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
presents Guitar in the Garden with
DAVID LEISNER
Thursday, July 2nd, 7:30pm

Katonah, New York  - The extraordinary guitarist David Leisner will infuse the flower-scented evening air of the magnificent Sunken Garden at Caramoor with the lyricism of works by Villa-Lobos and Paganini, as well as his own compositions and the works of others, on Thursday, July 2nd at 7:30pm.  David Leisner - Guitar in the Garden, marks the first Thursday evening event in the 2009 Caramoor International Music Festival.

Seating will be provided in the Sunken Garden, one of several major garden areas among Caramoor's more than 90 acres.  Audience members are also invited to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets and to extend the Caramoor experience by arriving early and enjoying a picnic.  Bring your own or pre-order picnics from Caramoor's caterer, Great Performances®, by calling 212.337.6055.  In the event of rain, the concert will be moved to the Venetian Theater.

About David Leisner
Regarded as one of the world's leading classical guitarists, David Leisner's superb musicianship and provocative programming have been applauded by critics and audiences around the world.  His career as a guitarist began auspiciously with top prizes in both the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions.  In the 1980s, a disabling hand injury, focal dystonia, interrupted his performing career in mid-stream and plagued him for 12 years.  Through a pioneering approach to technique based on his understanding of the physical aspects of playing the guitar, Leisner gradually rehabilitated himself.  Now completely recovered, he has once again resumed an active performing career, earning accolades wherever he plays.  His recent seasons have taken him around the U.S., including his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony, a major tour of Australia and New Zealand, and debuts and reappearances in Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, the U.K., Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Tickets
Tickets for David Leisner - Guitar in the Garden are $20.00 and may be purchased at the Caramoor Box Office, 914.232.1252 or ordered online at www.caramoor.org.

Groups of 16 or more may purchase discounted tickets by contacting Matthew Scarella at 914.232.5035 ext. 266 or matthew@caramoor.org.

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

About Caramoor
Caramoor is the legacy of Walter and Lucie Rosen, who built their summer home - now known as the historic Rosen House at Caramoor - 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 Caramoor International Music Festival.  Realizing the pleasure their friends took in the beauty of Caramoor - the house with artworks spanning the centuries from B.C.E. to the 20th-century, the gardens, and the musical programs on summer evenings - in 1946 the Rosens established a public charity to open Caramoor to the community.

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 often described as "a Garden of Great Music" where audiences are invited to come early, explore the beautiful grounds, take a tour of the Rosen House, visit the gift shop, enjoy a pre-concert picnic, and discover beautiful music in the relaxed settings of the Venetian Theater, Spanish Courtyard, Music Room of the Rosen House, and the magnificent gardens.  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

Concert Venues, Art and Gardens
Concerts take place in two outdoor theaters: the 1,714-seat, acoustically superb Venetian Theater and the more intimate, romantic Spanish Courtyard.  Caramoor is more than just music - there is beauty at every turn.  The Rosens were prolific collectors and the Rosen House contains artworks spanning the centuries from B.C.E. to the 20th-century, 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 making the Rosen House one of just five mansions in the country that imported and incorporated entire rooms.  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.

Caramoor Al Fresco
Introduce your family to Caramoor and enjoy the sounds of the concert from the picnic lawns for only $10.00 per ticket on the following Sunday afternoons at 4:30pm:  June 28 (Tiempo Libre), July 5 (Pacifica Quartet with Jeremy Denk), July 12 (Brentano String Quartet), July 19 (Paquito D'Rivera), and July 26 (Vladimir Feltsman).

Rosen House
Guided tours of the historic Rosen House at Caramoor 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 $10.00 (children 16 and under free).

GETTING TO CARAMOOR
Caramoor is easy to get to by car and mass transportation.  The Caramoor Caravan is available for Bel Canto at Caramoor performances.

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.

From Manhattan, take the Caramoor Caravan to Bel Canto at Caramoor opera performances on July 18 and July 31, and ride comfortably in a luxurious, air-conditioned coach.  For information and reservations call the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252.

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

Caramoor International Music Festival
________________________________________________________________________

                   DAVID LEISNER - GUITAR IN THE GARDEN

July 2                                                          David Leisner - Guitar in the Garden
Thursday, 7:30pm                                                       David Leisner, guitar
Sunken Garden  
$20                                                                                     Works by:
                                                                             Villa-Lobos  Three Preludes
   
                                                                       David Leisner  Labyrinths (2007)
                                                                                            Shimmer
                                                                                            Shadow
                                                                                            Shiver
                                                                                            Shatter      
                                                                                            Shelter

                                                      Wenzeslaus Matiegka  Sonata in b minor, Op. 31, No. 6

                                                      Paganini   Grand Sonata (arr. D. Leisner)

                                                      Ivanov-Kramskoi Four Pieces
                                                                                 Song without Words
                                                                                 Prelude
                                                                                 Improvisation
                                                                                 Gust
                                  ________________________________________________________________________
TICKETS

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

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

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Performances are made possible, in part, by Arts Westchester, with funds from the Westchester County Government

Performances are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts a state agency