The rapturous music of J. S. Bach opens the 2016 Festival with all six of the rarely heard sonatas for violin and piano. Described as the “Jon Stewart of chamber music,” violin virtuoso Geoff Nuttall redefines what a chamber concert can be, with his creative daring and flair for entertaining. Nuttall is known for his ...
A self-proclaimed "Voice for the Voiceless" and leader of the premier band in Malawi, Mawanga joins traditional Malawian rhythms, compositions and vocal arrangements with modern instrumentation to produce socially conscious, inspirational music. With his poignant songs and strong messages, the artist strives to speak for the underprivileged and expose the world to the riches of ...
Tonight we celebrate instrumental masters: Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. There will be energy and passion in the tent, opening with the final movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony—an Allegro with great Brio. Then brilliant pianist Stephen Prutsman plays Beethoven’s 3rd piano concerto, a work immediately familiar and joyful, “turning the concert stage into a platform for the ...
Montage: Great Film Composers and the Piano The six film composers represented on this program have among them amassed 73 Oscar nominations and eight wins. “But,” ponders the introductory essay to Gloria Cheng's recent CD, “what melodies, harmonies, what cadences haunt their private dreams?” Hear selections from pieces written expressly for her by John Williams ...
Combining their love for folk and traditional music, the Paul McKenna Band offers captivating sounds. With a contemporary approach, but not straying too far from their roots, their arrangements have been called both fresh and innovative. Their exciting sound is created through outstanding vocals, driving guitar and bouzouki, intense fiddle playing, a warm pairing of ...
Returning for a fourth year of insightful and moving playing, the internationally acclaimed Calder Quartet will perform the Debussy String Quartet; Anders Hillborg Kongsgaard Variations; and Beethoven Op. 59 No. 2. The Calder Quartet always plays impeccably, with passionate engagement. The Debussy quartet is a sparkling, effervescent work. Beethoven’s eighth quartet, often called the Second ...
Hip. Imaginative. Fun. Fresh. Funky Fresh. Side Note is a group of seven twentysomethings, from wildly different musical backgrounds, who draw their diversity to create an all-new sound. It's contemporary a cappella - pushed to the limits of pop, R&B, funk, rock, musical theater and jazz. Get ready for some buzzin' beats, rockin' riffs and ...
Hailing from Pennsylvania and flying high since the 2012 release of their critically acclaimed self-titled album, The Stray Birds is a genre-melding acoustic trio of classically trained musicians who have been making music of all kinds since childhood. The band - multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven and Charlie Muench - has received ...
Enjoy the fascinating programming and gorgeous pianism of this charming young pianist from Georgia. In addition to Haydn and Brahms, you will hear a rarely heard work by Lili Boulanger, sister of the great French pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger, who was a major figure in twentieth century music. Both women studied with Faure before Lili’s early ...
Alex de Grassi and Grammy award winner Andrew York are widely acclaimed as leading innovators and virtuosos of acoustic and classical guitar; the duo combine their distinctive compositions, arrangements, and technical mastery to deliver an astonishingly diverse program of music. Assad is a vibrant and exciting singer/guitarist from Brazil who transcends traditional styles with her unique ...
This woman can do it all," is how the Los Angeles Daily News describes Clairdee. With her lustrous voice, soulful delivery, and scene-stealing charisma, she has honed a repertoire of standards set to state of the art arrangements that are equally smart and entertaining. Pianist Ken French has been performing jazz piano professionally for nearly ...
Mozart's first operatic masterpiece, comic but passionate, written in the fervor of love for his soon-to-be wife, Konstanze. Full of spectacular arias and charming "Turkish" orchestral effects. Our scene opens with Mozart, age 25, living in Vienna, newly released from bondage to the Archbishop of Salzburg, and perhaps best of all, living in Madam Weber’s ...
Praised for his interpretive vision and power, Atzinger's program includes his signature performance of the monumental Barber Sonata. Mozart Piano Sonata No. 17 in B flat Major, K. 570; Brahms Sechs Klavierstücke, Op. 118; Pierre Jalbert Toccata; Chopin Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49; Barber Sonata for Piano, Op. 26. BUY TICKETS
This woman can do it all!" --Los Angeles Daily News With her lustrous voice, soulful delivery, and scene-stealing charisma, Clairdee has honed a repertoire of standards set to state of the art arrangements that are equally smart and entertaining. Pianist Ken French has been performing jazz piano professionally for nearly two decades on the San ...
