If you’ve ever wanted to hear all 17 of Beethoven’s string quartets performed in Napa Valley wineries, the 13th season of Music in the Vineyards offers the perfect opportunity.

Opening Aug. 6 at Clos Pegase, the festival runs through Aug. 26, with 16 chamber concerts at locations from Napa to Calistoga — including six evenings devoted to Beethoven’s complete cycle of string quartets, performed in its entirety by the award-winning Pacifica String Quartet.

The other concerts will be light on strings, according to guest artistic director Jeffrey Sykes of Alameda.

“Since we were doing all these string quartets, I thought it best if for the rest of the festival we stayed away from the traditional string repertoire,” he said.

Instead, Sykes — a pianist who has performed at the festival for years, and co-founder of a long-running Wisconsin festival — has programmed plenty of music for his favorite instrument.

“My perspective on music is that of a pianist,” he said. The concert Aug. 10 at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa will be particularly percussive, with works for two pianos by Rachmaninoff and Mozart.

“Two pianos make a lot of sound,” Sykes said. “It’s exciting, thrilling repertoire, and it looks great on the stage.”

Festival co-founders Michael and Daria Adams, who have programmed Music in the Vineyards for the past 12 years, won’t be sitting this one out: Daria, a violinist, will perform, while Michael will continue as the festival’s witty and informative master of ceremonies.

 “He’s a wonderful raconteur, and so knowledgeable about music,” Sykes said.

A musical ‘Tour de France’

For his year as guest director, Sykes has chosen a feast of French music, from the baroque to the late romantic period. Perhaps the most familiar work is Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals,” also on the bill Aug. 10; the festival’s second weekend, dubbed “Tour de France,” will include works by Couperin, Ravel and Fauré.

“A lot of it will be unfamiliar (to Napa audiences) but very much worth listening to — exciting stuff,” said Sykes, who confesses a passion for the French repertoire.

Concertgoers will learn the stories behind the masterworks: Louis Vierne’s Piano Quintet, scheduled for Aug. 18 at Silverado Winery, was written after the composer’s son was killed in the first World War. Sykes calls the work “tragic, absolutely devastating. It makes you weep.”

The festival’s final weekend will celebrate the human voice with art songs, spirituals and Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” — newly translated and adapted by Sykes himself, specifically for the Napa festival.

“It’s about a father, an old-time winery owner, and his daughter is hanging out at the local grunge café and meeting guys,” he said.

Festival tickets are $40 to $45, except for the closing-night celebration at Meadowood Aug. 26 ($75).Three free events are also on the schedule: a musical picnic in St. Helena’s Lyman Park, Aug. 9 at 6 p.m., and two open rehearsals, Aug. 10 at the Jarvis Conservatory and Aug. 16 at Napa Valley College, both at 2 p.m.

In all, nearly 40 musicians will perform at more than a dozen locations during the festival.

“There are so many great places we get to play,” Sykes said. “It’s fantastic: Even if the acoustics are not always ideal, the environment is so intimate that it’s really great.

“Live music is something of an endangered species in the digital age,” he continued. “What you find in that live performance is that thrill of what’s going to happen next.

“We need more and more of these experiences as our lives get more and more digital.”

Music in the Vineyards

13th Annual Festival Season, Aug. 6-26

Monday, Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m. 

Beethoven Cycle I

Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3

Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3

Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127 (“Rasumovsky”)

Clos Pegase Winery, 1060 Dunaweal Lane, Calistoga, CA

Tickets: $40

Wednesday, August 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Beethoven Cycle II

“Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2”

“Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74” (“Harp”)

“Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131”

Hudson House at Beringer Vineyards, 2000 Main St., St. Helena

Tickets: $45

Friday, Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Carnival of the Animals

Schumann: “Andante and Variations, op. 46, for Two Pianos, Two Cellos, and Horn”

Rachmaninoff: “Suite no. 2, for Two Pianos”

Mozart: “Larghetto and Allegro for Two Pianos”

Saint-Saëns: “The Carnival of the Animals”

Jarvis Conservatory, 1711 Main St., Napa

Tickets: $40

Saturday, Aug. 11, 5 p.m.

Appalachian Spring

Schubert: “Octet”

Copland: “Appalachian Spring”

Daniel Paget: “One Hundred Roses”

Spottswoode, 1902 Madrona Ave., St. Helena

Tickets: $45

Sunday, Aug. 12, 5:30 p.m.

Chopin, Bloch & Schumann

Schumann: “Adagio and Allegro, for Horn and Piano”

Bloch: “Piano Quintet”

Schumann: “Violin Sonata in A Minor”

Chen Yi: “Qi for Flute, Cello, Piano and Percussion”

Debussy: “Première Rhapsodie”

Chopin: “Polonaise Brillante, for Cello and Piano”

Rubicon Estate, 1991 St. Helena Hwy. Rutherford

Tickets: $40

 

Aug 13 at 7:30 p.m.

 Beethoven Cycle III

“Quartet in F Major, Op. 14, No. 1” (arranged by the composer from a piano sonata)

“Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1”

“Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1” (“Rasumovsky”)

Merryvale Vineyards, 1000 Main St., St. Helena

Tickets: $45

Wednesday, Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Beethoven Cycle IV

“Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6”

“Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95” (“Serious”)

“Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132”

Markham Vineyards, 2812 St. Helena Hwy North

 Tickets: $40

Friday, Aug.17, 7:30 p.m.

Afternoon of a Faun

Debussy: “Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun”

Rameau: “Suite in B-flat Major” from “Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts”

Ravel: “Introduction and Allegro”

Fauré: “Piano Quintet in C Minor”

Silverado Winery, 6121 Silverado Trail, Napa

Tickets:  $40

Saturday, Aug. 18, 5 p.m.

Carmen & Friends

Debussy: “Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp”

Couperin: “The Apotheosis of Lully”

Borne (after Georges Bizet): “Carmen Fantasy”

Vierne: “Piano Quintet”

Silverado Winery, 6121 Silverado Trail, Napa

Tickets: $40

Sunday, Aug. 19, 5 p.m.

Faure, Ravel & Marais

Saint-Saëns: “Fantasy”

Marais: “The Bells of Sainte-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris”

Ravel: “Sonatina”

Fauré: “Piano Quartet in G Minor”

Silverado Winery, 6121 Silverado Trail, Napa

Monday, Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Beethoven Cycle V

“Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5”

“Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130” (Including the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133)

V. Sattui Winery, 1111 White Lane,  St. Helena

Tickets: $40

Wednesday, Aug. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Beethoven Cycle VI

“Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4”

“Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2” (“Rasumovsky”)

“Quartet in F Major, Op. 135”

The Hess Collection, 4411 Redwood Rd., St. Helena

 Tickets: $45

Friday, Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m.

Brahms & the Girls

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: “Six Songs”

Rebecca Clarke: “Piano Trio”

Brahms: “Piano Quartet in A Major”

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, 5766 Silverado Trail, Napa

Tickets: $45

Saturday, Aug. 25, 5 p.m.

Coffee Cantata

Miguel del Aguila: “Charango Capriccioso”

Bach: “Coffee Cantata”

James Balentine: “Five Spirituals”

Schumann: “Piano Quintet”

Tickets: $40 (Discounted tickets for students)

Sunday, Aug. 26, 5 p.m.

Liebeslieder Waltzes

Janácek: “Violin Sonata”

Brahms: “New Liebeslieder Waltzes”

Bernstein: “What a Movie!” from “Trouble in Tahiti”

Dvorák: “Piano Quartet in E-flat Major”

Mondavi Winery, Highway 29, Oakville

Tickets: $40