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By Vivien Schweitzer
01 Mar 2007
The second annual Festival del Sole in California's Napa Valley is set for July 13-22, with a starry lineup, a new castle-like venue and John Corigliano as composer in residence.
The ten-day "lifestyle festival" features daily concerts followed by meals prepared by celebrity chefs and served with fine regional wines.
The gala opening night event on July 13 stars mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and flutists James Galway and his wife, Jeanne, as well as the resident Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Stéphane Denčve.
The artist roster also includes Antonio Pappano, music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Nicola Luisotti, recently named San Francisco Opera’s next music director. Luisotti will lead a concert by the RNO on July 18 featuring violinist Joshua Bell in Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 and cellist Nina Kotova performing Saint-Saëns's Cello Concerto.
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| The Castello di Amorosa |
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| photo by Rocco Ceselin |
The first Castello concert, on July 14, features excerpts from Handel's Julius Caesar performed by the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under its artistic director, Nicholas McGegan; countertenor David Daniels and soprano Danielle de Niese sing Caesar and Cleopatra. The following day, the University of Texas at Austin Wind Band will perform Corigliano's Circus Maximus.
Corigliano's music will also be spotlighted on July 17 at the Castello, where the Galways will be joined for a chamber music concert by Kotova — who is the festival's artistic director — and violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky.
Two solo recitals will be performed in the Napa Opera House: On July 19 pianist Christopher Taylor will play Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes and Beethoven’s final piano sonata, and on July 21, soprano Lisa Delan will give a matinee performance.
Pappano will lead the RNO in the festival's final concert on July 22, with violinist Nikolaj Znaider and pianist Piotr Anderszewski playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3.
For more information visit: www.festivaldelsole.com.
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| photo by Rocco Ceselin |
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