Nappa Valley Opera House Announces Their Fall Schedule

Napa Valley Opera House Fall Schedule

Laurence Juber
Saturday, August 29
8pm, $30
Featured as part of the Napa Fresh Aire Festival
Laurence Juber is a master of his instrument. His electric and acoustic guitars have been heard in every medium and in just about every style going back to his early days as a session hotshot in London and his three-year stint on lead guitar for Paul McCartney's band, Wings.

Dr. John & The Lower 911 with Aaron Neville & The Neville Brothers
Labor Day: Mon., Sept. 7
7pm, $95 / $110
Dr. John is universally celebrated as the living embodiment of the rich musical heritage exclusive to New Orleans. The Neville Brothers embody passionate funk, a feeling for blues-soaked deep pocket grooves that is the basis of their greatness and exalted place in our cultural history.

Labor Day BBQ at Oxbow Public Market
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Patio Seating: $60
Indoor Seating: $100
Join us before the show or just come for the party at the Oxbow Public Market. A barbeque with live music benefiting the Opera House provides a bounty of food choices from the market vendors along with refreshing wine, beer and beverage selections.

SF Comedy Competition Finals
Friday, September 11
8pm, $30 / $35
Five talented finalists will perform their very best 15-20 minutes of original material-for three Napa Valley-based judges- in the hopes of winning big prize money and perhaps catching the eye of a Hollywood talent scout. This popular event has been credited with discovering the likes of Dana Carvey, Ellen DeGeneres and Robin Williams! May contain adult material and situations.

Zydeco Dance with Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys
Café Theatre
Saturday, September 12
Lessons 7:30pm, Dance 8pm, $30
A hot, new band in Southwest Louisiana's Zydeco scene, Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys features the accordion mastery and soulful vocals of front man Jeffery Broussard, from the legendary band Zydeco Force, along with long-time contributor to Cajun and Creole music, fiddle and guitar player, D'Jalma Garnier III. The band delivers great, pack-the-floor renditions of Creole classics as well as their own brand of contemporary Zydeco.

Hawaiian Tropical Nights
Friday, September 18
8pm, $30 / $35
Featuring the Pahinui Hawaiian Band along with Kumu Hula Kawika Alfiche & Halau O' Keikiali'I, this one-night fundraiser for The Manaleo Hawaiian Cultural Foundation, Inc. will transport you back to the Hawaiian Islands with its majestic beauty, sultry melodies, and breathtaking hula performances that will surely leave you wanting more! This performance opens the second annual Napa Valley Aloha Festival and also showcases Napa's own Manaleo and Grammy-Award winning Hawaiian Slack Key Musician Cyril Pahinui.

Chanticleer
Saturday, September 19
8pm, $20 - $44
Chanticleer-based in San Francisco-is known around the world as "an orchestra of voices" for the seamless blend of its twelve male voices ranging from countertenor to bass and its original interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz, and from gospel to venturesome new music. In this performance, titled In Time Of . . . Chanticleer will reflect on the most profound experiences touching all of us-singing some of the choral repertoire's most beautiful music by Palestrina, Dufay, Janequin, Legeti, Chen Yi, Sametz, McGlynn, Bates, Gershwin and others.

Lavay Smith CD Release Party
Friday, September 25
8pm, $25/$30
Lavay Smith is internationally recognized as the Queen of Classic Jazz & Blues in the authentic style of the 1940s and 1950s. Lavay's last album received a prestigious 4 1/2 Star review in Downbeat magazine and reached the top 10 on the National Billboard Jazz Charts. Lavay graces the Opera House stage for the second time to debut her newest album, Miss Smith To You!

