Bringing Live Chamber Music to Napa Valley Classrooms
In 2025, Music in the Vineyards assumed responsibility for Music for Students, a long-running educational program that was founded in 2003 by Chamber Music in Napa Valley (CMNV). For more than two decades, the program has introduced thousands of Napa County students to professional classical music ensembles. Its guiding belief is simple and enduring: students connect most deeply with music when they experience it live, up close, and in conversation with the artists themselves.
The program features a classroom-based model serving elementary, middle, and high school students throughout Napa Valley. During each visit, professional musicians present a curated performance, discuss their instruments and careers, and engage directly with students’ questions—encouraging curiosity, conversation, and meaningful listening. While often hosted by band and orchestra teachers, the program also engages classrooms in social studies, language arts, and other disciplines.
Music for Students is offered to schools completely free of charge, offering access to high-quality, live music experiences that would otherwise be unavailable to many students.
2026-2027 Program Dates
Classroom visits for the 2026–2027 school year will be announced soon!
Classroom visits for the 2026–2027 school year will take place on the dates listed below. Additional dates will be listed here once available. Visit schedules are coordinated directly with participating schools.
| Program Date | Professional Ensemble | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 5-Nov-26 | Fauré Quartett | Taken |
| 9-Nov-26 | Daniel G. Smith | Taken |
| 1-Mar-27 | Cuarteto Casals | Available |
| 11-Mar-27 | Pavel Haas Quartet | Available |
| 31-Mar-27 | Calder Quartet | Taken |
| 1-Apr-27 | Calder Quartet | Taken |
| 22-Apr-27 | Jupiter String Quartet | Available |
| 23-Apr-27 | Jupiter String Quartet | Available |
The Ensembles
The program’s musicians come from all over the world, bringing internationally recognized chamber ensembles into Napa Valley classrooms.
Calder Quartet
Cuarteto Casals
Celebrating its 30th anniversary during the 2026–2027 season, Cuarteto Casals has established itself as one of the world’s leading string quartets and a defining presence in today’s international chamber music scene.
Founded in 1997 at Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid, the ensemble appears each season at many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie and Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, the Salzburg Festival, Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie de Paris and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Its commitment to uncovering the essence of every score is reflected in more than twenty recordings for harmonia mundi, featuring works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Brahms, as well as the complete string quartets of Beethoven and Shostakovich. This artistic approach also extends to historically informed performances using Baroque and Classical bows from the London-based Borletti Buitoni Trust. Alongside this, the quartet maintains a strong commitment to contemporary music through the premiere of new works and long-standing collaborations with today’s composers.
In its anniversary season, Cuarteto Casals once again serves as Artistic Director of the Barcelona String Quartet Biennial, presented by L’Auditori. The ensemble also gives the premiere of a new string quartet by Raquel García-Tomás, jointly commissioned by Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (CNDM), the Kölner Philharmonie and the Musikverein Wien.
Highlights of the 26-27 season features tours across Asia and North America as well as extensive performances across Europe, with concerts at renowned venues such as a tribute concert for the 150th annivesary of Pau Casals’ birth at Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Bozar, Het Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Kölner Philharmonie, and Amici della Musica di Firenze.
Alongside its performing career, Cuarteto Casals is deeply committed to teaching and holds residencies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. The ensemble has received Spain’s National Music Prize, the Medal of Honour of the Escuela Reina Sofía, Catalonia’s National Culture Prize and the Barcelona City Prize.
For more information, visit cuartetocasals.com.
Fauré Quartett
The requirements have changed. Whoever is playing chamber music today can’t be limited to the rules from decades ago. The expectations regarding the diversity of repertoire have changed, which creates room for ensembles like the Fauré Quartett, which has established itself as one of the world’s leading piano quartets within just a few years. Dirk Mommertz (piano), Erika Geldsetzer (violin), Sascha Frömbling (viola) and Konstantin Heidrich (cello) use the opportunities arising from these developments. They discover new sound fields in chamber music and perform compositions outside the mainstream repertoire.