A witty and penetrating multi media lecture by Susan Waterfall, providing an overview of Beethoven’s life, music, family, friends, patrons, fellow musicians, Napoleon, the Viennese cultural milieu, and the ongoing controversy about the immortal beloved.
Join Susan Waterfall and an array of exceptional Festival musicians for five days of lectures and narrated concerts exploring the life and music of Beethoven, the most influential and consistently popular composer in Western music.
American singer/songwriter Nora Jane Struthers, a former Brooklyn high school English teacher, grew up singing and playing music with her father, a bluegrass musician. Making a major life and career change during a visit to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in the early 2000's, she made the decision to move to Nashville and went on to ...
Arriving in Vienna from Bonn, the socially awkward Beethoven strives to attain the stature of Haydn and Mozart, mastering all genres before his hearing loss becomes pronounced.
Join Susan Waterfall and an array of exceptional Festival musicians for five days of lectures and narrated concerts exploring the life and music of Beethoven, the most influential and consistently popular composer in Western music. For this concert Waterfall is joined by Eric Kritz, Burke Schuchmann, David McCarroll, Miles Graber, and the Festival Chamber Players.
Accepting his deafness and physical infirmities, Beethoven vows to “seize Fate by the throat” and pursue his artistic goals.
Join Susan Waterfall and an array of exceptional Festival musicians for five days of lectures and narrated concerts exploring the life and music of Beethoven, the most influential and consistently popular composer in Western music. For this concert Waterfall is joined by Keisuke Nakagoshi, Alex Boyer, Angela Moser, and Carolyn Steinbuck.
Featured wines at this event Jack Broadbent started his career with humble beginnings busking, and has since been leaving audiences spellbound with his live shows and unique style of slide guitar. Raised in rural England and with a musician father, Jack was brought up on a diet of music that could later be described as his ...
Violin virtuoso David McCarroll returns to dazzle Festival audiences with his rapturous, yet tender, interpretation of Beethoven’s great Violin Concerto. The Festival Orchestra also performs Beethoven’s majestic Eroica Symphony, full of drama and pathos. Two defining symphonic masterpieces from Beethoven’s Heroic Period, and a soloist of international repute.
Join Susan Waterfall and an array of exceptional Festival musicians for five days of lectures and narrated concerts exploring the life and music of Beethoven, the most influential and consistently popular composer in Western music.
After the renunciation of his “immortal beloved,” in social withdrawal and complete deafness, Beethoven forged a final style.
Join Susan Waterfall and an array of exceptional Festival musicians for five days of lectures and narrated concerts exploring the life and music of Beethoven, the most influential and consistently popular composer in Western music. For this concert she is joined by Brian Thorsett, Miles Graber, Tammie Dyar, Tingting Gu, Alexander Volonts, and Burke Schuchmann.
Marko Djordjevic (left) with Julian Pollack (right) An exciting and many faceted evening inspired by traditional Serbian folk music. Enjoy Julian with drummer Marko Djordjevic’s band, Sveti, and their amazing compositions based on Serbian folk rhythms. The international women's vocal group ROSA, specializing in Serbian non-tempered singing, will round out a complex and riveting musical ...
This is the annual, much anticipated recital by the outrageously excellent young string players from the festival’s Emerging Artists Program. BUY TICKETS
Since forming in 1975, Grammy winners BeauSoleil have claimed their undisputed role as the most esteemed Cajun group in music. BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend elements of Zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe. From The Grand Ole Opry ...
Gwyneth Moreland’s gift for open-hearted storytelling is perfectly suited to the modern art of folk music. No wonder, then, that “Slaughterhouse Gulch,” the first single from her latest album, landed her on the Folk Airplay charts. Gwyneth’s songs flow with a graceful simplicity infused with the ambience of her home perched in the majestic redwoods ...
The season closes with Bach’s moving and magnificent Mass in B minor, a sublime choral experience with orchestra, chorus. The Mass in B minor shows Bach at the height of his powers, expressing the grandeur of heartfelt spiritual expression as no one else has ever been able to do. Nothing can compare to the glory ...
