Five classical music festivals open this month in Northern California, starting this weekend with the Mendocino Music Festival and continuing through July 29 with the intimate Music in the Vineyards in the Napa Valley.
Beyond the usual ticketed concerts, the festivals also offer plenty of learning opportunities through open rehearsals and master classes, lectures and community concerts, plus wine receptions at which you can mingle with the musicians.
Many of these educational programs are free or come with an affordable price tag, making them even more attractive to folks who want to hear lots of Beethoven and Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn, too.
“We invite our audience to stay after every concert and drink a different wine from a local winery,” said Tanya Tomkins, artistic director of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma.
“It’s out on the patio, and we really encourage people to stay and talk to us.”
Here is a synopsis of options that are enlightening and light on your wallet.
Mendocino Music Festival, July 9-23
For 30 years, the Mendocino Music Festival has brought beautiful music to a beautiful setting, a big white tent perched on the Mendocino Headlands.
“I’m very proud of it,” said co-founder and executive director Allan Pollack. “It’s definitely a musician’s festival and has a lot of musical integrity.”
Residents of the town enjoy hearing the music waft up from the tent during rehearsals, but attendees may not realize that all the rehearsals for the opera, big band and orchestra concerts are free and open to the public. This year, that adds up to 15 rehearsals, which means nearly every day of the festival.
“People love them, and they get to hear the music in a way that they don’t usually get to hear it,” Pollack said. “People have commented that they actually prefer the rehearsals to the concerts, because they find it more interesting.”
In addition, some tickets to the tent concerts cost only $12, if you don’t mind sitting far away from the stage.
Some of the classical highlights of this year’s festival include Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece, “Abduction from the Seraglio” July 15, Bach’s moving Mass in B minor by the Festival Orchestra and Chorus July 23 and local violinist David McCarroll performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto July 20.
The festival is highlighting Beethoven this year, with works from his three main periods along with three lectures: “The Young Beethoven” July 18, “The Heroic Period” July 19, “The Late Beethoven” July 21, all in Preston Hall; and “All About Beethoven” July 17, a multimedia lecture by Susan Waterfall. The lectures cost $12-$29.
The Mendocino Music Festival also features concerts by world, folk, bluegrass, jazz and zydeco artists. mendocinomusic.org.
Festival Napa Valley, July 15 to 24
The festival formerly known as Festival del Sole has offered a free concert series for the past seven or eight seasons — the Bouchaine Young Artist Series at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa.
“It’s an opportunity for us to give the next generation of superstars a performing opportunity,” said Sonia Tolbert, general manager of the festival. “We also give a scholarship to each of the young artists.”
The concerts have grown so popular that this summer, all the seats have already been reserved. However, for the free Community Concert July 23 at the Lincoln Theater, the festival will showcase the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, a multicultural ensemble with kids from ages 7 to 18.
