For Immediate Release
Contact: Cohn Dutcher Associates
Lois Cohn, 917-339-7187 lcohn@cohndutcher.com
Dan Dutcher , 917-339-7157 ddutcher@cohndutcher.com
Howli Ledbetter, 917-339-7188 hledbetter@cohndutcher.com

CARAMOOR PRESENTS
Three Bel Canto Spectaculars

Ewa Podles makes Caramoor debut in her signature role
 Sumi Jo returns in another Bellini masterpiece

 Bellini's I Puritani July 8
Sumi Jo, Barry Banks, Weston Hurt, Daniel Mobbs

 "Mozart Bel Canto" July 16
Sumi Jo, Maria Zifchak, Steven Tharp, Daniel Mobbs

Rossini's Tancredi July 22
Ewa Podles, Georgia Jarman, Yeghishe Manucharyan, Daniel Mobbs

 With The Orchestra of St. Luke's led by Will Crutchfield

New York - Under the leadership of Director of Opera Will Crutchfield, Caramoor's renowned opera program, Bel Canto at Caramoor, will present three major events during the 2006 Festival. Following her brilliant debut in last year's La Sonnambula, coloratura superstar Sumi Jo will return for Bellini's final masterpiece, I Puritani, on July 8, and the world-renowned Polish contralto Ewa Podles makes her Caramoor debut in a role she has carried to triumph at La Scala and throughout Europe, Rossini's Tancredi, on July 22. An anniversary celebration of Mozart on July 16 will focus on his fascination with bel canto singing.

Other Caramoor debuts will be made by the bel canto tenor Barry Banks, known to New York audiences for his performances in Rossini's Ermione last year at New York City Opera and his appearances this year at the Met in Don Pasquale and baritone Weston Hurt, a recent Marilyn Horne Foundation winner who's Dandini in La Cenerentola was a highlight of last year's Wolf Trap Opera.

"The whole cast and orchestra fell in love with Sumi last year," said Crutchfield, "and so did the sold-out audience. We are thrilled that she could return for Puritani. And when I conducted Tancredi with Ewa Podles in Toronto, I knew immediately that this stunning interpretation had to be heard by Caramoor's opera public." He added, "I thought we should showcase an aspect of Mozart that will be fresh for audiences even in a year with so many Mozart celebrations: his lifelong love affair with Italian bel canto."

Returning artists include soprano Georgia Jarman, star of last year's La Traviata; tenors Yeghishe Manucharyan and Steven Tharp, who performed in Donizetti's Elisabeth and Conti's rare Don Quixote in past festivals; Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Maria Zifchak, whose Handelian fireworks were heard at Caramoor in 2002; and bass-baritone Daniel Mobbs, whose regular Caramoor appearances since 2000 have been the launching pad for a major career in opera houses throughout the country. 

Dubbed "essential" for its exploration of operatic rarities by The New York Times, Bel Canto at Caramoor brings the world's foremost singers and the Orchestra of St. Luke's together with the rising stars of one of America's most significant operatic training programs. The Caramoor Bel Canto Soloists, a select group of 16 emerging artists, forms the ensemble compant for the Festival season. Besides joining the guest soloists in the productions, they present short concerts before each opera, offering further musical perspectives on the theme of each. All Bel Canto at Caramoor presentations are sung in their original languages with English supertitles, in Caramoor's acoustically superb outdoor Venetian Theater.

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

About the Operas

Bellini's I Puritani - July 8
Bellini's last and musically richest opera, I Puritani is a feast of glorious singing written for the four greatest stars of the bel canto era. Just months before his untimely death, Bellini sent Parisian audiences into raptures with the endless, tender melodies and buoyant virtuosity of I Puritani di Scozia, where love triumphs over politics and madness.

Written for the legendary quartet of Giulia Grisi, Giambattista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache, I Puritani has remained a touchstone for the most Romantic version of "bel canto" virtuosity.  Richard Wagner said its melodies were "more beautiful than one's dreams." Audiences were immediately smitten with the work; both of London's opera houses played it for the better part of a season, and Franz Liszt was only one of the instrumental virtuosos who quickly based solos on it (in Paris and London alone, more than a hundred arrangements from I Puritani were in print within two years).  The great singers of each new generation were measured in its roles, and a century later young Maria Callas established herself as a bel canto soprano when she learned it in three days while singing a production of Die Walküre in Florence. 

