The Napa Valley Symphony’s classical season opens with an

all-Beethoven program, featuring violinist Giora Schmidt in the composer’s great Concerto for Violin & Orchestra in D, Op. 61 Sunday at the Lincoln Theater.

The program will also include Beethoven’s Symphony #4, Op. 60 and Coriolan Overture, Op. 62.

Maestro Asher Raboy will conduct.

Richard Aldag, Napa Valley Symphony executive director, described Giora as “truly one of the rising stars of the violin world — a musician’s musician, who is at the same time an extremely engaging performer.”

Hailed by critics for recalling “(Itzhak) Perlman in his prime” Schmidt is quickly establishing himself as a distinctive virtuoso of the grand tradition.

“Twenty years from now, people will be recalling their first time hearing Giora the way people speak about Perlman, Zukerman, Mütter and others in their early years,” Aldag said.

Schmidt, who made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2003, has appeared with symphony orchestras across North America. In recital, he has performed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Rising Stars series, San Francisco Performances, the Louvre and Tokyo’s Musashino Cultural Hall.

Schmidt has collaborated with Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum and Michael Tree. He frequently performs with pianist Navah Perlman and cellist Zuill Bailey as part of the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio.

Born in 1983, Schmidt, the son of Israeli musicians, began playing the violin at the age of four.

At 13, he met Maestro Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program and at 16 was invited by Perlman to study under him at the Juilliard Pre-College. Schmidt continued his studies with Perlman at the Juilliard School and also with the late violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay.

His debut recital disc “Vocalise” is available on Allegro/Endeavour Classics.

This appearance will mark the violinist’s second performance in a Napa Valley Symphony-presented concert. Schmidt performed at Lincoln Theater Napa Valley in February 2008 in a chamber music program with cellist Zuill Bailey and members of the Napa Valley Symphony.

If you go

• Beginning with Beethoven

Napa Valley Symphony

• Sunday, 3 p.m.

• Tickets: $30-$65

• Box Office: www.napavalleysymphony.org or 226-8742