They are visionary in their approach and highly regarded for their experiments and discoveries; be it performances with the NDR Big Band, collaborations with artists like Rufus Wainwright or Sven Helbig, appearances in clubs like the Berghain, Cocoon Club or “Le Poisson Rouge” in New York or TV shows in KIKA or “Rhapsody in School”, getting children excited in chamber music. When they released their album “Popsongs” in 2009, there was a great deal of buzz in the press and audience. In the following year, the ensemble was awarded the ECHO Classic for their album “classic beyond borders”, their second award after their recording of Brahms’ piano quartets (Chamber Music recording of the year, 2008). Other prizes include the German Music Competition, the ensemble prize from Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, international competition and recording awards, Music Prize Duisburg and Brahms prize Schleswig Holstein.
The musicians of the Fauré Quartett are pioneers in many ways. After they met during their studies in 1995 in Karlsruhe for the 150th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré, they quickly realized, that this combination offered new insights into undiscovered repertoire. In 2006, they signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon, promoting them to the Champions League of the classic music business. They made highly regarded benchmark-recordings with works by Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and pop songs from Peter Gabriel and Steely Dan as well as works from Mahler and Richard Strauss (Sony Classical). on one album. Currently the quartett is releasing the world’s first-ever recording of Mussorgskys “Pictures at an Exhibition” and Rachmaninovs “Etudes-Tableaux” in their own arrangements on the Berlin Classics label. This was followed by a CD exclusively with works by Fauré and, most recently, “After Hours”, a record that contains some surprising encores.
Worldwide tours raise their profile abroad and international masterclasses are part of their work with students. The members teach at the universities of Berlin, Wuerzburg and Munich. Moreover, they were Artistic Directors of “Festspielfrühling Rügen” and are ‘Quartet in Residence’ at the University of Music Karlsruhe. During their tours, the musicians appear in the world’s most important chamber music venues; including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Berlin Philharmony, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires and Wigmore Hall London. All these mosaics form a unique profile for this defining chamber music ensemble.
For more information, visit faurequartett.de/.
Ivalas Quartet
Hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty,” the Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception in 2017 with a mission to enrich the classical music world by spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers alongside the standard repertory. Among the many composers whose works they have championed are Eleanor Alberga, Gabriela Lena Frank, Osvaldo Golijov, Jessie Montgomery, Angélica Negrón, Iván Enrique Rodríguez, Carlos Simon, Alvin Singleton, and George Walker. They premiered Derrick Skye’s Deliverance through a commission from Caramoor in 2024.
The Ivalas Quartet served as the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School from 2022 to 2024, where they studied with the Juilliard String Quartet. They were previously in residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder under the mentorship of the Takács Quartet.
Performing on concert series throughout the United States, the quartet has been presented by the Austin Chamber Music Center, Newport Classical, Schneider Concerts, the Chautauqua Institution, the Skaneateles Festival, Friends of Chamber Music Denver, and CU Presents, where they collaborated with the Takács Quartet in 2020 and 2022. In May of 2023 and 2024, they presented full programs at Carnegie Hall, titled “First Light” and “Fate and Yearning.” Recently, the quartet has enjoyed performing on Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, and in collaboration with New Latin Wave, the FUTUROS – New Ideas in Composition series. The Quartet is also thrilled to be the 2024-2025 Curator/Performing Ensemble of the Schneider Concerts at The New School in New York City.
The Ivalas Quartet won a Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant in 2023, and also had the great honor of serving as the 2022-23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor. In 2022, Ivalas won the grand prize at the Coltman Chamber Music Competition, as well as first prize at the 2019 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition.
In 2021, they created the first recording of Carlos Simon’s Warmth from Other Suns for string quartet under Lara Downes’ digital label Rising Sun Music.
The members of the Ivalas Quartet – violinists Reuben Kebede and Tiani Butts, violist Marcus Stevenson, and cellist Pedro Sánchez – have a shared dedication to their roles as educators. The quartet has nurtured students from the early stages of their musical journey to the collegiate level, with coaching experience including residencies at the University of Michigan’s Center Stage Strings program, the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Central Arkansas, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the MacPhail Center for Music. In New York City, they have coached student groups at The Juilliard School in both the preparatory and undergraduate divisions. The quartet has worked with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center through the Society’s Chamber Music Beginnings since 2022.
