Opening Night with Festival Orchestra Napa at Charles Krug

Festival Napa Valley opens its 16^th season with a concert celebrating the sounds of America. Conductor Carlo Ponti kicks off the festivities leading Festival Orchestra Napa in Leonard Bernstein’s exuberant Candide Overture. Festival favorite Sophia Bacelar performs movements from American composer Daniel Brewbaker’s sublime cello concerto La Serenissima. The program concludes with Dvořák’s lush and soul-stirring Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”, one of the most treasured orchestral works of all time, written while he lived in America in the 1890s. A selection of artwork created by participants in the Festival's How I See Music workshops will be projected during the performance.

Daniel Brewbaker is the posthumous inaugural recipient of the Maria Manetti Shrem Daniel Brewbaker Composer Prize.

Performers

Carlo Ponti

Maestro Carlo Ponti is known for taking audiences on musical journeys of unique interpretive depth. Ponti is the founder and director of the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra, and he has served as Associate Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra and Music Director and Principal Conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony.

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SUUVI

A Festival Napa Valley favorite, Cuban-Chinese cellist and interdisciplinary artist SUUVI (formerly Sophia Bacelar) is conversant and active in various artistic disciplines, including fashion, film, photography, and visual art. Recent projects range from a Carnegie Hall recital to video art with dancers and touring the world as the solo cellist in The World of Hans Zimmer.

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Festival Orchestra Napa

Festival Orchestra Napa is an all-star ensemble that brings together principal players from major international orchestras and faculty from renowned colleges and conservatories, together with participants from the Frost School of Festival Napa Valley's Blackburn Music Academy. Centered around a core of Frost School of Music faculty, the orchestra also includes hand-picked musicians from ensembles such as the San Francisco Symphony, MET Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony, among others.

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Venue

Charles Krug Winery

Established in 1861, Charles Krug Winery is home of California’s first wine tasting room. Since its founding by Charles Krug, a pioneer and visionary, this winery has continued to contribute significantly to the world of wine. In 1943, The Mondavi Family purchased the winery and vowed to continue Krug’s legacy of visionary thinking and innovation.