For Immediate Release
Contact: Cohn Dutcher Associates
Lois Cohn, 917.339.7187, lcohn@cohndutcher.com
Dan Dutcher, 917.339.7157, ddutcher@cohndutcher.com
Laura Malick, 917.339.7183, lmalick.com
David Mayhew, 203.533.5621

Caramoor launches first Fall Festival on October 2, 2009

CARAMOOR DEBUT OF
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC AND ALAN GILBERT
Alan Gilbert to conduct
Guest Soloist Pianist Emanuel Ax
All-Beethoven Program:  Piano Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 7

CARAMOOR CAVALCADE FOR FAMILIES

JAZZ GREAT
CHICK COREA
IN A RARE SOLO CONCERT

SUMI JO
IN RECITAL

Katonah, New York - Michael Barrett, General Director of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, has announced that the New York Philharmonic will make its Caramoor Debut on Saturday, October 2, 2009 at 8:00pm, led by Alan Gilbert.  Mr. Gilbert, who will be in his inaugural season as the New York Philharmonic's Music Director, will lead the Orchestra and legendary pianist Emanuel Ax in an all-Beethoven program in the Venetian Theater:  Piano Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 7.  The concert at Caramoor is a highlight of the first weeks of Alan Gilbert's inaugural season as the 25th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, which begins in September 2009.

Caramoor's Fall Festival continues on Saturday afternoon, October 3, with three consecutive concerts in three different locations and all appropriate for family audiences.  Beginning at 1:00pm in the Spanish Courtyard the hilarious Polygraph Lounge performs their original material on dozens of instruments.  The afternoon continues at 2:30pm with Fun with Words and Music on the lawn at the Tapestry Hedge followed at 4:00pm with chamber music in the Sunken Garden featuring Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp.  On Saturday evening at 8:00pm jazz giant Chick Correa will perform in a rare solo appearance in the Venetian Theater.  The internationally acclaimed opera diva, Sumi Jo, will bring the Festival to a vibrant close in the Music Room of the historic Rosen House on Sunday afternoon, October 4, in recital with Will Crutchfield, Caramoor's Director of Opera, accompanying on piano.

"I am delighted to announce a stellar line-up of international artists for our first Caramoor Fall Festival beginning with a welcome and long-overdue Caramoor debut of the New York Philharmonic, one of the finest symphony orchestras in the world," said Michael Barrett.  "We are particularly honored that Alan Gilbert has scheduled this performance as one of the earliest events in his tenure as the Philharmonic's new Music Director.  This new Fall Festival also features the brilliant soprano, Sumi Jo, in her thrilling return to Caramoor, and one of the most profoundly influential jazz pianists of all time, Chick Corea.  The opportunity for families to enjoy music throughout Caramoor's gardens on a Saturday afternoon, is a natural extension of our annual summertime Caramoor International Music Festival and comes at a time when the weather is still pleasant and our magnificent gardens are beginning their colorful autumn season.  As with our summer Festival, these three days offer concert-going opportunities for all ages and for audiences with diverse musical interests.  The final event of the Fall Festival, in Caramoor's indoor venue, the intimate Music Room, opens the annual fall series at Caramoor."

"Conducting the inaugural concert at Caramoor's Fall Festival will be a highlight of the first weeks of my tenure at the New York Philharmonic," said Alan Gilbert, who will become the Orchestra's Music Director in September 2009.  "I look forward to extending the Orchestra's reach beyond our home at Avery Fisher Hall, to connect with people throughout New York City and the region, so it is an honor to lead the Philharmonic's first-ever performance at Caramoor.  The beauty of early autumn in the Hudson Valley will be a perfect backdrop for these Beethoven masterpieces.

"We all fell in love with Sumi Jo during her Caramoor appearances in the 2005 and 2006 Caramoor International Music Festivals," said Will Crutchfield, who conducted her in the Bel Canto at Caramoor presentations of I Puritani and La Sonnambula.  "It will be a rare treat for audiences to hear her in recital in the intimate Music Room of the Rosen House."

