Napa Valley’s venerable Music in the Vineyards chamber-music series launches it’s first-ever winter festival Jan. 29 and 30 with MITV@Home, a weekend of free-access concerts featuring four highly regarded string quartets. The featured ensembles are the Pacifica Quartet, the Escher Quartet, the Maxwell Quartet, and the Miró Quartet. The weekend lineup will also include a Family Concert on Saturday, Jan. 30 with Music in the Vineyards’ 2020 apprentice group, the Solideo Quartet.

The festival is a great way to beat the winter blues, says Co-Artistic Director Daria Adams. “This special weekend of concerts also gives us the chance to share chamber music with our audience during a tumultuous time in our history. Enriching people’s lives through the power of music is not only our mission but also needed now more than ever before,” she said.

The concerts will be streamed in the MITV@Home YouTube channel. Like MITV’s first virtual series in August 2020, Artistic Directors Michael and Daria Adams will introduce each concert, 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!”

Access to the concert is available by signing up for the MITV email list or by checking the Watch & Information page. Although the concerts are free, viewers are encouraged to make donations to help provide funding for the participating musicians.

 

Here’s the lineup:

Friday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

The Pacifica Quartet
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: String Quartet in E flat
Jennifer Higdon, Voices String Quartet, “Grace”

The Escher Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet in E flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”)


Saturday, January 30 at 10 a.m.

The Solideo Quartet (MITV’s 2020 Apprentice Quartet)
Family Concert (Ages 4–12): An Introduction to the String Quartet


Saturday, January 30 at 7:30 pm

The Maxwell Quartet
Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet from Op. 74, No. 1 in C major (1793)
Scottish Folk Tunes

Miró Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C, Op. 59, No. 3 (“Razumovsky”)


For concert links, more information, and full program details, please visit www.musicinthevineyards.org. For questions, please email [email protected] or call (707) 258-5559.