Napa Valley Opera House Annual Gala: Shaken, Not Stirred
Saturday, October 3, 4pm
Tickets start at $350
NVOH.org/gala
A martini and wine bar, magnum auction, dinner, live auction and exciting performance await at this year's annual black-tie gala benefiting the Napa Valley Opera House. A luxurious Pink Pavilion will serve as the backdrop for a night to remember, which also features a performance in the Margrit Biever Mondavi Theatre by the phenomenal Pink Martini, a 12-person multi-cultural symphonic ensemble noted by The New York Times as "shaking and stirring a polyrhythmic, one-world cocktail."
Chair: Usha Burns; Honorary Co-Chairs: Margrit Biever Mondavi & Bill Kieschnick

Zoppé Italian Family Circus at the Veterans Home in Yountville
6 Performances: October 8-11
$25 adult, $20 children (12 & under)
NVOH.org/circus
Enter a magical world of acrobatic feats, whimsical characters, festive music and old-world charm, set among the rolling vine-covered hills at the Yountville Veterans Home. The Zoppé family welcomes guests into an intimate 400-seat tent for a one-ring circus that honors the best history of the old-world Italian tradition. Starring Nino the clown, the circus is propelled by a central story that features amazing acrobatics, equestrian showmanship, canine capers, comedy and plenty of audience participation.
Family activities and entertainment will surround the circus tent. Come early and enjoy a picnic among the trees (bring your own food or enjoy a variety of food available on site). Zoppé is not your traditional, everyday circus; it's a unique, all-encompassing experience you won't want to miss!

Parno Graszt
Friday, October 16
8pm, $30/$35
The sound of Parno Graszt is rooted in the traditional Gypsy songs of North Eastern Hungary, representing a specific local dialect of Roma music. Their instruments are acoustic guitars, double bass, tambura, accordion, spoons, milk churn and ‘oral bass' which is a continuous vocal improvisation made by the percussionist. During the last 20 years the name of Parno Graszt (meaning White Horse in Romani language as the symbol of purity and freedom) became the equivalent of authentic Hungarian Gypsy music. For the group, being authentic was nothing more than being themselves. Living in integrity, living the life and playing the music they always have had.

An Evening with Gordon Lightfoot
Saturday, October 17
8pm, $90/$110
Gordon Lightfoot's music career has spanned more than 40 years, producing more than 200 recordings. He helped define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s, influencing major recording artists, such as Bob Dylan, Gene Clark, Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Buffett, and Jim Croce. Bob Dylan in fact called Lightfoot one of his favorite songwriters.
As a singer-songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot came to prominence in the 1960s, and entered the international music charts in the 1970s with songs such as If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, Carefree Highway, Rainy Day People, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. His songs have been recorded by some of the world's most renowned recording artists, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, and John Mellencamp.
Underwritten in part by Presentation Circle Artists, Alvin Lee Block, M.D. and Moira Johnston Block.

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia
Saturday, October 24
Goodnight Moon 11am; The Runaway Bunny 2pm
$10 (12 & under), $15 (adult)
Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia will add to its acclaimed repertory of outstanding children's productions with an innovative double bill adaptation of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's beloved bedtime classics, Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.
Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia celebrates its 37th birthday during 2009. The company's unique adaptations of children's literature have served to introduce more than four million youngsters on four continents to the magic of live theatre.

Cherryholmes
Thursday, October 29
8pm, $25 / $30
As America's first family of Bluegrass, Cherryholmes has stormed to the top of the music world by winning the 2005 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Award for Entertainer of the Year. Debuting at No. 3 on Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart, their self-titled album received a Grammy-Award nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. The Cherryholmes sound is made up of powerful instrumental vision and explosive vocal harmonies, featuring a mixture of original songs written by members of the band and carefully chosen classics, touted by The New York Times as, "a mesmerizing presence . . . a cold blast of virtuosity."

Straight No Chaser
Friday, October 30
8pm, $30 / $35
The ten members of Straight No Chaser are neither strait-laced nor straight-faced, but neither are they vaudeville-style kitsch. Originally formed a dozen years ago while students together at Indiana University, the group has reassembled and reemerged as a phenomenon-with a huge fan base, millions of viewers on YouTube and a contract with Atlantic Records.
In an era when so much pop music is the product of digital processing and vocal pro-tooling, Straight No Chaser is the real deal-the captivating sound of ten unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music that is moving people in a fundamental sense... and with a sense of humor.