About the Artists - October 2 at 8:00pm

Emanuel Ax, piano
Emanuel Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activities.  Each season Mr. Ax's distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and adding to his acclaimed discography.  One of the most popular and respected pianists in the world, he started his piano career in Warsaw when he was just seven years old.  He was the recipient of the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 1974 and the coveted Avery Fisher Prize in 1979.  Numerous Grammy® Awards further attest to his achievements.  His exquisite lyricism and brilliant technique allow him to tackle all parts of the repertoire, from Mozart to today's music.  In recent seasons as guest artist with the New York Philharmonic, he has premiered John Adams's Century Rolls, Christopher Rouse's Seeing, and Bright Sheng's Red Silk Dance.

Alan Gilbert, conductor
In June 2007 Alan Gilbert was named Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, beginning in the 2009–2010 season, the only native New Yorker to hold the post.  In the same season he will become the first to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that will include coaching, conducting, and performance master classes.  Mr. Gilbert was chief conductor and artistic advisor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 to 2008, and was subsequently named conductor laureate.  He has been principal guest conductor of Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra (NDRSO) since 2004.  Mr. Gilbert made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2001 as the Diamond American Conductor, and has returned to conduct the Orchestra numerous times, including during the acclaimed Philharmonic Festival:  Charles Ives-An American Original in Context in 2004.  In June 2004 the Orchestra announced that he was one of three conductors who would be engaged to lead multiple weeks per season, leading to a series of programs that included the March 2008 World Premiere of Marc Neikrug's Quintessence: Symphony No. 2, a New York Philharmonic Commission. In the 2008-09 season Mr. Gilbert's activities with the Philharmonic included leading the November 14, 2008, Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall as part of the citywide festival, Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, in collaboration with Carnegie Hall.  Also as part of that celebration the Philharmonic presented Mr. Gilbert with the Juilliard Orchestra in a special concert on November 24, 2008, featuring Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, Kaddish.  In May 2009 Mr. Gilbert will conduct a program that includes the World Premiere of Peter Lieberson's The World in Flower, a New York Philharmonic Commission.  He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut on October 13, 2008, conducting John Adams's Dr. Atomic.  His recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

The New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, founded in 1842 by a group of local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, is by far the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world.  It currently plays some 180 concerts a year, and on December 18, 2004, gave its 14,000th concert - a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world.  Lorin Maazel began his tenure as Music Director in September 2002, the latest in a distinguished line of 20th-Century musical giants that has included Kurt Masur (Music Director from 1991 to the summer of 2002; named Music Director Emeritus in 2002); Zubin Mehta (1978-91); Pierre Boulez (1971-77); and Leonard Bernstein, who was appointed Music Director in 1958 and given the lifetime title of Laureate Conductor in 1969.  In September 2009 Alan Gilbert will become the Orchestra's next Music Director.  Since its inception the Orchestra has championed the new music of its time, commissioning or premiering many important works, such as Dvoøák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3; Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F; and Copland's Connotations. The Philharmonic has also given the U.S. premieres of works such as Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 and Brahms's Symphony No. 4. This pioneering tradition has continued to the present day, with works of major contemporary composers regularly scheduled each season, including John Adams's Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy® Award-winning On the Transmigration of Souls; Stephen Hartke's Symphony No. 3; Augusta Read Thomas's Gathering Paradise, Emily Dickinson Settings for Soprano and Orchestra; and Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto.

About the Artist - October 3 at 8:00pm
Anthony Armando "Chick" Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1941.  He was taught piano at home as a four-year-old, and drums later as an eight-year-old. The adolescent Chick Corea played piano at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and area functions before his graduation from high school.  Accepted at Juilliard as a piano major, he remained two months. He left when he realized a conventional education was not for him.  During the sixties he joined the Mongo Santamaria's ensemble and the Willie Bobo combo and worked as a sideman for Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, and Stan Getz.  In 1968 Chick Corea was an accompanist for Sarah Vaughan when keyboardist Herbie Hancock called him.  Hancock was on his honeymoon and needed Corea to replace him for a Baltimore date with jazz's hottest star, Miles Davis.  The winner of numerous best keyboardist polls, multiple Grammy Awards, and an array of other honors, Mr. Corea's popularity soared as a solo artist, but he has also collaborated with various musicians from jazz, crossover, and classical fields, including Michael Brecker, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Eddie Gomez, Miroslav Vitous, violinist Ida Kavafian, and cellist Fred Sherry.  A workaholic who tours in a bus that once belonged to country star Merle Haggard, Chick Corea continues to perform and compose throughout each year entertaining dedicated fans and new audiences the world over.

