For Immediate Release
Contact: Cohn Dutcher Associates
 Lois Cohn, 917.339.7187, lcohn@cohndutcher.com
    Josh Marcum 917.339.7188, jmarcum@cohndutcher.com
David Mayhew, 203.533.5621, david@davidmayhew.net

2008 CARAMOOR INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

SONIDOS LATINOS
SUMMER 2008 PROGRAMS BEGIN SUNDAY, JUNE 29
with
From Spain to the New World
Vivica Genaux and Max Barros with
 the Orchestra of St. Luke's
led by Michael Barrett

 

Katonah, New York - The passion, flair, and influence of Iberian concert music in the New World is re-explored in From Spain to the New World - Sonidos Latinos I, a program of rarely-heard 20th-century masterpieces launching the 2008 Caramoor International Music Festival's continuing Latin American music initiative, Sonidos Latinos.  The Sunday afternoon performance on June 29 at 4:30pm in the Venetian Theater marks the return of a Caramoor favorite, mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, the 2007 winner of the New York City Opera's Christopher Keene Award.  Ms. Genaux will sing the original 1915 version of Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo.  The program also features pianist Max Barros introducing audiences to Brazilian composer Mozart Camargo Guarnieri's Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra.  Completing the program is Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas' striking homage to Spanish poet García Lorca, Homenaje a Federico García Lorca, with Michael Barrett and the Orchestra of St. Luke's.

According to Mr. Barrett, "Sonidos Latinos celebrates the variety and richness of Latin American music and its growing relevance, commensurate with the growing prominence and influence of Latin American culture in our society."  The initiative, now in its second year, is made possible by generous support from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.  In addition to events at Caramoor, the initiative also includes outreach events across Westchester County and radio broadcasts of performances at Caramoor.

Tickets for From Spain to the New World - Sonidos Latinos I are $17.50, $25.00, $32.50, and $40.00 and may be ordered by calling the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org.

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

SONIDOS LATINOS I ARTISTS

Vivica Genaux, mezzo-soprano
Vivica Genaux, 2007 winner of the New York City Opera's Christopher Keene Award, returns to Caramoor where she was first introduced to New York-area audiences in 1996 in Rossini's La Cenerentola, conducted by Will Crutchfield.  She continues to be praised for her extraordinary performances on the world's great musical stages, not only for the technical command and beauty of her distinctive voice, but also for her compelling character portrayals.  She is consistently hailed as one of today's foremost interpreters of the music of the Baroque and Bel Canto eras.  Opera News called her "the genuine article, a coloratura with a tone bright, forward and feminine."  This summer marks her eighth engagement at Caramoor.

Max Barros, piano
Max Barros was selected as Soloist of the Year in 1985 by the São Paulo Art Critics Association.  A dedicated champion of Brazilian music, he has premiered and recorded works by Brazil's most important composers and is the founder and president of Ponteio Publishing Inc., a company devoted to the preservation and dissemination of Brazilian music.  He has given the North American premiere of Ronaldo Miranda's Concertino for Piano and Strings.  Mr. Barros has also recorded the complete piano concerti of Gamargo Mozart Guarnieri with the Warsaw Philharmonic under the baton of Thomas Conlin for the Naxos label.

Michael Barrett, conductor
Michael Barrett is Chief Executive and General Director of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, where he is responsible for the administration and programming year-round and for the Caramoor International Music Festival each summer.  In 2003, building on a career of twenty-five years of programming and performing experience in the arts, Mr. Barrett took up this 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 or 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.  In 1992, he 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 variously 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.

Orchestra of St. Luke's
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 four-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.

SONIDOS LATINOS

Sonidos Latinos continues with Tango for the Family on July 6, Buenos Aires Now on July 13, Cuban Piano Summit and 50 Years of Bossa Nova on August 2, and the Michel Camilo Trio on August 3.

Sonidos Latinos, Caramoor's Latin American music initiative, is made possible by generous support from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

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 1946.

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 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, 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 an 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, 1:00pm-4:00pm with the last tour at 3:00pm.  On Saturdays, during the Festival, tours are given from 1:00pm-5:00pm, with the last tour at 4:00pm.  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 (five minutes away) is available.
 

2008 Caramoor International Music Festival
______________________________________________________________________

Sunday, June 29            From Spain to the New World - Sonidos Latinos I
4:30 pm                          Vivica Genaux, mezzo-soprano
Venetian Theater           Max Barros, piano
$40.00, $32.50               Orchestra of St. Luke?s
$25.00, $17.50               Michael Barrett, conductor

   Guarnieri         Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra
   Revueltas       Homenaje a Federico García Lorca
   De Falla          El Amor Brujo (original 1915 version)

______________________________________________________________________

TICKETS

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

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:
Josh Marcum
917.339.7188
jmarcum@cohndutcher.com

CREDITS

Sonidos Latinos, Caramoor's Latin American music initiative, is made possible by generous support from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

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.