November 4, 2025 – Series A

Paul Lewis, after devoting four years to Schubert, is back to his beloved Beethoven with an early sonata and the magnificent last sonata. His tender reading of the sad Brahms Op. 117 Intermezzi is the final word on what the composer called "lullabies with tears." The center of the program is the new grand sonata by the Austrian Thomas Larcher, which we commissioned in Maggy Kongsgaard's memory.

November 18, 2025 – Series B

The Takacs Quartet has prioritized Napa in their crazy international schedule so we can have them every year. They have always been at the top, and with their present configuration they are without rivals. This year it's charming, funny Haydn's Op. 74, No. 3; the atmospheric Debussy Quartet; and a new piece written for Takacs by Clarice Assad of which we are co-commissioners.

January 15, 2026 – Series A

The Jupiter Quartet AND the Jasper Quartet team up for this celebratory season to bring us the irresistible Mendelssohn Octet. With the extra forces, we also will hear the utterly ravishing, early-Schoenberg tone poem, Transfigured Night. The Jupiters will play Haydn Op.33, No. 3 The Bird; and the Jaspers will offer a work written for them by the Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya.

January 27, 2026 – Series B

Garrick Ohlsson, piano; Richard O'Niel, violist of the Takacs Quartet, and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor will collaborate in a Brahms program. Brahms loved the viola and related mezzo voice, and his Viola Songs are heart-melting. Ohlsson and O'Connor will do Brahms's Vier ernste Gesaenge. And Ohlsson and O'Niel will play the two late Viola Sonatas.

February 2, 2026 – Series A

Emanuel Ax, the beloved Polish-born New Yorker, known to his friends as "Manny" is tired of everyone saying what a nice guy he is. It's all true, but his magical playing should be the main story. A French literature major as an undergrad at Columbia, Ax is nicely inclined to the French piano repertory. Debussy's Estampes and L'ilse joyeuses, and Poulenc's WW2 masterpiece Melancolie are the French pieces on this program. A to-be-announced early Beethoven sonata, and the Schumann Fantasy will show the breadth of his gifts.

February 9, 2026 – Series B

Yefim Bronfman, the beloved Uzbek-born New Yorker, known to his friends as "Fima," is another nice guy who is a total giant of the keyboard. And how can it be that these two guys live in the same building in NYC? Bronfman, too, commands as broad repertory, which will be on display, but he is among the rare few utter masters of Prokofiev and concludes his program with the explosive Sonata No. 7. He has played it here before; it will blow you mind again. Also on offer, Brahms' Sonata No. 3, Schumann's Arabeske, and Debussy Images Book 2, which will show us Fima's softer side.

February 19, 2026 – Series B

Louis Lortie, the Canadian-born pianist makes his Napa debut with an all-Beethoven program. Lortie defies categorization, playing practically everything and at the highest level, as attested by his 45+ recordings for Chandos including all of Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel, most of Liszt and a lot else. His recent Beeethoven cycles, backed up by the definitive recordings led to this program including the early Eroica Variations, and the late Hammerklavier Sonata - the Mt. Everest of Beethoven's piano music.

March 2, 2026 – Series A

Benjamin Grosvenor, the English-born pianist, makes his Napa debut with a deep and virtuosic program. Grosvenor at 33 is a star of his generation of stars, all of whom bring a level of playing previously unimaginable. Grosvenor is a pianist of utter gravitas, and his program reflects his range, and sophistication. Beethoven Moonlight, and Schumann Fantasy from the German side pave the way for two extremely exotic masterpieces: Scriabin Sonata No. 2 and Ravel's death-defying Gaspar de la Nuit.

April 28, 2026 – Series A

Paul Lewis returns to close the season with the Vertavo Quartet from Norway. They played a magical Mozart concerto together here in 2014 and we are happy for their return for an extravagant close to this celebratory season. Over two days they will play all five Beethoven Piano Concertos joined by Scott Pringle, the SF Symphony principal double-bass. This project began at London's Wigmore, where Lewis and the Vertavos are regulars, when they played the Fourth Concerto, after which Wigmore wanted all five. We got the first call when the managers offered the Beethoven Concertos for international tour.

April 30, 2026 – Series B

Paul Lewis returns to close the season with the Vertavo Quartet from Norway. They played a magical Mozart concerto together here in 2014 and we are happy for their return for an extravagant close to this celebratory season. Over two days they will play all five Beethoven Piano Concertos joined by Scott Pringle, the SF Symphony principal double-bass. This project began at London's Wigmore, where Lewis and the Vertavos are regulars, when they played the Fourth Concerto, after which Wigmore wanted all five. We got the first call when the managers offered the Beethoven Concertos for international tour.