Back for a fifth year of insightful and moving playing, the Calder will perform the Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op.13; and the Beethoven String Quartet No. ...
Featured wines at this performance Describing themselves as a “rock band without instruments,” The House Jacks have been leaders in the contemporary a cappella world for 25 years. Their arrangements ...
Watch the House Jacks singers work their magic on several local a cappella groups. FREE TICKETS
Hip. Imaginative. Fun. Funky. Fresh. Side Note is a group of seven twenty-somethings, each from a wildly different musical background, who draw on their diversity to create an all-new sound. ...
Soloist Jeremy Cohen Featured wines at this performance Event Sponsor The season opens with the exotic rhythms and sinuous melodies of Gershwin’s Cuban Overture; Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires; ...
A concert of medieval and Renaissance music. Featuring Shira Kammen, Allison Zelles Lloyd, Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey. Shira has spent well over half her life exploring the worlds of ...
A key figure in bluegrass, traditional and folk music circles, Berkeley’s Laurie Lewis has established herself as one of the finest and most diverse talents in music today. A winner ...
In celebration of maverick composer Lou Harrison’s 2017 centennial, violinist Kate Stenberg, pianist Sarah Cahill, and percussionist William Winant will perform a concert of Harrison’s music spanning half a century ...
“Smart, alluring and evocative” (Washington Post), Kathleen Grace has traveled the world sharing her country, folk and jazz inspired music with audiences from New York to Peru. Her latest release, No ...
Featured wines at this performance Event Sponsor Four-time Grammy-nominated, the world-renowned Pine Leaf Boys have made a name presenting their own inimitable brand of music with youthful exuberance, reviving ancient ...
“A commanding presence at the keyboard” and an accomplished composer, John Novacek will perform the Beethoven Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10, No. 2; Schumann Carnaval, Op. 9; ...
Featured wines at this performanceThe term "Americana" was practically invented to describe the Band of Heathens' sound, rich with lyrical content and supported by soaring guitar work and a rock-solid ...
Zoe Ellis's dramatic and colorful voice is well known to music fans in the Bay Area and beyond. Described by reviewers as "a resourceful and inventive vocalist," she sang for ...
Featured wines at this performanceGuest conductor Jason Sherbundy Stage director Ann Woodhead Donizetti’s effervescent opera is generally regarded as one of the greatest comic operas and a melodic masterpiece. A ...
When you sit two acclaimed soloists at one piano, “you get something energetic and electrifying… out of this world.” Eva-Maria Zimmerman and Keisuke Nakagoshi have electrified audiences from Carnegie Hall ...
Fingerstyle guitar master Alex de Grassi and Grammy Award-winning classical guitarist Andrew York will perform solo and duo, and will also be joined by members of the Mendocino Summer Guitar Workshop in the premier of a composition for guitar orchestra.
Featured wines at this performance, and sponsoring Kim Nalley's performance. Event Sponsor Kim Nalley has pipes to burn, packing a 3½ octave range that can go from operatic to gritty ...
In Susan Waterfall’s multi-media exploration of Franz Schubert’s life, you will learn how the Vienna of Mozart and Beethoven changed with an increasingly large, restricted and regimented urban middle class. ...
Featured wines at this performance Born in the rural countryside near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Joan Soriano fashioned his first guitar from a tin can and fishing line ...
Be inspired by Joan Soriano’s work with local middle and high school students who have been participating in the Lead Guitar program. FREE TICKETS
Susan Waterfall will play Moments Musicaux and discuss the significance of Schubert’s “character pieces,” which, like lieder, suited the Romantic goals of intimacy and fantasy. Schubert’s exceptional ability to portray ...
The most domestic of all genres, the four-hand piano piece, attained its pinnacle with Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor, written in the last year of Schubert’s life. It will be ...
Featured wines at this performance Bassist Richie Goods, the youngest person ever inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Fame, has toured with a variety of jazz and popular artists ...
Event Sponsor Guitarist Dimitris Mahlis, drummer Ralph Humphrey, bassist Jerry Watts and saxophonist Antti Suzuki bring life to the multi ethnic compositions of Mahlis. Mahlis’s playing style has been described ...