FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lois Cohn Associates
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts celebrates the 4th of July with
“Pops, Patriots & Fireworks”
The A Train to Harlem
Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and The Harlem Jazz Craze
8:00pm in the Venetian Theater
Katonah, NY – Michael Barrett will lead the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in a celebratory program of “Pops, Patriots and Fireworks” on Thursday, July 4, at 8:00 PM in the Venetian Theater. Hosted by Jamie Bernstein, the program will include the sounds of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and the Harlem Jazz Craze to commemorate America’s Independence Day. Janis Siegel and Darius de Haas will sing and scat their way through the Ellington Songbook while Jamie fills in the historical background of the golden age of jazz. A dazzling pyrotechnic fireworks display will follow the patriotic festivities.
TICKETS
Tickets for Pops, Patriots, and Fireworks are $30.00, $40.00, $50.00, $60.00, and $70. Children under 18 are half price. To order tickets, call the Box Office at 914.232.1252 or visit www.caramoor.org. Groups of 16 or more may purchase discounted tickets by contacting Matthew Scarella at 914.232.5035 ext. 252 ormatthew@caramoor.org.
PRESS TICKETS
For press tickets, images, artist information or interviews, contact: Brittnee Walker at 412.601.2474,bwalker@lcohnpr.com.
PROGRAM
Wednesday, July 4
8:00pm in the Venetian Theater
Pops, Patriots and Fireworks: The A Train to Harlem
Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and The Harlem Jazz Craze
Tickets: $30.00, $40.00, $50.00, $60.00, $70.00/Children under 18 half price!
Performers:
Janis Siegel and Darius de Haas, vocals
Jamie Bernstein, narrator
Westchester Jazz Orchestra
Michael Barrett, conductor
Fireworks Display to Follow the Concert
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Michael Barrett was the Chief Executive and General Director of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts for ten years, where he programmed and conducted world premieres, American premieres, and Caramoor commissions. Mr. Barrett is co-founder and associate artistic director of the critically acclaimed New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) and also serves as the Music Director for the Moab Music Festival. A protégé of Leonard Bernstein, he began his long association with the renowned conductor and composer as a student in 1982. He served as Maestro Bernstein’s assistant conductor from 1985–1990. He currently serves as music advisor to the Leonard Bernstein Estate. A champion of new music, Mr. Barrett has conducted and played premieres by many of today’s most prominent composers.
Jamie Bernstein is a narrator, writer and broadcaster who transformed a lifetime of loving music into a career of sharing her knowledge and excitement with others. Replicating her father Leonard Bernstein’s compulsion to share and teach, she has devised several ways of communicating her own excitement about classical music. In her role as a broadcaster, she has produced and hosted numerous shows for radio stations in the United States as well as for BBC Radio 3. In addition to hosting several seasons of the New York Philharmonic’s live national radio broadcasts, Ms. Bernstein has presented various series for New York’s classical station, 96.3 WQXR FM, including annual live broadcasts from Tanglewood.
Darius de Haas enjoys a multifaceted career as an award-winning, widely acclaimed popular singer and actor. He made his Broadway debut in Kiss of the Spiderwoman, followed by Lincoln Center’s revival of Carousel, Rent,the Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm, Marie Christine and City Center’s Encores “Broadway Bash.” His stature as a solo artist was launched with his two highly acclaimed concert tributes for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series. His singular abilities and range in popular music, jazz, musical theater and art song have established him as a performer in a variety of settings including The New York Festival of Song, The Moab Music Festival, and The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s 50th Gala Celebration, and as guest soloist with several orchestras including the National Symphony and The Philly Pops. Mr. de Haas is featured on numerous recordings including his award-winning solo debut CD, Darius de Haas: Day Dream- Variations on Strayhorn and Quiet Please, released December 2010.
Janis Siegel is a nine-time Grammy winner and a seventeen-time Grammy nominee and a founding member of vocal group, The Manhattan Transfer. Alongside her career as a member of this 32-year musical institution, Siegel has also sustained a solo career that has spawned more than a half dozen finely-crafted solo albums and numerous collaborative projects, amassed a large international fan base and garnered consistently high critical praise. Siegel has also appeared on a number of motion picture soundtracks including Swing Kids, A League of Their Own, Dick Tracy and others. Her most recent projects include touring as a member of the acclaimed improvisational vocal group, Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, an appearance on the debut album by Frank Vignola and Joe Ascione, and a performance alongside Luciana Souza, Mulgrew Miller and James Williams in a tribute to jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center.
The Westchester Jazz Orchestra (WJO) is now celebrating their milestone 10th season. The 16-piece Westchester Jazz Orchestra has risen to prominence for “strikingly executed performances” (The New York Times). Featuring star soloists and precision ensemble playing, WJO has developed a distinctive voice by commissioning highly original arrangements of classic works by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and many others.
WJO was first thrust into the limelight when their debut CD, All In (2007), charted #4 nationally. The band’s sophomore release, Maiden Voyage Suite (2011), brought even more recognition with superlative reviews: “nearly flawless” (DownBeat), “the result is epic” (AllAboutJazz), and “as near perfection as one could wish for” (Irish Times). WJO was also a Runner Up for “Best Big Band” in the national publication JazzTimes. WJO is thrilled to be making their Caramoor debut.
ABOUT CARAMOOR
“We built a home, my husband and I, not to be old or new, just to be beautiful. And we built it for music.” ~ Lucie Rosen
Caramoor, the country estate of Walter and Lucie Rosen, was where they built their home and filled it with treasures. Enjoying the pleasure their friends took in the beauty of Caramoor with its art collection, gardens, and musical programs, in 1946 the Rosens established a public trust to open Caramoor to the community. Their musical evenings were the inspiration for the Caramoor Summer Music Festival, now in its sixty-eighth year, and the ongoing Music in the Rosen House series.
Since its founding, Caramoor has gained international renown as a cultural institution, presenting music of all types and inspiring artists and audiences alike.
Caramoor enriches the lives of its audiences through intimate, innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality. Education is a valued component of Caramoor’s mission, and Caramoor offers programs for the mentoring of young professional musicians as well as curriculum-based programs for school children emphasizing music, history and visual and decorative arts. Caramoor is often described as “a Garden of Great Music,” where audiences are invited to explore the beautiful grounds and gardens, discover the fascinating collection of period rooms and antiquities in the Rosen House, and enjoy beautiful music in the Music Room, Spanish Courtyard and Venetian theater.
Concert Venues and Gardens
Summer concerts take place in two outdoor theaters: the 1,714-seat, acoustically superb Venetian Theater and the more intimate, romantic 558-seat Spanish Courtyard. In the fall and winter all concerts are presented in the magnificent Music Room in the Rosen House. Caramoor’s gardens, also used for concerts, are also well worth the visit and include nine unique perennial gardens. Among them are a Sense Circle for the visually handicapped, 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 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.
CREDITS
Performances are made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester
with funds from Westchester County Government.
Performances are 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 2012 International Music Festival is supported in part by
an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
CARAMOOR CENTER FOR MUSIC AND THE ARTS IS LOCATED AT
149 GIRDLE RIDGE ROAD, KATONAH, NEW YORK 10536.
ALL PROGRAMS AND ARTISTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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