The Napa Valley Opera House is teaming up with the Pacific Chamber Symphony in a partnership that will bring a trio of top-notch performances to the Valley. The series kicks off on Oct.19 at 2 p.m. with an all-wind program featuring compositions by Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak and Strauss.

Rhe Opera House will host a pre-show reception and discussion at 1 p.m. with Maestro Lawrence Kohl.

Formed in 1989, the Pacific Chamber Symphony is a 30-member orchestra based in San Francisco. The group has performed more than 400 different works in 500 concert appearances, including a showing at the United Nations’ 60th Anniversary World Concert Celebration at Grace Cathedral in 2005. 

The orchestra is dedicated to making classical music accessible and meaningful to all. In addition to  its concerts, the symphony brings music to hundreds of thousands Bay Area children through site visits, school assemblies, master classes and youth orchestra programs. 

Kohl, founding music director, has led the Pacific Chamber Symphony from its beginnings in San Leandro. Kohl holds a doctorate in systematic musicology from UCLA, has conducted productions on Broadway and recorded Leonard Bernstein’s musical “Candide.” A clarinetist, he has also played and toured with the San Francisco Symphony.

The series premier is “Classics for Winds.” “Some of the most beautiful writing for orchestra is contained in the solo winds,” Kohl said, “so when a composer writes serenades and suites for winds, the richness of the melodies is quite remarkable.”

The Pacific Chamber Symphony’s series at the Opera House will continue this winter and spring.  On Feb. 22 at 2 p.m., the chamber symphony performs Beethoven’s “Creatures of Prometheus” to life, and on May 31 at 2 p.m., the orchestra concludes the series with Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5.”

For ticket information, contact the Napa Valley Box Office at 226-7372.