For more information, visit ivalasquartet.com.
Jupiter String Quartet
The Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Mélanie Clapiès and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Founded in 2001, the ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music, and exudes an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous. The New Yorker states, “The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.”
The quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Taos School of Music Summer Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Music Festival, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
In April 2026, the Jupiter String Quartet released Undreamed Shores, the ensemble’s ninth studio album and first on Orchid Classics. The album, produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman, features the world premiere recordings of new string quartets written for the Jupiter by composers who are also longtime friends of the ensemble — Michi Wiancko (To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores), Stephen Andrew Taylor (Chaconne/Labyrinth), and Kati Agócs (Imprimatur, String Quartet No. 2). The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit jupiterquartet.com.
Pavel Haas Quartet
The Pavel Haas Quartet is revered across the globe for its richness of timbre, infectious passion and intuitive rapport. Having performed at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and won six Gramophone Awards and numerous others for recordings, the Quartet is firmly established as one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles.
The Quartet regularly appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Berlin; Musikverein, Vienna; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Tonhalle, Zürich; Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome; BOZAR, Brussels; NCPA, Beijing; LG Arts Centre, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Quartet graced the June 2022 cover of The Strad and was the featured interview in BBC Music Magazine the same month. The ensemble was included in the latter’s 10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time and described as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, [and] known for its passionate and fearless performances.”
In the 2026-2027 season, Pavel Haas Quartet tours North America with concerts at Chamber Music Houston, Chamber Music in Napa Valley, Chamber Music concerts in Ashland, Oregon, Friends of Music Denver, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Cincinnati, Vivo Performing Arts in Boston, Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and in Montreal. In Europe they play London’s Wigmore Hall and Norwich in the UK, as well as Germany, the Netherlands, and the Janáček Brno Festival in Czechia.
Renowned as the leading interpreter of Eastern European chamber music masterpieces, the Quartet was named as Ambassador for the Year of Czech Music in 2024. From 2025 until 2027, the Pavel Haas Quartet serves as Artist-in-Residence at Smetana’s Litomyšl Festival, alongside the Czech Philharmonic.
The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. Its recording of the Brahms Viola and Piano Quintets with pianist Boris Giltburg and the group’s former violist, Pavel Nikl, was released to critical acclaim in May 2022. The album was described as “radiant and vivacious” by The Strad and selected as Presto Classical’s Recording of the Week. A previous album of Shostakovich String Quartets was named Recording of the Year by Classic Prague Awards, and one of the 100 best records of 2019 by The Times.
The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for recordings of Martinů, Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček and Haas, as well as Dvořák’s String Quartets No.12 ‘American’ and No. 13, which was awarded the coveted Gramophone Recording of the Year in 2011. The Sunday Times commented: “their account of the ‘American’ Quartet belongs alongside the greatest performances on disc.” Further accolades include BBC Music Magazine Awards and the 2010 Diapason d’Or de l’Année for a recording of Prokofiev String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2.
Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, subsequent career highlights have included a nomination as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, participation in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme from 2007 to 2009 and a Special Ensemble Scholarship awarded by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2010. The Quartet is based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Skampa, legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. The ensemble takes its name from the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and tragically died at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets.
For more information, visit pavelhaasquartet.com/en/.
Testimonials
As a choir teacher, I see every day how music gives our children a voice, a sense of belonging, and the confidence to be seen and heard. Exposing students to music at a young age opens their minds, nurtures creativity, and helps them discover parts of themselves they may not find anywhere else. When students sing and or play together, they learn discipline, empathy, and teamwork while creating something meaningful as a community. Keeping the arts in our schools is essential, not optional, because they provide equity, expression, and lifelong skills that shape well-rounded, compassionate human beings.
What a delight it was to have the Jupiter String Quartet perform and share their story and the stories behind each piece. With enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, each member engaged the students and responded to their questions. A seed has been planted in each student: a connection to the arts that they will carry with them through their lives.
Have questions about the Music for Students program? Send an email to info@musicinthevineyards.org.