Friday, July 11
| 6:30PM
Festival Napa Valley Stage at Charles Krug
2800 Main Street | St. Helena
Festival Napa Valley launches its 19th season with a concert featuring Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, violinist Tessa Lark, and conductor Clelia Cafiero. The program includes arias and songs ranging from Carmen to Over the Rainbow, world premiere orchestrations of songs from Gordon Getty’s The White Election arranged by Luna Pearl Woolf, and two beloved classics – Butterfly Lovers Concerto by Zhanhao/Gang and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
The program features David Claerbout’s Wildfire, a video artwork from the Kramlich Collection, presented in memory of Richard Kramlich.
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Performers
Multi-Grammy Award winner and Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe. With a repertoire spanning over four centuries, a varied and highly acclaimed discography, and industry-leading projects, her artistry has defined what it is to be a singer in the 21st century.
Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category and received one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards: the special Hunt Family Award.
2025 Joel Revzen Conducting Prizewinner
Neapolitan conductor Clelia Cafiero currently serves as Principal Guest Conductor at the Opéra de Tours. She first came to international attention with her summer 2023 debut at the Chorégies d’Orange where she led the Orchestre National de Lyon in Carmen.
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. Festival Orchestra Napa’s appearance is made possible through a generous gift from Tatiana and Gerret Copeland, proprietors of Bouchaine Vineyards.
With the 2021 premiere of his operatic film Goodbye, Mr. Chips, composer Gordon Getty adds a fourth opera to his list of compositions, which also includes works for orchestra, chorus, vocal and instrumental soloists, and chamber ensembles. His staged works have been mounted by Leipzig Opera, Welsh National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Bolshoi Ballet, while his orchestral repertoire has been recorded and performed by the likes of the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, Mikhail Pletnev leading the Russian National Orchestra, and Sir Neville Marriner with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Getty’s life in music is the subject of Peter Rosen’s 2016 documentary There Will Be Music. Recent honors include the European Culture Prize and an inaugural induction into Opera America’s Hall of Fame. Gordon Getty is a Pentatone artist and his music is published by Rork Music.
Venue