CARAMOOR INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL
LAUNCHES EXTREME CHAMBER MUSIC
Featuring
Worlds Beyond
Music from Moab
The New York Festival of Song
The Paquito D'Rivera Trio
Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke

Katonah, New York- Extreme Chamber Music, an innovative new series, opens June 30th with Worlds Beyond at 7:30 p.m. In this, its 60th anniversary season, Caramoor presents a broad range of ensembles, from festival favorites to this unique new trio. In keeping with Caramoor's history, these programs look to the future while paying tribute to the past. 

Michael Barrett, Chief Executive and General Director of Caramoor said, "For these concerts, most conventional notions of chamber music still apply. There will be one musician per part, without a conductor; the musicians will rehearse on their own, negotiating the final interpretation and performance with one another. What makes them 'Extreme' relates to repertoire and program concept. These programs will not be 'your father's chamber music.' They may stretch your notion of what chamber music is."

 Worlds Beyond (Daniel Schnyder, composer and saxophone; David Taylor, bass trombone and Kenny Drew Jr., piano) is a trio that crosses traditional borders. On June 30th, it will launch the Extreme Chamber Music series. The trio inhabits a unique universe of expression combining classical music, philosophy, jazz, cutting-edge experimentation and whimsy. Their program includes music by Daniel Schnyder, Kurt Weill and George Gershwin.

Music from Moab - The Creation of the World, on July 8th. Offers a close look at the early 20th century French fascination with primitivism.  The program ranges from the jazz-inspired Creation, by Darius Milhaud, to the mythological mysticism of Debussy's Faun, and the raw power of Stravinsky's Rite, all in composer transcriptions performed by 14 musicians from the Moab Music Festival. Artists include Elizabeth Mann, flute; Eric Thomas, clarinet and sax; Larisa Gelman, bassoon; Steven Burns, trumpet; Cenovia Cummins and Juliette Kang, violin; Leslie Tomkins, viola; Tom Kraines, cello; John Feeney, bass; Adriana Zabala, mezzo-soprano; Michael Boriskin and Michael Barrett, piano.

The series continues on July 15th when The New York Festival of Song returns to Caramoor in Dance Date With Cuba. The program will tour Cuba's complex music with its combination of burning passion and drawling ease. Songs by Ernesto Lecuona, Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes, Eliseo Grenet, Jorge Anckermann, and others will be performed. Artists include Vivica Genaux, mezzo soprano; Monique McDonald, soprano; Jeffrey Picon, tenor; and Steven Blier and Michael Barrett, pianists.

Paquito D'Rivera and Friends continue to explore Cuban music on July 29th. The program focuses on Mr. 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 and Alon Yavnai, piano. Guest artists include Marco Granados, flute and Rolando Morales, percussion. Not to disappoint his ardent followers, he promises to bring his clarinet and sax for a set of Cuban favorites.

The series closes on August 5th with The Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke, erhu, 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 (a Chinese fiddle) 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, which pays homage to the composer's fascination with the exotic far-east, closes the program.

Artists

Worlds Beyond is as unconventional as the name suggests. Piano, saxophone and bass trombone? Extreme chamber musical bedfellows, indeed, but in the expert hands of composer/ saxophonist Daniel Schnyder, trombonist David Taylor, and classical/jazz pianist Kenny Drew Jr., this trio navigates a wonderful cross section of familiar repertoire in an altogether new way. The trio has performed at the centennial Bach Festival in Leipzig and the JVC Jazz Festival.

The Moab Music Festival was founded in 1992 by Michael Barrett and Leslie Tomkins, professional musicians based in New York who have a love for the red rock country of southeastern Utah. Since its inception, the Festival has remained true to its original mission: to marry world class performances of music with the spectacular landscape of the Utah canyonlands region and to bring musical opportunities to the Moab community, particularly to its children. While classical chamber music remains the mainstay of the Festival, other types of music - traditional folk music, jazz, vocal music, and the music of living composers-are also part of the repertoire.
Over the course of the Festival's history, close to 150 professional, world-class musicians of outstanding caliber have performed.

The New York Festival of Song brings a special energy to the once-faded form of the song recital, now re-imagined as a vibrantly entertaining theater experience meticulously researched and engagingly narrated by its two artistic directors, Michael Barrett and Steven Blier.  Blier and Barrett's innovative, thematic programs present a broad repertoire of art songs, concert works, and theater pieces. In a single evening, concerts may range from Brahms to the Beatles, or may take the audience on a tour of exotic vocal terrain from Russian art song to Argentinean tango. NYFOS also supports and builds the American song repertoire by performing and commissioning new works and exploring seldom-heard music from the country's rich musical heritage.

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.

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 13th year of residency at the University of Richmond. In addition, they serve as resident guest professors at the Shanghai Conservatory in China.

EXTREME CHAMBER MUSIC

June 30   Worlds Beyond
Thursday, 7:30 pm Extreme Chamber Music I
Spanish Courtyard 
Daniel Schnyder, saxophone
   David Taylor, bass trombone
   Kenny Drew Jr., piano

Daniel Schnyder Trio For Soprano Saxophone, Bass Trombone       and Piano
   Daniel Schnyder  Soprano Saxophone and Piano Sonata
   Daniel Schnyder  Worlds Beyond
   Kurt Weill  Suite From The Three Penny Opera
   Daniel Schnyder  Sonata for Bass Trombone and Piano
   George Gershwin Song Suite

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July 8   Music From Moab  -- The Creation of the World
Friday, 8:00 pm Extreme Chamber Music II
Spanish Courtyard 
Elizabeth Mann, flute
Eric Thomas, clarinet
Steven Burns, trumpet
Cenovia Cummins, violin
Juliette Kang, violins
Leslie Tomkins, viola
Tom Kraines, cello
John Feeney, bass
Michael Barrett, piano
Michael Boriskin, piano

  Milhaud  La creation du monde (The Creation of the World)
  Stravinsky Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)
 Debussy Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faun (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)
  Grassi  From Trois Poèmes Bouddhiques (Three Buddhist Poems)
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July 15   New York Festival of Song -- Dance Date with Cuba
Friday, 8:00 pm  Extreme Chamber Music III
Spanish Courtyard     
Monique McDonald, soprano
   Vivica Genaux, mezzo-soprano
   Jeffrey Picon, tenor
   Michael Barrett and Steven Blier, piano
   TBD, clarinet
   TBD, cello
   TBD, percussion

Songs by Ernesto Lecuona, Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes, Eliseo Grenet, Jorge Anckermann, and others.
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July 29   Paquito D'Rivera Trio and Friends
Friday, 8:00 pm  Extreme Chamber Music IV
Spanish Courtyard 
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
   Additional works TBD
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August 5  Shanghai Quartet with Xu Ke
Friday, 8:00 pm  Extreme Chamber Music V
Spanish Courtyard        
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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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:  17th, 18th, and 19th Century Wall Decorations at Caramoor," will be on view in the House Museum from May 14 through December 2005.  There will be a Preview Party Benefit and Silent Auction on May 13, 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).

Tickets may be ordered by calling the Box Office at 914-232-1252 or online at www.caramoor.org.