FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Whitney Holden for Cohn Dutcher Associates
917.339.7188, wholden@cohndutcher.com
October 5, 2009

CARAMOOR'S 2009 FALL AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONCERTS
IN THE MUSIC ROOM OF THE ROSEN HOUSE BEGIN
NOVEMBER 1 EXPLORING THE MUSIC OF BRAHMS

AT THE HEART OF BRAHMS series launches with lecture by Will Crutchfield on October 25

Indoor performances take place in the intimate
Music Room of the historic Rosen House at Caramoor

Katonah, NY - Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts follows its first-ever Fall Festival with the 2009 Fall Indoors, a series of afternoon and evening concerts beginning Sunday, November 1st.

"Our Fall and Spring concerts in the Music Room, which I think is the most elegant performance space in the metropolitan area, features high-caliber musicians of distinction in a welcoming and intimate setting," notes Michael Barrett, Caramoor's Chief Executive and General Director. "This autumn's Great Artists in the Music Room performances explore the chamber music of Johannes Brahms, a giant of romanticism who was both a traditionalist and an innovator. Caramoor Classics features our own Rising Stars, a program now in its 18th year, as well as our 2009-10 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, the Jasper String Quartet."
 
Brahms By Those Who Knew Him
A lecture on Sunday, October 25 at 4:00pm by the Director of Opera and the Bel Canto at Caramoor program, Will Crutchfield, is a prelude to the Great Artists in the Music Room series. In Brahms By Those Who Knew Him, Mr. Crutchfield will share his insights in Brahms and his world through exploring the composer's formative personal relationships.

Great Artists in the Music Room - At the Heart of Brahms
The autumn Great Artists in the Music Room series of three concerts begins on Sunday, November 1st at 4:00pm with a Caramoor favorite, Trio Solisti - Maria Bachmann, violin; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; Jon Klibonoff, piano - and guest artists David Jolley, horn, and Hsin-Yun Huang, viola.  This afternoon of powerful chamber music positioning the piano at the center of the action features three works by Brahms: the enduring Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87; the exuberant Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 40; and the composer's famous Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (Gypsy Rondo).

The series continues with The Sonatas on Saturday, November 14th at 8:00pm featuring Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Teng Li, viola; Zuill Bailey, cello; Igor Begelman, clarinet; and pianists Rieko Aizawa, Ken Noda, Awadagin Pratt and Amy Yang.  The program features four masterful sonatas by Brahams:  Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 (Regen); Viola Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120; Cello Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99; and Clarinet Sonata No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 120.

The 2009 Great Artists in the Music Room series concludes on Saturday, November 21st at 8:00pm with a recital by the acclaimed Caramoor Virtuosi with Edward Arron, Artistic Director/cello; and guest artists Kate Lindsey, mezzo-soprano; Leslie Tomkins, viola; and Michael Barrett, piano.  Bringing the At the Heart of Brahms feast to a close is a program illuminating the depth and breadth of Brahms' chamber music:  Scherzo in C minor from F-A-E Sonata for Violin and Piano; Two Songs for Alto, Viola, and Piano, Op. 91; Trio in A minor for Clarinet, Piano, and Cello, Op. 114; and Quintet in G Major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello, Op. 111.

Caramoor Classics
The first two fall Caramoor Classics concerts feature Caramoor's acclaimed Rising Stars. Now in its 18th year, the Rising Stars program is led Artistic Director Pamela Frank, who searches for young musicians with the talent, personality, and musicality to benefit most fully from this program and places them in ensembles for an intense week of rehearsals and coaching sessions, culminating in two public performances. As the years have passed, alumni of the Rising Stars program have begun to establish themselves in the world of classical music performance, building reputations and making connections with audiences around the world.

This year, Pamela Frank is assisted by Distinguished Artists Arnold Steinhardt, viola, and Timothy Eddy, cello.  The Rising Stars are Tessa Lark, Laura Lutzke, David McCarroll and Arnaud Sussman, violins; Emily Deans and Dimitri Murrath, violas; and Narek Hakhnazaryan and Yu-Wen Wang, cellos.

The Rising Stars concerts, featuring two different programs of works by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven, will take place on Saturday, November 7th at 8:00pm and Sunday, November 8th at 4:00pm.

The final 2009 Caramoor Classics concert will feature the Jasper String Quartet, Caramoor's 2009-10 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence on Sunday, November 22nd at 4:00pm. They will launch their residency with three masterful quartets from Eastern Europe: Smetana's Quartet No. 1 (From My Life), Janacek's Quartet No. 1 (Kreutzer Sonata) and Ligeti's Quartet No. 1 (Metamorphoses Nocturnes). The Quartet members are J Freivogel and Sae Niwa, violins; Sam Quintal, viola; and Rachel Henderson, cello.

Caramoor Classics performances are less formal than other concerts in the Music Room, include comments from the artists about the programs, and are appropriate for families including children ages 8 and up.

Student Strings educational program
As Caramoor's 2009-10 Ernst Stiefel Quartet-in-Residence, the Jasper String Quartet - winners of the 2008 Grand Prizes at the Plowman Chamber Music and Coleman Competitions, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the Silver Medal at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition - also participates in Caramoor's "Student Strings" program of in-school educational programs and musical "clinics" at Caramoor for selected students.  Participating students and their families are invited to attend the Quartet's concerts in the Music Room at reduced rates.
 
Spring 2010
Caramoor Indoors concerts will continue in Spring 2010 with three Great Artists in the Music Room performances on March 28, April 10 and April 17 and two Caramoor Classics events on March 13 and March 20.

Tickets
Tickets for the Great Artists in the Music Room concerts are available through four different subscription series: Sextet (all six concerts, Fall 2009 and Spring 2010, and October 25 lecture) at $192, Quintet (any five concerts and the lecture) at $165, Quartet (any four concerts and the lecture) $136, and Trio (any  three concerts and the lecture) $105.  Individual tickets for the concerts are available at $40 and the lecture at $15.

Three different subscription series are available for the Caramoor Classics concerts:  Quintet (all five concerts) $100, Quartet (any four concerts) $85, Trio (any three concerts) $67.50. Individual tickets for the concerts are $25.

For tickets to all concerts as well as the lecture visit www.caramoor.org or call the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252. 

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 artworks spanning the centuries from B.C.E. to the 20th-century, the gardens, and the musical programs on summer evenings – in 1946 the Rosens established a public charity to open Caramoor to the community.

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

###

The Fall 2009 Indoors season is made possible, in part, through generous funding from Floy and Amos Kaminski.

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