Thursday, July 14, 2011

Castleton plays Richmond


A Richmond date has been added to this year’s Castleton Festival: A concert program of excerpts from The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess” and Bizet’s “Carmen,” conducted by Lorin Maazel and featuring mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves.

The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. July 22 at the Carpenter Theatre of Richmond CenterStage, Sixth and Grace streets.

The festival is staged each summer by Lorin and Deitlinde Turban Maazel at Castleton Farms, their estate in Rappahannock County. The Maazels bring young professional singers and instrumentalists to Castleton for an intensive month of rehearsals and performances of music theater and concert repertory. This year’s festival also has featured performances in Manassas, Washington, VA, and Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD.

The July 22 concert, the festival’s first Richmond venture, is presented in partnership with Richmond CenterStage and the Richmond Symphony. Maazel will conduct the Castleton Festival Orchestra; singers, in addition to Graves, include bass-baritone Patrick Blackwell, soprano Reyna Carguill, baritone John Fulton and tenor Chauncey Packer.

Tickets are $20-$40, with $10 discount tickets offered for seniors 55 and older, students, active-duty military and veterans, and police, fire and emergency service personnel. Tickets may be purchased at the Carpenter Theatre box office or via ETix at (800) 514-3849 or http://www.etix.com/