Jennifer Rowley Sings Title Role In MARIA DI ROHAN At Caramoor 7/24

Caramoor International Music Festival, under the leadership of CEO and General Director Michael Barrett, presents soprano Jennifer Rowley in the title role in the Bel Canto at Caramoor performance of Donizetti's Maria di Rohan this Saturday, July 24, 2010. Rowley replaces Takesha Meshé Kizart, who has withdrawn from the performance due to illness. Ms. Rowley, a member of the Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists program, has already begun a highly promising career with appearances at Bologna's Teatro Communale, Opera New Jersey, Michigan Opera Theater and elsewhere, and will shortly make her debut as Mozart's Donna Anna at the renowned Savonlinna Festival in Finland. Rowley's complete biography is enclosed, and may also be accessed on her website, http://jenniferrowley.com.

Will Crutchfield, Director of Opera at Caramoor, says "we are grateful to Jennifer for jumping into this demanding role on just two days' notice, and confident that - thanks to her excellent preparation and talent - we will once again be giving Caramoor audiences the first chance to hear a new artist of international significance. In the meantime we wish Takesha the speediest possible recovery and look forward to the news of her continuing triumphs."

The other leading roles in Maria di Rohan will be sung as scheduled, by tenor Luciano Botelho, making his American debut as Chalais; baritone Scott Bearden as Chevreuse, and mezzo-soprano Vanessa Cariddi as Gondi. The opera will be preceded by Caramoor's traditional series of lectures and Young Artist recitals, featuring the return of world-renowned opera scholar Philip Gossett and a rare performance of Donizetti's beautiful Miserere in G minor, among other items.

PROGRAM

Saturday, July 24 at 8:00pm - Venetian Theater
MARIA DI ROHAN by Gaetano Donizetti
JENNIFER ROWLEY, soprano (Maria, countess of Rohan)
LUCIANO BOTELHO, tenor (Riccardo, count of Chalais)
SCOTT BEARDEN, baritone (Enrico, duke of Chevreuse)
VANESSA CARIDDI, mezzo-soprano (Armando di Gondì)
Orchestra of St. Luke's
Will Crutchfield, conductor

Pre-Opera Events: Maria di Rohan
During the afternoon and evening prior to the opera, ticket-holders can also enjoy a varied menu of lectures and recitals along with the chance to picnic in Caramoor's famous gardens.

3:00 The Genesis of a Masterpiece. Renowned opera scholar Philip Gossett and Caramoor Opera Director Will Crutchfield discuss what Donizetti wrote, when he wrote it, and how we know - including the story of Prof. Gossett's discovery, just last year in Russia, of the composer's previously unknown version of one of the lead roles in Maria, heard at Caramoor for the first time since its original performance.
4:15 Maria Plus. All the alternative music from Maria di Rohan - belonging to versions other than the one performed in our main stage production - with Philip Gossett accompanying members of the Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists.
5:00 Donizetti: Stage, Salon, and Chapel. The Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists in a program sampling the inexhaustible breadth of Donizetti's late music: songs, chamber music, operatic scenes, and the haunting choral works he prepared as Hofkapellmeister in Vienna.
7:00 Lecture. Philip Gossett introduces Maria di Rohan

ABOUT BEL CANTO AT CARAMOOR
Under the leadership of Director of Opera Will Crutchfield, Caramoor's renowned Bel Canto at Caramoor - an operatic exploration that Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times calls "an essential contribution" - begins its 14th season of outstanding opera programming during the 2010 Caramoor International Music Festival. Bel Canto at Caramoor began in 1997 with Rossini's La Donna del Lago, starring Vivica Genaux, Marguerite Krull, Bruce Fowler, and Matthew Chellis. At its inception, diva Marilyn Horne predicted success: "These singers are very lucky to have Will Crutchfield," she told the press before summer festival. The New York Times quickly agreed, praising "a palpable conviction that Rossini's serious operas are not static vehicles for elaborate vocal display, but elegant and humane musical dramas" in a review of the opening. The Wall Street Journal reported in 1997, "Mr. Crutchfield brought his sure sense of bel canto style to bear upon Lucrezia Borgia, and the semi-staged concert version at Caramoor's Venetian Theater was both delightful and thought-provoking...its dark (yes, Verdian) intensity is certainly a revelation." The Financial Times added its praise following 1999's La Gazza Ladra, lauding the virtuosic young cast and hailing Crutchfield's style as "a fine balance of bravado, intensity, sensitivity and scholarly savoir-faire."

Ever since, growing ranks of critics from the national and international press have maintained that consensus, and capacity audiences have filled Caramoor's 1714-seat Venetian Theater. The flagship summer productions have included four operas each by Bellini and Rossini, three by Donizetti, two by Verdi, and individual works by Handel, Gluck, Francesco Conti and Pauline Viardot, along with a wide range of concerts.

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 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 10, 16, and 24, and ride comfortably in a luxurious, air-conditioned coach. For information and reservations call the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252.

TICKETS:$20 - $85; order tickets by calling the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252, or online at www.caramoor.org

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