Anticipation is building for the return of Festival Napa Valley, a 15-day celebration of the illustrious winemaking region, drawing attendees from far and wide for its 17th season from July 8-23, 2023. This renowned festival will feature a diverse lineup of performances, showcasing rising stars and internationally acclaimed artists in classical, jazz, and Broadway genres, all performed in iconic venues throughout Napa Valley, as described on the festival's website.
Presented by the nonprofit organization Napa Valley Festival Association, Festival Napa Valley aims to bring world-class performances and inspiring arts education programs to audiences of all ages, celebrating music's unmatched power to enrich, uplift, and inspire, maintaining a strong commitment to affordable admission prices that range from free to $35 for most shows.
One major exception to the affordable ticket pricing is the "Arts for All Gala," a prestigious fundraiser event, featuring the acclaimed Carrie Underwood as the headliner and boasting a catering menu by Michelin-star chef Charlie Palmer; individual passes for this exclusive event come with a hefty $2,500 price tag, but the funds collected contribute significantly to the festival's mission of providing affordable performances, tuition-free programs, and scholarships for talented students, as The SF Examiner reported.
Rick Walker, Festival Napa Valley president and CEO, attributes the festival's long-standing success to its ability to adapt and remain innovative each year, describing their approach as a blank canvas that welcomes reinvention each season, Walker is quoted in the same Examiner article saying, "It is new every year, it's not rubber-stamped from the year before."
The diverse list of performers set to take the stage this season includes guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, pianist Alexander Malofeev, singer Matteo Bocelli, composer Yang Bao, and the Grammy Award-winning trio Time for Three, making their festival debut, with programming carefully crafted to bridge well-known artists and emerging talents alike, as Festival Napa Valley vice president and director of artistic planning Charles LeTourneau told The Examiner.
A unique aspect of Festival Napa Valley is the tradition of pairing each event with a dinner at one of the region's celebrated wineries, blending the world of fine arts with the tantalizing culinary and viniculture experiences that the Napa Valley is known for, as noted by a San Francisco Classical Voice (SFCV) article.
Among the numerous performances to look forward to is the July 18 "Seasons of Hope" concert, which will feature original compositions by Gordon Getty and Lera Auerbach's Symphony No. 6 ("Vessels of Light"), the latter performed by cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and soprano Ronit Widmann-Levy, under the direction of conductor Constantine Orbelian.
Another notable event taking place during Festival Napa Valley is a special dance performance scheduled for July 21, featuring a company of dancers who left Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine, united under the artistic direction of Xander Parish. This dance event will mark the group's first appearance outside their current home at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County and showcases a thoughtful mix of classical and contemporary dance numbers, embracing the transcendent nature of the art form to promote peace and unity amid global turmoil.
Festival Napa Valley remains a beloved and vibrant staple of the North Bay community, showcasing the ever-evolving nature of the arts, while also staying true to its founding principles of offering a warm and welcoming atmosphere for friends to make music together, as it has done for nearly two decades, and will continue to do so in its upcoming 17th edition, as always remaining committed to engaging and inspiring audiences across generations and providing transformative experiences that enrich the lives of all who attend.
