A Winter Festival from Music in the VIneyards
For the first time in its 26-year history, Music in the Vineyards (MITV) will present a virtual winter festival with a weekend of concerts available online Jan. 29 and 30.
“MITV@Home” features free access to performances from four award-winning string quartets, allowing patrons to enjoy some musical warmth without having to wait for the summer festival.
MITV@Home concerts will be streamed on its YouTube channel, offering performances by the Pacifica Quartet, Escher Quartet, Maxwell Quartet and the Miró Quartet.
The weekend lineup will also include a Family Concert on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m. featuring Music in the Vineyards’ 2020 Apprentice Quartet, the Solideo Quartet.
“Our first-ever winter festival is a great opportunity to escape winter chills and hear four quartets of international renown back-to-back,” said Daria T. Adams, co-artistic director of Music in the Vineyard,s which annually fills August in Napa Valley with chamber music performances at a variety of venues.
This past summer, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the festival shifted to an online virtual series.
“This special weekend of concerts also gives us the chance to share chamber music with our audience during a tumultuous time in our history,” Adams added. “Enriching people’s lives through the power of music is not only our mission but also needed now more than ever before.”
On Friday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m., the festival will begin with the Pacifica Quartet performing works by two women, Fanny Mendelssohn and Jennifer Higdon, This will be followed by the Escher Quartet performing Beethoven’s Op. 74 String Quartet, for harp.
On Saturday, Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m., the Maxwell Quartet will play their signature folk music from Scotland and the British Isles, as well as a Haydn String Quartet from Op. 74.
The festival closes with the Miró Quartet performing Beethoven’s Op. 59 no. 3 String Quartet nicknamed Hero, from his prolific middle period.
Similar in format to the festival’s first virtual series in August 2020, each concert will be introduced by artistic directors Michael and Daria Adams, this time from their home in Minnesota.
“We’re eager to connect with our patrons again in this New Year,” said Adams. “Our musicians are aching to perform, so this festival serves both the listeners and the players!”
The MITV@Home winter festival will be available online Jan. 29 and 30, and can be accessed by signing up for the Music in the Vineyards email list. Access to the concerts is entirely free, and donations are accepted to help provide funding for the participating artists.
For concert links, more information, and full program details, visit www.musicinthevineyards.org. For questions, email info@musicinthevineyards.org or call (707) 258-5559.
WATCH NOW: MUSIC IN THE VINEYARDS @ HOME 2020
CHECK OUT PHOTOS: VIVA MARIACHI FESTIVAL IN NAPA
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Ramon Rivera (center), director of the mariachi program in the Wenatchee, Washington school district, brought a troupe of student musicians to the inaugural Viva Mariachi Festival Saturday at Napa Valley College.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Saturday’s Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College showcased student ensembles including Mariachi Garibaldi, a group of musicians based at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. The two-year school located between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico opened the world’s first degree program in mariachi music 15 years ago.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Performers on the guitar-like vihuela rehearsed Saturday morning at Napa Valley College during the school’s inaugural Viva Mariachi Festival, which signed up more than 90 musicians and showcased high school and college ensembles from Wenatchee, Washington; Chula Vista and Berkeley.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
The gymnasium at Napa Valley College was one of several on-campus practice spaces for musicians studying and performing during the school’s first Viva Mariachi Festival on Saturday.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Sindy Cancino, 14, of Oxnard practices the trumpet part of “La Feria de las Flores,” one of the songs scheduled for a concert Saturday night at Napa Valley College to conclude its first Viva Mariachi Festival.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
One of the performance workshops Saturday morning during the Viva Mariachi Festival in Napa included stringed instruments such as the guitarron, an oversize guitar-like instrument.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Vihuela players made a final check of their chords before the concert that highlighted Napa Valley College’s inaugural Viva Mariachi festival Saturday night.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
More than 90 musicians who attended workshop Saturday morning at Napa Valley College’s Viva Mariachi festival returned in the evening to open a concert attended by several hundred spectators in the campus gymnasium.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Mariachi Luz de Oro, an ensemble of UC Berkeley students, was one of three bands showcased at the evening concert of Saturday’s Viva Mariachi festival in Napa.
Viva Mariachi Festival at Napa Valley College
Mariachi Luz de Oro, an ensemble of UC Berkeley students, was one of three bands showcased at the evening concert of Saturday’s Viva Mariachi festival in Napa.
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