About the Artists - October 4 at 4:00pm
Sumi Jo is considered one of the major coloratura sopranos of her generation.  After studying both voice and piano from a young age, she studied at the Accademia di Santa Cecelia in Rome, graduating with a concentration in keyboard as well as voice.  Over the next few years she took top voice competition prizes in several countries.  Her operatic debut came as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto in 1986, and two years later she performed in Un Ballo in Maschera.  Since then, has been ubiquitous, singing in major capitals on nearly every continent.  She has performed with many of the world's greatest conductors, regularly appears at the world's famous opera houses and recently released a crossover album of excerpts from musical theatre.  "...Jo delivers the coloratura goods, with almost super human ease; her singing technically is beyond criticism." (Opera News)

Will Crutchfield spent his teens as a vocal coach and rehearsal pianist, made his name as a writer and musicologist in the mid-1980s (becoming the youngest music critic in the history of The New York Times), and returned to his theater roots in the mid-1990s to conduct opera.  After initial conducting successes with productions in small companies and conservatories, Crutchfield was named to two positions:  Director of Opera for the Caramoor International Music Festival (1997-present) and Music Director of the Opera de Colombia in Bogota (1999-2005).  He has upcoming guest engagements in theaters in the U.S. and abroad and has been actively involved in training the next generation of singers, having served on the faculties of all three New York conservatories: The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and The New School of Music.

About Caramoor
Caramoor is the legacy of Walter and Lucie Rosen, who built their summer home - now known as the historic Rosen House at Caramoor - 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 Caramoor 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 public charity in 1946 to open Caramoor to the community.

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 where audiences are invited to come early, explore the beautiful grounds, take a tour of the Rosen House, visit the gift shop, enjoy a pre-concert picnic, and discover beautiful music in the relaxed settings of the Venetian Theater, Spanish Courtyard, Music Room of the Rosen House, and the magnificent gardens.  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

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

Tickets
Tickets for the New York Philharmonic on Friday, October 2 at 8:00pm are $45, $60, $75, $90 and $110.  Tickets for the afternoon Caramoor Cavalcade on Saturday, October 3 are $15 and tickets for the evening performance by Chick Corea are $15, $20, $35, $50 and $70.

All tickets may be purchased online at www.caramoor.org or by calling the Box Office at 914.252.1252.  Special arrangements may be made for groups of 16 or more.  Contact Lindsey Paro or Matt Scarella at 914.232.5035 ext. 256.

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

Credits                                                                                               

             Performances are made possible, in part, by         Performances are made possible with public
                      Arts Westchester, with funds from                funds from the New York State Council on
                       Westchester County Government                                the Arts, a state agency

The New York Philharmonic concert is made possible, in part, through the generous support of The William Petschek Family.

ALL PROGRAMS AND ARTISTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

# # # # #

Press Tickets:
Laura Malick
917.339.7183
lmalick@cohndutcher.com

CARAMOOR FALL FESTIVAL
_________________________________________________________________________________________

October 2                            The New York Philharmonic - Caramoor Debut
Friday, 8:00 pm                    Emanuel Ax, piano
Venetian Theater                 New York Philharmonic 
                                             Alan Gilbert, conductor and Music Director
 
                                            Beethoven     Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
                                            Beethoven     Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

             This concert is made possible, in part, through the generous support of The William Petschek Family.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

October 3                           Caramoor Cavalcade
Saturday                            1:00pm  Polygraph Lounge in Spanish Courtyard
All Afternoon                     2:30pm  Fun with Words and Music on the Tapestry Hedge lawn
                                           4:00pm  Chamber Music in the Sunken Garden

Saturday, 8:00 pm              An Evening with Chick Corea
Venetian Theater               Chick Corea, piano
______________________________________________________________________________

October 4                          Sumi Jo in Recital
Sunday,  4:00 pm              Sumi Jo, soprano
Music Room                      Will Crutchfield, piano
______________________________________________________________________________

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

Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah, New York.

# # # # #

ALL PROGRAMS AND ARTISTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Press Tickets:
Laura Malick
917.339.7183
lmalick@cohndutcher.com