Philippe Petit, Man on Wire
Wednesday, November 4
Film screening and discussion
7pm, $35
Philippe Petit gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974. For his feat, he used a 450-pound cable and a custom-made 26-foot long, 55-pound balancing pole. Man on Wire is an Academy Award-winning 2008 documentary film directed by James Marsh chronicling this amazing feat.
We can't promise any death-defying feats, but this is a unique opportunity to join Philippe for a screening of the film, followed by a discussion with the man himself.

Carolina Chocolate Drops
Saturday, November 7
8pm, $30 / $35
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, returning to NVOH after their popular performance in 2007, are a group of young African-American string band musicians that have come together to play the rich tradition of fiddle and banjo music in Carolinas' Piedmont. The music of Carolina Chocolate Drops was recently featured in the Denzel Washington movie The Great Debaters.

An Evening with Greg Brown
Saturday, November 14
8pm, $30 / $35
Greg Brown's songwriting has been lauded by many, and his songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Shawn Colvin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. He had recorded more than a dozen albums, including his 1986 release, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, when he put aside his own songwriting to set poems of William Blake to music.
One Big Town, recorded in 1989, earNed Brown three and a half stars in Rolling Stone, chart-topping status in AAA and The Gavin Report's Americana rankings.

Lucky Penny Productions presents Looking
November 19 - 21, 7pm;November 22, 2pm, $25
Café Theatre
Val's an OR nurse, Andy's in the storage business, Nina's a police officer and Matt's a radio morning show host. They're single and looking. Val agrees to meet Andy after answering his personal ad in the newspaper. Nina and Matt are coaxed into joining their friends for support. Romance and laughter are the result, as Napa's Lucky Penny Productions brings another on-target relationship comedy to the stage.
Norm Foster's 2005 hit comedy Looking featuring Lucky Penny founders Taylor Bartolucci and Barry Martin will run four performances in the Cafe Theatre.

Creole Jazz Serenaders
Friday, December 4
8pm, $25 / $30
Dedicated to contemporary performance and recording of classic jazz and Creole compositions, Don Vappie's Creole Jazz Serenaders provides today's audiences with a glimpse of "the real spirit of early jazz," a period when jazz was the "pop" music of the time. Don't miss this return visit from one of New Orleans' authentic icons-Don Vappie.

Piano Bar: Where You're the Star
December 9 - 12
7pm, $25, Cafe Theatre
The Napa Valley Opera House Café Theatre is transformed into a sultry lounge for four nights to celebrate the upcoming holidays. Come early-enjoy a bite and beverage-then sit back and get into the mood to Sing! That's right, you and your party (bring your most fun-loving friends...) are in for a fun-filled evening hosted by top-notch New York talent. Each night, local celebs-and you-will take the mic and croon a "spotlight number" chosen from a wheel of tunes comprised of various categories and genres. Heading the cast is Steve Saari, a versatile and virtuosic singer and pianist. Created especially for the NVOH, Piano Bar is sure to tickle your vocal chords and send you away humming your favorite songs.

VOENA Christmas Concert
Saturday, December 19
7:30pm, $15 children / $20 adult
VOENA, founded in 1994, has performed for President Clinton and President Bush in Washington, D.C. and Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in Rome. As goodwill ambassadors, they have toured with their message of celebrating global diversity to China, Mexico, Italy, Greece, and Japan. From the White House, to Mondavi Music Festival, Davies Hall to Carnegie Hall. With 100+ voices ranging in age from 6 to 18, achieves rich and inventive a cappella vocal arrangements by using multiple percussion instruments, dance, and theatrical elements performing in a splash of color, embracing our many cultural differences.

Marvin Hamlisch: One Singular, Sensational New Year's Eve Party!
Thursday, December 31
8:30pm; $165 (show & party)
$95 (show only)
One of only two individuals awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Pulitzer Prize, Mr. Hamlisch, on solo piano, will present an evening of songs perfect for celebrating the new year. Hamlisch will play favorites from classics like A Chorus Line, The Way We Were and The Sting. A festive party in the Café Theatre follows the performance, with dancing, dessert and champagne. We are partnering with some of Napa's finest restaurants to offer pre-show dinner packages. Please check the website at nvoh.org for more details. Hotel Partner: The Westin Verasa Napa

To post a comment, you must register and login.