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For further information: Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group
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September 9, 2016
Following a tremendously successful 71st summer season, Caramoor’s fall offerings include chamber music, jazz, American roots, dance, and young artist showcases. Versatile cellist Alisa Weilerstein – a MacArthur “genius grant” winner, described by the Daily Telegraph as “truly a phenomenon”, who has a long history with Caramoor – performs the complete Bach Cello Suites for the first time in her career in a concert on October 15. Two other concerts in October feature chamber music by members of the Evnin Rising Stars program, of which Weilerstein herself is an alum. The Argus Quartet, the 2016-17 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, plays the first concert of its residency in November. Cellist Edward Arron plays with violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Andrew Armstrong (Nov 20). David Amram and Silver City Bound perform American roots music; and jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée gives a concert inspired by improvisational gypsy music, presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. Caramoor’s fall line-up is rounded out by a “Flamenco in the Courtyard” performance featuring Isabel Del Día (dancer), Alfonso Cid (vocals and flute), and Cristian Puig (guitar) (Sep 7); a celebration of the songs of Enrique Granados featuring Amaya Arberas (soprano) and David Galvez (guitar) (Sep 14); afternoon teas in September; and “Holiday Tea Musicales” throughout the month of December.
J.S. Bach’s six unaccompanied cello suites have long been a common feature of Alisa Weilerstein’s recital programming, one or two at a time and often in combination with the more contemporary unaccompanied cello works recorded on her third Decca recording, Solo, but this season marks her first time taking on the much different challenge of playing the whole set in a single program. After the initial performance at Caramoor, a location she calls “one of my favorite places on earth,” the cellist takes the same music to Washington, DC, New York, and London. A longtime friend and supporter of the Westchester establishment and its mission, Weilerstein participated in the Evnin Rising Stars program in 1999, chose Caramoor’s Sunken Garden as the venue for her wedding to conductor Rafael Payare in 2013, and served as the festival’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence the following year.
Evnin Rising Stars boasts an impressive roster of alumni: besides Weilerstein, these include pianist Jonathan Biss, Caramoor’s 2016 Artist in Residence; New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Frank Huang; and cellist Edward Arron
Two concerts this fall showcase the young musicians of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars. After a week-long intensive program of mentoring by distinguished artists that include violinist Pamela Frank, violist Nobuko Imai, and cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, the participants present chamber music by Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, Dvořák, Korngold and Hindemith. Evnin Rising Stars boasts an impressive roster of alumni: besides Weilerstein, these include pianist Jonathan Biss, Caramoor’s 2016 Artist in Residence; New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Frank Huang; and cellist Edward Arron, who in the 20 years since his participation in the program has given regular “Edward Arron & Friends” performances at Caramoor. This fall is no exception: Arron’s “Friends” concert features duos in three configurations, before the cellist joins violinist Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Andrew Armstrong for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor (Nov 20).
Caramoor’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence program was established in 1999, and has in past seasons featured the likes of the Pacifica, Daedalus and Ariel Quartets. This year the incumbent is the Argus Quartet, currently Fellowship Quartet in Residence at the Yale School of Music and the first group to be mentored by the Brentano Quartet in that capacity. A November 13 program pairs the dark and brooding with the light and ecstatic, and features Bartók’s Quartet No. 4 along with music by Wu Man, Christopher Theofanidis and Garth Knox. The young quartet was able to collaborate on both the Wu Man and Knox pieces, which were developed through a Kronos Quartet commissioning program. As part of the residency, the group also lends its time and talents to Caramoor’s “Student Strings” in secondary schools with a classroom-based program of concerts, conversations, and performance clinics.
Caramoor’s passionate exploration of musical diversity is shown in the variety of music and styles it welcomes during its annual summer season and throughout the year. Both Caramoor’s Jazz Festival—curated for the second year by Jazz at Lincoln Center and celebrating its 23rd anniversary season—and the American Roots Music Festival, continue to influence the programming this fall. In collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, Caramoor presents jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée on November 5, in a performance inspired by improvisational gypsy music. The Wall Street Journal characterizes Aimée as “astonishingly creative … with a brilliant sound, fresh ideas, impeccable rhythm and an overall approach that honors tradition without being shackled to the past.” In October, David Amram – a multi-instrumental legend of folk, jazz, and world music who befriended and collaborated with iconic Beat poet Jack Kerouac – makes his Caramoor debut. Amram performs with Silver City Bound, a band with a catchy, high-energy, Americana blend of folk, classic country, zydeco/Cajun, and jazz that performed in Caramoor’s 2016 American Roots Music Festival. The band’s 2014 album, Diner in the Sky, won Best Americana Music Album from the Independent Music Awards.
