festival
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Friday, July 4                 Great American Songbook Celebration
8:00pm                           The John Pizzarelli Quartet
Venetian Theater           John Pizzarelli, guitar
$75.00, $60.00,              Larry Fuller, piano
$47.50, $35.00               Martin Pizzarelli, bass
$25.00                            Tony Tedesco, drums
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TICKETS

Tickets may be ordered by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org. 

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, New York.

ALL PROGRAMS AND ARTISTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

# # #

Press Tickets:
Josh Marcum
917.339.7188
jmarcum@cohndutcher.com

CREDITS

Performances are made possible, in part, by Westchester Arts Council, with funds from Westchester County Government.

Performances are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.