12/07/2015 - A Tribute to the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center

Symphony Napa Valley Presents: A Grand Overture - 10th Anniversary Gala

On Saturday, November 21st, Symphony Napa Valley presented “A Grand Overture - 10th Anniversary Gala” led by Maestro Michael Guttman, at the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater. The Gala 10th Anniversary Celebration was a tribute to the dedication of the Friends of the Lincoln Theater. This small group of people raised the money to remodel the Lincoln Theater at the Veteran’s Home and create a world class performing arts center.

The Gala Event is destined to be the most magical night of the season as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Lincoln Theater’s grand opening. The Symphony Gala will feature soprano, Marnie Breckenridge and tenor Christopher Bengochea. A Grand Overture pays tribute to all of those who built the Lincoln Theater with multiple overtures by Mozart, Verdi, and Bernstein as well as some of Classical Music’s most cherished pieces, such as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, ‘Brindisi’ from La Traviata, ‘Tonight’ from West Side Story, and more.

In 2005, the Napa Valley community came together to raise funds for a much needed restoration of the Lincoln Theater in Yountville. Several supporters of the theater and the symphony worked tirelessly to raise the $23 million needed to perform structural repairs and modernize the building, which was built in 1957 on the grounds of the Yountville Veterans Home. The Lincoln Theater is now a beautiful, modern building and one of the most sophisticated facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Maestro Guttman

Michael Guttman is an eminent violin soloist, conductor and music director of festivals around the world. At age ten, he became the youngest student ever to be admitted into the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music. Encouraged by his late mentor Isaac Stern, Guttman studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Dorothy Delay, the Juilliard Quartet and Felix Galimir. Guttman has earned critical acclaim from the New York Times for his “incredible wealth of tone colors and his sound of melting beauty“, and was described by the Jerusalem Post as the “Chagall of violinists“. He has performed in halls such as London’s Barbican Centre, New York’s Avery Fisher Hall, Paris’s Salle Pleyel, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Tokyo’s Bunko Kaikan. He collaborated with the late conductor and composer Lukas Foss at the Music Festival of the Hamptons, a relationship which initiated his conducting career.

Much in demand as a chamber musician, he is regularly invited to perform at festivals by Martha Argerich (Lugano), Yuri Bashmet (Elba), Natalya Gutman (Kreuth), Boris Berezovski (Moscow) or Salvatore Accardo (Vicenza), among others. In the coming season, Guttman is scheduled to premiere the concerto for violin and cello by Philip Glass in the US, Asia and Europe. He will tour the UK with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra and appear with the Dallas Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Philarmonic, the Royal Flanders Philharmonic and will premiere a concerto by Steven Stucky in 2013.

Mr. Guttman is the principal guest conductor of the Brussels Chamber Orchestra, the leader of the acclaimed Arriaga Quartet and of the Michael Guttman Tango Quartet, as well as the founder and artistic director of Pietrasanta in Concerto, the highly praised music festival in Tuscany. The Paris Camerata, an ensemble created by Guttman, will make its Italian debut at both festivals this summer. As a conductor, he has collaborated with such artists as Martha Argerich, Peter Serkin, James Galway and Richard Stolztman. Following his recording of three concertos by Israeli composers with the London Philarmonic and the late David Shallon, Mr. Guttman performed with most Israeli orchestras and will play the concerto by Noam Sheriff with the Israel Philarmonic. Like his mentor Isaac Stern, Guttman is dedicated to helping young artists, notably at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Brussels.

 

 

Gina Gallo and Jean-Charles Boisset

She’s a talented winemaker and the face of an American wine dynasty; he’s the scion of a French wine empire.

Gold Level ticket holders will continue the celebration post show at an exciting Gala Dinner hosted by Jean-Charles Boisset and Gina Gallo in the Famed Crystal Cellar at Raymond Vineyards.

The Crystal Cellar is inspired by the traditional candle-lit cellars of France, the inimitable Crystal Cellar boasts stainless steel walls, a mirrored tasting bar and a collection of historical cyrstal decanters from Baccarat. 

 

Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary performing arts center built on strong community artistic and philanthropic relationships, impactful arts education programs, and first-class local, national and international entertainment (including a new, scalable symphonic orchestra, Symphony Napa Valley).  Celebrating its first year anniversary, the Performing Arts Center hasemerged as a leading provider of arts education and world-class entertainment in the Napa Valley.

Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater operates under the aegis of Lincoln Theater Foundation, a nonprofit public benefit 501(c)(3) corporation, dedicated to enriching lives by preserving, enhancing and providing access to the performing arts and arts education, to nurturing and developing the artists and audiences of tomorrow by building a sustainable, relevant professional performing arts center where education and community are as important as entertainment, and to being a valued asset to the California Veterans Home and to the Napa Valley community at large.

 
KEY INITIATIVES

In addition to bringing world-class entertainment to the Napa Valley, the cornerstones to sustaining a multi-disciplinary performing arts center are innovative and meaningful education programs, original programming and community collaboration and outreach.  In keeping with our promise to the community, we offer a diversified palate of programs and events that educate, entertain, enhance and touch all of our lives.  

EDUCATION

ORCHESTRA INSTITUTE NAPA VALLEY – innovative and unique performance and professional development programs.

§  The Fellowship Program is a year-round performance, teaching, mentoring, professional-development and community outreach program for exceptional post-graduate musicians for the mutual benefit of the Fellows and the community.

NAPA WRITES – highly acclaimed, innovative in-school, afterschool and summer workshops and seminars aimed at giving young people creative writing options and guidance through the exploration of the written word with the goal of having each child see his or her work come to fruition.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORKSHOPS  – year-round workshops and classes, for students in all levels of artistic development from beginner to professional, in dance, theater, voice and other art disciplines taught by local, national and international experts in their fields.

EARLY CHILDHOOD ARTS INTEGRATION – this soon to be announced project will build a preschool arts integration program that brings together music, movement and storytelling for children 0-5 years old in the Napa Valley.  Our Orchestra Institute Fellows, authors and dancers will work with preschool teachers to create site-specific education programs based on the latest cognitive science.

 

 

SIGNATURE PROGRAMS & ANNUAL EVENTS

SYMPHONY NAPA VALLEY  – a full symphonic orchestra and a scalable in-house accompaniment orchestra made up of the best professional musicians in the North Bay area, Orchestra Institute Fellows as well as guest artists and conductors from all over the world. The Symphony offers a breadth and depth of programming that while faithful to tradition will also explore new ground and new ways to enhance the symphonic music experience and make classical music relevant and approachable for today’s audiences.

LIVE IN THE LOBBY – the Lincoln Theater Lobby comes alive each Friday night in the summer with exciting, eclectic performances from every genre imaginable from jazz, pop and classical music to blues and bluegrass.  No cover; no admission charge.

CabFest Napa Valley – CabFest Napa Valley is a unique three day celebration exclusively dedicated to world class Cabernet Sauvignon. Cab is a rich, complex varietal that has been instrumental in the success of the Napa Valley wine industry. March 4-6, 2016 the Lincoln Theater will be transformed into the prime destination for discerning wine enthusiasts. The festival opens on Friday night with a mainstage Mat Kearney concert, followed by a VIP Cigars & Guitars afterparty. Saturday & Sunday pair extensive tastings of first class Cabernet with fine food and engaging symposiums.

Word4Word – May 9 & 10, 2014 – an annual two-day celebration of language in all its forms, bringing together the best of local theater, film, multimedia and literary arenas to showcase the work of students and emerging artists and writers. Multi-award-winning John Lithgow will headline the inaugural festival performing his one-man tour-de-force “Stories By Heart,” in which he plays all of the captivating characters, featuring works by PG Wodehouse and Ring Lardner.  Along with the student works, the event will also include lectures, book signings, and author and celebrity performances.
OUTREACH

All of our initiatives are strengthened by our Affiliate Alliance, a dynamic network of local arts and education groups working with us to propel the creative and cultural opportunities and access in the Napa Valley to new heights. Tailored to the individual needs of each partnering organization, this unique collaboration harnesses the drive and artistry of Affiliates to do what they do best: create and perform works that enrich us all.  Affiliates are long-term collaborations unique to each Affiliate that go beyond their utilization of our venue.  Co-Presenters (Co-Presenting Affiliates) are philanthropic groups that join forces with us on specific events to raise funds and awareness for their cause as well as ours.  Goodwill Affiliates are schools, churches and small performing arts groups who would otherwise be unable to utilize a professional venue of our size.