“Caramoor, New York’s premier summer music festival, offers everything that is enjoyed at Tanglewood – world-class music with some of the world’s leading performers, a stunning physical environment, and of course, beautiful night skies”
These concerts follow a record-breaking summer at the box office, with more return attendees and multiple-event attendees than ever before. Highlights of the summer season included Artist-in-Residence Jonathan Biss presenting the New York premiere of Timo Andres’s third piano concerto, The Blind Banister, which was co-commissioned for him by Caramoor. The Aizuri Quartet, last season’s Ernst Stiefel Quartet-in-Residence, gave the world premiere of emerging Brooklyn-based composer Paul Wiancko’s LIFT. And Bel Canto at Caramoor presented the centuries-overdue American premiere of Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira, which Director of Opera Will Crutchfield painstakingly reconstructed with the aid of a Guggenheim Fellowship, leading a revival at Italy’s 2014 Rossini Opera Festival that scored an International Opera Award for Best Rediscovered Work. With guest artists from Jeremy Denk to the Pacifica Quartet, jazz from the Chick Corea Trio and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, roots music from New Orleans’s Hurray for the Riff Raff and John Fullbright, dance from the Pacific Rim, young artist showcases and much more, the Westchester arts institution continued to entertain and inspire audiences of all ages, as it does season after season. As the Huffington Post says of Caramoor:
“Come to find out, New Yorkers don’t have to travel three hours for an idyllic combination of music, setting, and stars. Caramoor, New York’s premier summer music festival, offers everything that is enjoyed at Tanglewood – world-class music with some of the world’s leading performers, a stunning physical environment, and of course, beautiful night skies – and all without the Berkshires commute. Caramoor Music Festival … resides at the historic Westchester Rosen estate in Katonah, NY, just sixty minutes (fifty miles) from Manhattan by car or public transportation. This short commute offers a thrilling payoff.”
A detailed listing is provided below, and more information is available at www.caramoor.org.
About Caramoor
Caramoor is a performing arts center located on a unique 90-acre setting of Italianate architecture and gardens in Westchester County, NY. It enriches the lives of its audiences through innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality. Its mission also includes mentoring young professional musicians and providing educational programs for young children centered around music. Audiences are invited to come early to explore the beautiful grounds, tour the historic Rosen House, and on special Sundays enjoy a delicious Afternoon Tea or unwind with 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. Summer concerts take place in two outdoor theaters: the 1,508-seat, acoustically superb Venetian Theater and the more intimate, romantic 470-seat Spanish Courtyard. In the fall and winter, concerts are presented in the magnificent Music Room in the Rosen House. Caramoor’s gardens, also used for concerts and the sound exhibition “In the Garden of Sonic Delights,” are well worth the visit and include nine unique perennial gardens. Among them are a Sense Circle for the visually impaired, the Sunken Garden, a Butterfly Garden, the Tapestry Hedge, and the Iris and Peony Garden.
Getting to Caramoor
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 4, or visit 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 (just five minutes away) is available.
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Fall/Winter season at Caramoor:
Sep 7
Wednesday Morning Concert
Rosen House/Spanish Courtyard
Flamenco in the Courtyard
With Isabel del Día, dancer; Alfonso Cid, vocals and flute; Cristian Puig, guitar
Sep 8, 16, 22
Afternoon Teas
Rosen House
Tea, Tour, Garden Stroll
Sep 14
Wednesday Morning Concert
Rosen House/Music Room
“Canciones Españolas: Celebrating Enrique Granados”
Amaya Arberas, soprano; David Galvez, guitar
Sep 21
Wednesday Morning Concert
Rosen House/Music Room
Edward Arron, cello; Jeewon Park, piano
Oct 15
The Complete Bach Cello Suites
Rosen House/Music Room
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Oct 22
Roots Music in the Music Room
Rosen House/Music Room
David Amram and Silver City Bound
Oct 28
Spooky Tales
Rosen House/Music Room
Stories to Tickle Your Spine
Oct 29
Evnin Rising Stars
Rosen House/Music Room
Artist Mentorship with Classical Legends
Mozart: String Quintet No. 5 in D, K. 593
Hindemith: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22
Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat, Op. 18
Oct 30
Evnin Rising Stars
Rosen House/Music Room
Artist Mentorship with Classical Legends
Eunice Kim, Paul Huang and In Mo Yang, violins; Sung Jin Lee and Zhanbo Zheng, violas; Sarah Rommel and Oliver Herbert, cellos
Haydn: String Quartet No. 59 in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3, Hob.III:74, “The Rider”
Dvořák: String Quintet No. 3, Op. 97
Korngold: String Sextet in D, Op. 10
Nov 5
Cyrille Aimée
Rosen House/Music Room
Presented in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
Nov 13
Argus Quartet
2016-17 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence
Rosen House/Music Room
Theofanidis: Visions & Miracles
Theofanidis: O Vis Aeternitatis for Piano Quintet (performed with David Fung, pianist)
Knox: Satellites
Man: Four Chinese Paintings
Bartók: String Quartet No. 4
Nov 20
Edward Arron & Friends
Rosen House/Music Room
Andrew Armstrong, piano; Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Edward Arron, cello and Artistic Director for Edward Arron & Friends
Stravinsky: Suite Italienne for Violin and Piano
Glière: Eight Pieces for Violin and Cello, Op. 39
Schnittke: Musica Nostalgica for Cello and Piano (1992)
Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50
Dec 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16
Holiday Tea Musicales
Rosen House/Music Room
Dec 10
Santa Visits the Rosen House
Rosen House/Music Room
All concerts made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with funds from the Westchester County Government.
All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
The 2016 Summer Music Festival is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
© 21C Media Group, September 2016
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