The opera is based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott, and tells a classic tale of conflicting loyalties and political strife, but is rescued from impending tragedy at the end. (Caramoor's production will include the joyous final aria that is omitted from most printed scores of the opera.)  But more than in any other Bellini opera, sheer richness of musical expression is to prominent in this work:  as has been widely noted, the somewhat improbable events of its story are less important than the emotion they inspire in its characters, and Bellini's distillation of that emotion into pure song.

Musically, I Puritani also shows the cross-fertilization of influence between Bellini and Frederic Chopin.  Chopin had begun incorporating elements of Bellini's music into his own as soon as he arrived in Paris and found the Italian composer's songs published there.  When Bellini came to town a few years later the two immediately became friends, and the influence became mutual.  The tenor in I Puritani announces himself with a perfect Chopin Nocturne; the soprano then follows with a Polonaise; and throughout the opera one hears a Chopinesque harmonic exploration that was quite new in Bellini, a fresh development cut short by the composer's tragically early death shortly after the Puritani premiere.

Since Sumi Jo first sang I Puritani, its great aria "Qui la voce" has been a regular highlight of her worldwide concerts and best-selling recordings.  The Caramoor performance, however, will be her first U.S. appearance in the complete role.

Cast includes: Sumi Jo (Elvira), Barry Banks (Arturo), Weston Hurt (Riccardo), Daniel Mobbs (Giorgio)

Rossini's Tancredi - July 22
Tancredi is the opera that catapulted the 21-year-old Rossini to fame after its Venetian premiere in 1813, announcing the new style that would define the course of Italian opera for the whole 19th century.  Its melodic freshness, passionate energy and classical poise have never been surpassed.

Tancredi remains unique even in an age that has gotten to know many previously forgotten Rossini operas. Rossini captured in it all the heroic idealism of 18th century opera - its symmetry and balance, its elegant formality - and blended these with youthful ardor and simplicity. In a way, he began his career in the new century with a loving farewell to the previous one, and all his later works clearly looked forward to the Romantic era. At the same time, his audiences realized they were hearing something new. The hero's "Di tanti palpiti" probably qualifies as the first Italian opera aria to be adopted nationally as a popular song: Gondoliers sang it, people whistled it in the streets and at work, and opera took a giant step towards becoming the "art of the people" that it would remain through the whole century leading up to Puccini.

Meanwhile the classic "Rossini crescendo" that whipped up a frenzy in the orchestra appears here fully developed in the big ensembles, and the brilliant vocal writing for which the composer was famous (he was a celebrated singer himself) already shows his sure hand. Tancredi continued to be one of Rossini's most popular scores as long as the bel canto repertory flourished, and as soon as the 20th century found a mezzo-soprano able to sing it persuasively to the modern world (Marilyn Horne), its fame was rekindled.

Ewa Podles made a landmark recording of the work in 1992 (opposite Sumi Jo) and has sung it in more than a dozen major theaters since that time. Her most recent production (in Toronto with Will Crutchfield on the podium) was unanimously hailed by the press as a high point of the Canadian musical year.

Cast includes: Ewa Podles (Tancredi), Georgia Jarman (Amenaide), Yegishe Manucharyan (Argirio), Daniel Mobbs (Orbazzano)

About "Mozart Bel Canto"
Along with his roles as a child prodigy, spectacular piano virtuoso and the greatest composer of his day, Mozart found time also to be a voice teacher. He talked and wrote constantly about vocal matters, enthusing and critiquing like a true opera fan; he tailored arias to his favorite singers "like a well-fitting suit of clothes," as he put it; and he taught certain favored artists all the details of bel canto ornamentation as he had learned them in Italy. Luckily for posterity, Mozart wrote down some of these ornaments - for his own arias and for others by his beloved J. C. Bach - and Festival audiences will have a rare chance to hear those sung live, by four virtuoso singers who have appeared in leading roles at Caramoor.

The program is a festive mix, led off by Sumi Jo in "Exsultate jubilate" with its famous final "Alleluia," and includes operatic evergreens like Leporello's "Catalogue aria" from Don Giovanni and the "Farewell Trio" from Cosi fan tutte, in addition to lesser-known masterworks forom Mozart's long list of Italian operas and concert arias. And included will be an aria from J.C. Bach's Adriano in Siria, "tailored" by Mozart with his inimitable ornaments and cadenzas.

