Festival Napa Valley is a nonprofit music, arts, wine, and cultural organization based in Napa Valley, California.[1] It presents an annual summer festival and year-round educational and community programs.
Napa Valley Festival Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, governs and produces the Festival. The board includes vintners, arts patrons, and local community leaders, including Robin Baggett, Steven Stull, Darioush Khaledi, and Kathryn Hall. The organization’s programming includes free and low-cost concerts, year-round educational initiatives, and community outreach.[2][3]
The Festival is funded through ticket revenue, fundraising events, sponsorships, grants, and donor support. A major fundraising component is the Arts for All Gala, which features dining, live performance, and auction items. According to Haute Living, the Arts for All Gala has raised more than $33 million since its inception.[4]
History
Festival Napa Valley was founded in 2006 by arts manager Richard Walker, producer Barrett Wissman, and arts executive Charles Letourneau.[5] The festival was launched with financial support from Ann and Gordon Getty, Tatiana and Gerret Copeland, Maria Manetti and Jan Shrem, Athena and Timothy Blackburn, Peter T. Paul, John Traina, and Robert and Margrit Mondavi, among other noted philanthropists. Founding Partner Wineries included PlumpJack, Darioush, Far Niente, Bouchaine Vineyards, HALL Napa Valley, Peju Winery, Quintessa, Blackbird Vineyards, Castello di Amorosa, Swanson Vineyards, Colgin Cellars, Gargiulo Vineyards, and Robert Mondavi Winery. The founders sought to create a festival that would define Napa Valley as a cultural destination.[2]
In 2016, the festival presented a tribute to Margrit Mondavi, also at Far Niente. Jazz musician Dave Koz and vocalist Monica Mancini performed. Notable guests included Sophia Loren and Lidia Bastianich. Among those celebrating Ms. Mondavi in person or by video were Beth Nickel, Maria Manetti Shrem, Francis Ford Coppola, Thomas Keller, Jacques Pepin, Boz Scaggs, Piero Antinori, and Lamberto Frescobaldi. The tribute was one of Margrit Mondavi's last public appearances and she died less than six weeks later.[7]
In 2018, the festival feted its Founding Chair Darioush Khaledi and his wife Shahpar, culminating in a private concert and dinner featuring Sarah Chang and Aldo Lopez-Gavilan, hosted by Jeff and Valerie Gargiulo at Gargiulo Vineyards.[8]
In 2021, the festival returned to live programming with a full schedule running from July 16–25, 2021.[9]
Summer Season
Festival Napa Valley’s Summer Season, held annually in July, is a multidisciplinary music, art, and culinary festival. The festival features performances across classical and jazz, opera, dance, and contemporary music genres, held in venues across Napa Valley, including Charles Krug, CIA at Copia, Bouchaine Vineyards, Nickel & Nickel, HALL St. Helena, and Castello di Amorosa.[10] Artists who performed in 2025 include Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Tessa Lark, Angel Blue, Tiler Peck, Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra, LMR Jazz Orchestra, and others.
Arts for All Gala
This annual fundraising gala is held at Nickel & Nickel and features a reception, dinner, auction, and a headline concert performance.[11] The 2025 Gala reached a fundraising milestone of $5 million. Headlining performers have included Jon Batiste, Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, Trisha Yearwood, Jennifer Hudson, SEAL, Kristin Chenoweth, and Bill Murray, among others.[12] The 2017 Arts for All Gala, held at HALL Napa Valley, raised a record $2.5 million[13]
Taste of Napa
Each summer, the Festival presents Taste of Napa at The Meritage Resort & Spa, its signature food and wine celebration showcasing local wineries, restaurants, and culinary artisans.[14][15][16]
Educational initiatives
The Festival emphasizes education through programs including the Frost School at Festival Napa Valley, Blackburn Music Academy, and Manetti Shrem Opera Program, offering tuition-free training and professional development for more than 90 college and early career professional artists each year.[17][18] Additional education programs include Novack Concerts for Kids the Bouchaine Young Artist Series, and How I See Music.[19]
Programs
Festival Napa Valley has awarded more than $1 million to support Napa County public school visual and performing arts programs.[20] The festival has fulfilled teacher "Wish Lists" for classroom resources and materials, has underwritten the creation of Napa County's first-ever arts education master plan in partnership with Arts Council Napa Valley and the Napa Valley Unified School District, and played role in access to quality arts education for all K-12 students.[21] Festival grants have provided funding for a district-wide Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator; a music teacher to serve Napa's three largest middle schools; and the creation of a professional development program to encourage arts integration into all classrooms. Festival Napa Valley has also partnered with the Napa County Office of Education to ensure arts education for the county's most disenfranchised students at Camille Creek Community School, through funding a weekly arts education class, establishing a creative room on campus, and initiating an annual Concert on the Green on the Camille Creek campus. On April 5, 2018, We McDonald, a finalist from NBC's "The Voice," inaugurated the Concert on the Green with a performance and question and answer session with the students.[22]
Young artist series and concert
The festival's Bouchaine Young Artists Series is an admission-free concert series featuring performances by emerging stars.[23]
Summer camps
In 2018, Festival Napa Valley funded two tuition-free summer camps for the Boys & Girls Clubs' Napa and American Canyon clubhouses, each serving 250 students ages 6–18.[24] The program features a robust arts curriculum designed to encourage students to create, explore and discover, a daily interactive music experience, and attendance at the festival's Concert for Kids featuring a headlining artist.
Vocal arts series
With support from Festival Napa Valley benefactors Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, the festival presents leading vocalists and emerging talent in concert halls and intimate settings throughout Napa Valley, including Lincoln Theater, Napa Valley Opera House, Meadowood, Jarvis Conservatory, and Castello di Amorosa.[25]
Dance series
San Francisco philanthropist Dede Wilsey underwrites the festival's dance series, which has featured dancers from American Ballet Theatre, Bandaloop, Bolshoi Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, National Ballet of Canada, New York City Ballet, Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, StaatsBallett Berlin and Stuttgart Ballet, among others.[26] The Napa Regional Dance Company and other programs for young dancers are also presented through the series.
Reception
USA Today ranked Festival Napa Valley among the top 10 music festivals in the United States.[27]
BBC Music named Festival Napa Valley among the “27 best classical music festivals in USA and Canada 2024”[28]
Festival Napa Valley was awarded the 2026 Best Of Wine Tourism Regional Award: Wine Tourism Services by Great Wine Capitals.[29]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
