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@cohndutcher.com
David Mayhew, 203.533.5621, david@davidmayhew.net

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts
Opens 64th International Music Festival With
Opening Night Gala

Saturday, June 27 at 6:00pm

Cocktails, dinner, dessert, dancing and
Opening Night concert featuring Susan Graham and
Orchestra of St. Luke's led by David Robertson

Katonah, New York - The Caramoor International Music Festival launches its summer season with a gala evening in a "garden of great music."  The 64th annual summer festival opens Saturday, June 27 in the Venetian Theater with David Robertson leading the Orchestra of St. Luke's with guest artists Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano and Ilya Poletaev, piano performing works by Mozart, Rossini, and Beethoven, including the most famous symphony of all time, Beethoven's Fifth, at 8:30pm.

The Gala begins promptly at 6:00pm with cocktails and dinner, provided by Great Performances®, and continues with the concert in the Venetian Theater. After the concert, guests will stay for the "After Dark" party which includes dessert and dancing with the evening's artists and features the hot Timba music of a special guest band.

The Opening Night Gala honorees are Sarah and Howard Solomon. Gala Co-chairs are Effie and Robert Fribourg, and Mr. and Mrs. Donald M. Kendall, Sr.

Tickets to the Gala evening are $2,500 (Vice Chair), $1,250 (Committee Member) with limited seating at $600 (Devotee) and include pre-concert cocktails and dinner; seating at the Opening Night concert; Caramoor After Dark; evening's program recognition; listing commensurate with giving level.

Tables of ten are also available. Tickets are available for "After Dark" at $250, which includes the concert and post-concert reception. For gala information and reservations please contact events@caramoor.org or call Christine Bosco at 914.232.1492.

General admission tickets for the concert only are also available through Caramoor's Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org.

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, dubbed in a Gramophone cover story as "America's favorite mezzo," has appeared with The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, the Salzburg Festival, and most of the world's leading conductors and orchestras. Orchestral engagements have included performances of Berlioz's cantata La Mort de Cléopâtre with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson, with the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel, and with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle. She received rave reviews as Iphigénie in The Metropolitan Opera's 2007 performances of Gluck's Iphigénie en Taurid with Placido Domingo. In 2004 Ms. Graham received Musical America's Vocalist of the Year Award.

Ilya Poletaev leads a multi-faceted career as a classically trained pianist as well as a performer on early keyboards.  As a solo pianist, he has appeared with the Toronto and Hartford symphony orchestras; as a chamber musician, he has performed alongside such distinguished artists as Donald Weilerstein, Gary Hoffmann, and Boris Berman.  In addition to Caramoor, where he was a member of the Rising Stars program, he has also appears at such festivals as the Sarasota, Norfolk, the Banff Festival of the Arts, the Orford Arts Center, Yellow Barn Music Festival, and Stratford Summer Music Festival.  As a harpsichordist, he has been the recipient of Early Music America scholarship and has been heard at the Vancouver Early Music, Amherst Early music festivals, as well as at Dartington Summer Music in the U.K.

American conductor David Robertson is highly acclaimed worldwide for his impeccable musicianship, exhilarating presence, and innovative programming, which continue to inspire and enthrall audiences and fellow musicians alike. Hailed by the New Yorker "as a brilliant musician and a master programmer" Robertson is equally at home in both orchestral and operatic realms. Mr. Robertson's combination of passion and intellect has established him as a leading interpreter of both the standard classical repertoire as well as less traditional works of our time.  2009 finds Mr. Robertson in his fourth season as Music Director of the 129-year-old Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, while continuing as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a post to which he was appointed in 2005.  In addition to his commitments with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, he continues to guest conduct nationally and internationally including appearances in the U.S. with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as the San Francisco Symphony and Seattle Symphony.  Internationally, Mr. Robertson appears with the Sydney Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival.

The Orchestra of St. Luke's is America's foremost and most versatile chamber orchestra. Formed at the Caramoor International Music Festival in the summer of 1979, the Orchestra evolved from the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble (1974), with Ensemble members forming the Orchestra's artistic core as principal players. The Ensemble and the Orchestra still co-exist today, and the collaborative chamber aesthetic that is the St. Luke's hallmark has resulted in consistent critical acclaim, both for mastery of a diverse repertoire spanning the Baroque to the contemporary, and for vibrant music-making of the highest order.  In addition to serving each summer as the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival, the Orchestra of St. Luke's participates in such Carnegie Hall events as three-concert series in the Isaac Stern Auditorium, the Choral Workshop and Carnegie Family Concerts, in addition to numerous artistic collaborations with other New York City cultural organizations.

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.

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.
 

JUNE 27 OPENING NIGHT GALA
 Venetian Theater
 with
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Ilya Poletaev, piano
Orchestra of St. Luke's, David Robertson conductor

                                                                    6:00pm Cocktails & Dinner
                                                       8:30pm Concert in the Venetian Theater

Rossini  Overture to La gazza ladra
Mozart  Ch'io mi scordi di te...Non temer, amato bene, K. 505
Mozart  Deh per questo istante solo and Parto, parto ma tub en mio, from La Clemenza di Tito
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

10:30pm "After Dark," post-concert Dessert & Dancing Reception with the Artists

For more information email events@caramoor.org or call 914-232-1492

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

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