Soloists:  Sumi Jo, soprano; Maria Zifchak, mezzo-soprano; Steven Tharp, tenor; and Daniel Mobbs, bass-baritone.

Special events for ticket-holders
On the day of each of the two opera performances, ticket-holders can also enjoy a varied menu of lectures and recitals along with the chance to picnic in Caramoor's famous gardens. 

Bellini's I Puritani - July 8
3:30 p.m. "Saksperre, Bayron, Bulwer Litton or Valter Scott"
Donizetti managed to misspell all four names, but he knew he wanted an English story for his next libretto. England had been fascinated with Italian opera for about a century, and suddenly in the Romantic era, Italian opera became fascinated in return.  Who ever thought the Italians would care about the Puritans?  Lecture by Will Crutchfield.

4:30 p.m. The Lesson Scene
In the age of bel canto, aspiring singers studied etudes the way pianists did - and as with the piano repertory, some of them are good enough to be heard as concert pieces. A recital of alternately charming, haunting and dazzling vocalises by Vaccai, de Garaude, Rossini, Marchesi and others, sung by the Caramoor Bel Canto Soloists with pianist Rachelle Jonck.

 5:30 p.m. Dinner Break

 7:00 p.m.  Pre-Opera Lecture 
Steven Blier, who will introduce I Puritani, is the Artistic Director of New York Festival of Song, he writes for Opera News and is a frequent Quizmaster on The Opera Quiz during the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts. 

Rossini's Tancredi - July 22
3:30 p.m.  Jazz in Italy, 1810-1820
An exciting new style of singing was afoot in Rossini's day, and one aspect of it was for singers to improvise freely on set chord patterns, exactly as it happens in jazz today.  The Caramoor Bel Canto Soloists demonstrate the trapeze act of spontaneous improvisation. 

4:30 p.m. The Other Tancredis
The story of Tancredi is woven through Italy's literary classics, and composers from Monteverdi onward celebrated his adventures in opera, song and cantata. Excerpts from those works will be performed in addition to readings from Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered" and from the thrilling Voltaire play on which Rossini's opera is based - along with alternate arias the composer provided for it, which amount to almost an entire second score. Presented by Rachelle Jonk and the Caramoor Bel Canto Soloists.

 5:30 p.m. Dinner Break

7:00 p.m.  Pre-Opera Lecture: The Rossini Revolution

About Bel Canto at Caramoor
Opera returned to the Caramoor Festival after a long absence in 1996, when Will Crutchfield led Rossini's La Cerentola in a performance that introduced the mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux to New York-area audiences.  The following year saw the formation of a permanent opera program at Caramoor with Mr. Crutchfield as its director. Bel canto has been the focus of the repertory and of the well-known training program for young singers that was added starting in 1999.  The core repertory comes from Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi:  four maestri born within a 21-year span who carried Italian music to the highest position it had ever occupied in world esteem.

Caramoor's revivals have consistently been covered by the national and international media, and have brought both fresh attention to neglected masterpieces and fresh musical approaches to acknowledged favorites. Highlights have included the pairing of Rossini's and Verdi's settings of Otello in 2001; the world premiere of Donizetti's lost opera for Paris, Elisabeth, in 2003; the first American revival of an opera by the once-famous Francesco Conti, DOn Chisciotte, in 2004; presenting the original score for Bellini's La Sonnambula for the first time in America in 2005 and numerous concert programs including a historic team-up of Garrick Ohlsson, Marguerite Krull and Vivica Genaux for a recital exploring Chopin's links to the world of bel canto in 1999.

The Caramoor Bel Canto Soloists, a hand-picked ensemble of future bel canto stars, provide the understudies and secondary roles, as well as appearing in concerts and receiving intensive training in 19th century performance practice from Caramoor's music staff and guest faculty.

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. Twenty rooms, imported in their entirety from European palaces and villas, are open to the public. On Thursdays and Fridays, Afternoon Tea is served in the Summer Dining Room, which overlooks the Spanish Courtyard.

House Museum
Guided tours of the House Museum are provided 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). 

 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. 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).