Mondavi unveils slate for new season | Arts & Entertainment

* Oct. 17: The Philharmonia Orchestra, consistently ranked as one London’s top orchestras over the last few decades, makes its first visit to Mondavi. Founded in 1945, Philharmonia is currently led by young Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali.  Their program includes Beethoven, Sibelius and contemporary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. The soloist will be notable Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson, his first appearance here.

* Jan. 18: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra — often ranked as the top orchestra in the USA — visits Mondavi, led by longtime music director Riccardo Muti (now 83, and transitioning to a new title as “music director emeritus for life”). The program at Mondavi includes Brahms, Stravinsky and Ravel.

* Feb. 28: The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with violinist/conductor Joshua Bell.  They’ve performed at Mondavi again and again, and they’re coming back… this time performing the Schumann First Symphony and the Brahms Violin Concerto.

* March 14: The San Francisco Symphony, under Italian guest conductor Daniele Rustioni, with German cellist Daniel Muller-Schott (Dvorak Cello Concerto). Also on the program: the Brahms Second Symphony.

* April 27: Pianist Yuja Wang first performed at Mondavi roughly 15 years ago, when she was an up-and-coming newcomer, barely 21. Wang, now a major star, returns next season with the Berlin-based Mahler Chamber Orchestra, founded by conductor Claudio Abbado in 1997. This is another orchestra visiting Mondavi for the first time, they’ll be playing Prokofiev, Hindemith and Chopin.

Chamber music

* Oct. 26: Violinist Ray Chen, of Taiwanese-Australian heritage, has been a soloist with the London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and others. His recital at Mondavi (with pianist Julio Elizalde) features selections from Baroque to jazz.

* Nov. 9: Young French soprano Juliette Tacchini, winner of major opera competitions in South Korea and in France during 2024, will be joined by Chilean-American violist Roberto Diaz. Tacchini and Diaz are both from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

* Feb. 22: Founded in 2011, the rising Castalian String Quartet * named after a nymph from Greek mythology * features youngish musicians born in Finland, Wales, and the United States. Based in London, their program here will feature Haydn, Janacek and Beethoven.

* April 19: The Attacca String Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2003, has performed at famous venues worldwide, and picked up two Grammy Awards. Their program here includes music by Poulenc, Chopin, Haydn and Bartok.

Other Classical

* Nov. 7-8: The Taproot New Music Festival at UC Davis hosts the Chicago-based  Ensemble Dal Niente, performing contemporary electro-acoustic works.

* Dec. 14: The Bay Area early music ensemble American Bach (previously known as American Bach Soloists) returns to Movdavi with “A Baroque Christmas,” with music by Charpentier, Corelli and Handel.

* Feb. 22: The annual Barbara K. Jackson Rising Stars of Opera presents emerging vocal talent from the San Francisco Opera Center, backed by the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are free.

* March 5: Young violinist Randall Goosby wowed the Mondavi audience in 2024 as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Goosby returns fronting the Sphinx Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra of young professionals, based in Michigan.

* June 5 and 7, 2026: Christopher Taylor, piano. When this intrepid pianist visited Mondavi in 2021, he received an ovation after performing some of the rarely performed Franz Lizst piano transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies. Next season, Taylor continues this vast project, focusing on the later Beethoven symphonies.

Jackson Hall jazz 

*Oct. 5: Ledisi Sings Dinah Washington. Ledisi is a Grammy-winning vocalist (also an actress and author) born in New Orleans, and raised in Oakland. At Mondavi, she will perform classic tunes associated with Washington, who was born in Tuscaloosa in 1924, sang in Lionel Hampton’s band in the ’40s, and became a major solo artist during the ’50s.

*Dec. 13: The Brooklyn-based Anat Cohen Tentet — tentet meaning “ten musicians” — will present an adventurous evening of boundary-crossing jazz.

*April 16: “Coltrane 100: Both Directions at Once” brings a lineup of well-known jazz musicians to celebrate the centennial of the birth of jazz legend and saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-1967).

*May 2, 2026: Jazz vocalist Lucia, in her 20s, hails from Veracruz, Mexico. She won the Sarah Vaughan International Competition in 2022, and this year released her debut album (jazz standards, Spanish language classics, and contemporary pop). First time at Mondavi.

*May 13, 2026: “Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100” is tribute by an all-star sextet to trumpeter and “cool jazz” composer/bandleader Miles Davis (1926-1991). 

Special events

* Oct. 3: The landmark concert film featuring the Talking Heads, “Stop Making Since,” gets a 40th anniversary screening, with Talking Heads band member Jerry Harrison sharing insights and taking questions from the audience.

* Nov. 2: Famed violinist Itzhak Perlman (who usually plays classical sonatas when he visits Mondavi) returns, this time performing as a spirited klezmer fiddler. For this Mondavi visit, the esteemed Perlman (who turns 80 this year) shares the stage with several klezmer stars.

Studio jazz

* Oct. 16-18: Allison Miller is a jazz drummer and leads the band Boom Tic Boom. Writers pick words like “powerful” and “to describe what happens when she gets the drumsticks in her hands.

* Feb. 12-14: Cameroonian American vocalist Ekep Nkwelle appeared with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Mondavi in December 2024. The Mondavi Center now brings Nkwelle back to Davis on her own.

* April 23-25: Norwegian jazz saxophonist Hakon Kornstad also trained professionally as an operatic tenor. At Mondavi, he will display his diverse gifts creating singular performances.

American & global roots

* Oct. 6: A little more than a decade ago, three popular female singer-songwriters — Sara Jarosz. Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins — launched the trio “I’m With Her.” Now they’re back, with songs from a new album.

* Oct. 15: Singer Raiatea Helm is a descendant of Hawaiian monarch Kamehameha (who reigned 1795-1819). Helm is a specialist in the Hawaiian falsetto singing style, and she will present “A Legacy of Hawaiian Song and String,” drawing material from her 2023 album of the same title. First time at Mondavi.

* Oct. 19: Mariachi Herencia de Mexico is a relatively recent band, founded in Chicago, but rising from family roots in Guadalajara and Mexico City. They will be touring with magnetic 20-something vocalist Leonardo Aguilar (handsome grandson of the legendary entertainer Antonio Aguilar, 1919-2007). First time at Mondavi.

* Nov. 1: Las Cafeteras is a lively band from East LA, known for mixing traditional Mexican styles of music/dance with contemporary spoken word performances, plus a theatrical manner on stage. They return to Mondavi with the provocatively titled show “Hasta La Muerte.”

* Feb. 6-7: The Okaidja Afroso Ensemble is a rootsy group from the coastal portion of Ghana. Their performances include traditional African percussion, vocals, guitar and dance, reflecting the lifestyle of their homeland. First time at Mondavi.

* Feb. 27-28: Alsarah and the Nubatones are a Brooklyn-based band that plays music from Nubia * a region along the Nile that includes parts of Egypt and Sudan. The band has played at the famous Glastonbury Festival in England, among other venues.