Featuring

Paquito D'Rivera and Friends

on July 29th at 8p.m. and
The Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke
on August 5th at 8p.m.   

Katonah, New York-The Caramoor Festival continues its Extreme Chamber Music series with Paquito D'Rivera and Friends on July 29^th at 8p.m. The series will conclude with The Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke, erhu, on August 5^th at 8p.m.  

Paquito D'Rivera and Friends explore Cuban music as well as Brahms's Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano in A minor. The program focuses on D'Rivera as a composer in his Gran Danzon flute concerto. D'Rivera returns to Caramoor after last season's sold-out concert, performing with Aristides Rivas, cello; Alon Yavnai, piano; Marco Granados, flute and Rolando Morales, percussion. Not to disappoint his ardent "chamber jazz" followers, he promises to bring his clarinet and sax for a set of Cuban favorites.

The Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke, closes the series in a unique program that mixes Eastern and Western music. The Quartet, comprised of Weigang Li, violin; Yi-Wen Jiang, violin; Honggang Li, viola; Nicholas Tzavaras, cello, joined by Xu Ke on the erhu (an ancient Chinese fiddle, ancestor of the violin) to perform Chen Yi's Fiddle Suite. Ms. Chen, born in China, and now one of America's leading composer's, draws on her Chinese musical heritage to create her unique musical voice. To put Chen Yi's work in context, the Quartet will also perform arrangements of Chinese folk songs. Ravel's ravishing String Quartet pays homage to the composer's fascination with the exotic     far-east.

Artists

Paquito D'Rivera was a child prodigy on the clarinet and the saxophone and performed with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra at a very early age.  He founded the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna and Irakere, whose explosive mixture of jazz, rock, classical, and traditional Cuban music was a groundbreaking addition to the Cuban musical milieu. D'Rivera's discography includes over 30 solo albums in Jazz, Bebop and Latin music. His contributions to classical music include solo performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, and with Brooklyn Philharmonic, the London Royal Symphony, and the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to his career as an instrumentalist, D'Rivera has rapidly gained a reputation as an accomplished composer. His works often reveal his versatility and widespread influences, which span everything from Afro-Cuban and dance hall, to influences encountered in his many travels, and those from his classical origins.

Aristides Rivas is the principal cellist of the Los Llanos Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Waco Symphony Orchestra and an active solo performer in Venezuela.

Alon Yavnai, has performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall and the Berklee Performance Center. He founded the Orpheus Jazz Trio and won The Great American Jazz Piano Competition in 1996. 

Marco Granados is a Grammy-nominated flutist who has toured with his group, Un Mundo Ensemble, since 1999. He is also a member of the acclaimed chamber trio, Triangulo.

Rolando Morales co-founded the popular band Passion and Grace in 1991 and has recently released his latest CD, Rolando, Y Que?! 

The Shanghai Quartet, hailed as a "foursome of uncommon refinement and musical distinction," will be joined by virtuoso erhu-player Xu Ke in an intriguing mixed program of Eastern and Western music.  Originally formed in Shanghai, this versatile ensemble is known for its passionate musicality, astounding technique, and multicultural innovations. Since its founding at The Shanghai Conservatory in 1983, the Quartet (Weigang Li, violin; Yi-Wen Jiang, violin; Honggang Li, viola; Nicholas Tzavaras, cello) has amassed a long list of performance collaborators and established a distinguished teaching record. They have been seen on-stage with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, David Soyer, Eugenia Zukerman, Sharon Isbin, Ruth Laredo, and Arnold Steinhardt. They are currently the Quartet-in-Residence at Montclair State University and are in their 13^th year of residency at the University of Richmond. In addition, they serve as resident guest professors at the Shanghai Conservatory in China.

Xu Ke was the principle erhu player of the China National Traditional Orchestra in 1983.  His solo debut performance in 1987 prompted the media to dub him a "genius erhu player."   Since then, he has performed as a soloist with the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has received praise as a composer as well as a player and has developed new erhu techniques

EXTREME CHAMBER MUSIC

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July 29                          Paquito D'Rivera Trio and Friends

Friday, 8p.m.               Extreme Chamber Music IV

Spanish Courtyard

Tickets: $35, $25           

Paquito D'Rivera, clarinet

Aristides Rivas, cello

Alon Yavnai, piano

Marco Granados, flute

Rolando Morales, percussion

                                    Brahms             Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano in A minor, Op. 114

                                    D'Rivera          Gran Danzon For Flute, Piano, and Percussion

August 5                       Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke

Friday, 8p.m.                 Extreme Chamber Music V

Spanish Courtyard

Tickets: $35, $25                  

Weigang Li, violin
Yi-Wen Jiang, violin
Honggang Li, viola
Nicholas Tzavaras, cello

                                     Xu Ke, erhu

                        Traditional(arr. Yi-Wen Jiang)            Selections from Chinasong

                        Hua Yanjun (Abing)      Reflections of the Moon Waters for erhu solo

                        Liu Tianhua                       Birds in a Desolate Mountain for erhu solo

                        Chen Yi                              Fiddle Suite for Huqin and String Quartet

                        Ravel                                     String Quartet

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The series also included Worlds Beyond on June 30^th, Music From Moab-The Creation of the World on July 8^th and The New York Festival of Song in Dance Date With Cuba on July 15^th.

Chamber Music at Caramoor is underwritten, in part, by the Ernst Stiefel Chamber Music Initiative.

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 the International Music Festival of today.  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. 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 shops, 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, 18th-century, and Eastern art objects - furniture, tapestries, sculpture, paintings, fabrics, porcelain and jade. There are entire rooms that were imported from European palaces and villas, twenty of which are open to the public.  On Thursdays and Fridays, Afternoon Tea is served in the Summer Dining Room, which overlooks the Spanish Courtyard.

A special exhibition, "If These Walls Could Talk:  17^th, 18^th, and 19^th Century Wall Decorations at Caramoor," will be on view in the House Museum from May 14 through December 2005.  Caramoor's gardens are also well worth the visit.  Nine unique perennial gardens, including a Sense Circle for the visually handicapped, a Butterfly Garden, and a Medieval Mount, may be seen on a guided tour or on one's own.

House Museum
Guided tours of the House Museum are provided from Wednesday through Sunday, 1:00-4:00 p.m., with the last tour at 3:00 p.m.  On Saturdays during the Festival, tours are given from 1:00-5:00 p.m., with the last tour at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $9 (children 16 and under free).  Admission includes the special exhibition, "If These Walls Could Talk."

Getting to Caramoor
Caramoor is easy to get to by car or mass transportation.  From Manhattan, take the Caramoor Caravan and ride comfortably in a luxurious, air-conditioned coach.  Round trip service is $21 and is available for all Saturday and Sunday performances during the festival. The Caravan departs from the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Upper West Side and East Side locations. Call the Box Office (914-232-1252) for further information and reservations.  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.  By car: (West Side 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 junction of Girdle Ridge Road. Follow the signs to Caramoor.  (Detailed directions:  914-232-5035, press 2, or online at www.caramoor.org).