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 INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL
Launches 63rd Summer Season
on June 21
Celebrating Americans in Paris
Featuring Alisa Weilerstein,
Igor Begelman, Jon Kimura Parker
and
the Orchestra of St. Luke's
Conducted by Michael Barrett
 Opening Night Includes Gala Benefit Celebration


Katonah, New York - Caramoor International Music Festival opens its seven-week 2008 summer festival on June 21st at 8:30 p.m. in the Venetian Theater.  Michael Barrett, Caramoor's Chief Executive and General Director, will lead the Orchestra of St. Luke's and guest artists Alisa Weilerstein, cello; Igor Begelman, clarinet;  and Jon Kimura Parker, piano, in Americans in Paris, an evening of works by composers who found creative inspiration in the City of Lights.  The program will feature Leonard Bernstein's Paris Waltz from Candide and Three Meditations from "Mass" for Cello and Orchestra, Gabriel Fauré's Élégie, Op. 24, Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto, and George Gershwin's Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra. 

"I'm particularly proud to present these three guest artists at our 2008 Opening Night," said Michael Barrett.  "Alisa Weilerstein and Igor Begelman were mentored through Caramoor's Rising Stars program.  They are now internationally-renowned soloists in their own right, bringing Caramoor's commitment to the cultivation of emerging talent full circle.  Jon Kimura Parker was associated with the Rising Stars program as a Distinguished Artist in 1999."

This concert opens the Caramoor International Music Festival's 63rd annual wide-ranging summer concert season which includes the renowned Bel Canto at Caramoor opera program; the acclaimed two-year Latin American Music Initiative, Sonidos Latinos; two world premieres commissioned by Caramoor; cabaret performance; recitals by many established and emerging musicians; and a three-day Jazz Festival.

Opening Night Non-Gala Tickets

Tickets for the Opening Night concert range from $32.50-$70.00 and may be ordered by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org.

Opening Night Gala

The Opening Night Gala on June 21 begins at 6:00 p.m. with cocktails in the Reception Tent and in the Italian Pavilion in Caramoor's magnificent gardens, followed by dinner at 7:00 p.m. in a tent on Friends' Field.  The 8:30 p.m. concert will be followed by dessert and dancing at "Club Caramoor."  The Opening Night Gala honorees are long-time Caramoor supporters and arts advocates Samuel and Judith Pisar of Manhattan.  Co-chairs are Patricia and Edward Falkenberg of Manhattan and Scarsdale, and Pamela and John Hervey of Katonah.  Opening Night is sponsored, in part, through the generous support of ReachCapital Management, LP.

Tickets are $600, $1,250 or $2,500 and tables of ten are available.  New this year are "Caramoor After Dark" tickets for $250 which include priority concert seating and access to "Club Caramoor."  A silent auction, including a trip to Paris, will be held throughout the evening.  For Gala information and reservations email events@caramoor.org or call 914.232.1492.

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

ARTISTS

Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett is Chief Executive and General Director of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, where he is responsible for year-round administration and programming, and for the Caramoor International Music Festival each summer.  In 2003, building on a career of twenty-five years of artistic programming and performing experience, Mr. Barrett assumed his position at Caramoor, where he leads the artistic mission of the organization.  In the last four seasons, Mr. Barrett has reaffirmed his reputation as an innovator.  He has enhanced and implemented programming for a wide variety of ambitious music rarely heard in a festival setting.  In 1988, he co-founded, with Steven Blier, the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), which presents a diversity of thematic song recitals in New York City and beyond and, in 1992, co-founded the Moab Music Festival (MMF) with his wife, violist Leslie Tomkins.  Mr. Barrett has been a guest conductor with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, Israel Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de France, among others.  He also has served as conductor, producer, and music director of numerous special projects, among them the world premiere of Volpone by John Musto, at Wolf Trap in 2004; Hopper's Wife by Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie at the Long Beach Opera; and, most recently, Lucrezia and Bastianello, a double bill of one-act comic operas by William Bolcom and John Musto at Carnegie Hall and Caramoor.

Igor Begelman
Winner of the year 2000 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a prize awarded to outstanding American artists, clarinetist Igor Begelman has appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bienne Symphony Orchestra, Odense Simfoniker, and the New Haven, Savannah, and Greenwich Symphonies.  He has also performed recitals in western and eastern Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Israel.  In addition to Caramoor, he has appeared at numerous festivals throughout the world, including Marlboro, Tucson, Tanglewood and Schleswig-Holstein.  Mr. Begelman was awarded top prizes at the First Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition in Denmark and the 53rd Geneva International Competition in Switzerland.

Jon Kimura Parker
Internationally acclaimed concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker?s career has taken him from Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House to Baffin Island and Zimbabwe.  A true Canadian ambassador of music, the Vancouver native has given two command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, special performances for the United States Supreme Court, and has performed for the Prime Ministers of Canada and Japan.  Mr. Parker has performed as guest soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Columbus Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and every major orchestra in Canada.  Jon Kimura Parker was a Distinguished Artist with the Caramoor Rising Stars in 1999.

Alisa Weilerstein
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein has performed with the nation's top orchestras, given recitals in music capitals throughout the U.S. and Europe, and regularly participates in prestigious international festivals, including past performances at Caramoor.  She is also dedicated to performing chamber music, having grown up in a family of musicians with whom she collaborated from an early age.  Alisa Weilerstein is continually engaged by orchestras across the U.S. and has performed as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, as well as major European orchestras.  She was the winner of the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Award, which she received at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany.  Alisa Weilerstein was a Caramoor Rising Star in 1999.

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 theater: 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, 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 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, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. with the last tour at 3:00 p.m.  On Saturdays, during the Festival, tours are given from 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m., with the last tour at 4:00 p.m.  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.

________________________________________________________________________

OPENING NIGHT

June 21                                 Gala Opening Night - Americans in Paris
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.              Orchestra of St. Luke's
Venetian Theater                 Alisa Weilerstein, cello
$70, $57.50                          Igor Begelman, clarinet
$45, $32.50                          Jon Kimura Parker, piano 
                  
                                             Bernstein              Paris Waltz from Candide
                                             Fauré                    Élégie, Op. 24
                                             Bernstein              Three Meditations from "Mass" for Cello and Orchestra
                                             Copland                 Clarinet Concerto
                                            Gershwin               Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra
________________________________________________________________________

TICKETS

Tickets may be ordered by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org.  (For Opening Night Gala tickets, including cocktail reception, dinner, concert, and post-concert dessert and dancing, email events@caramoor.org or call 914.232.1492.)

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:
Laura Malick
917.339.7183
lmalick@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.
 

Opening Night is sponsored, in part, through generous support
from ReachCapital Management, LP.