July 15, 2021 – The J. Christopher winery is thrilled to once again host one of the three weekends of the annual Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival. On Saturday, August 14, the festival will present a live performance in the lively acoustics of the J. Christopher barrel room. Tickets and info are available at: wvchambermusic.org.
The theme for the 2021 Festival is “A Season of New Growth.” “We are emerging from difficult times,” says Festival co-artistic director, Leo Eguchi. “But resilience and creativity have flourished through challenging times before. To explore this moment, we have programmed music that both reflects back and reaches forward. I imagine the grapevines in spring, reaching beyond the challenges of winter, and excited to grow.”
The performance at J. Christopher will feature a personal appearance by this season’s composer-in-residence, Osvaldo Golijov, a double GRAMMY winner and recipient of a MacArthur Genius grant. The program includes the world premiere of Golijov’s new string quintet, “Mentre la Pioggia,” which was inspired by Vivaldi’s Winter Concerto. Concluding the program will be his epic, klezmer-inspired quintet for clarinet and strings, “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind,” featuring James Shields, principal clarinet of the Oregon Symphony.
CHRISTOPHER WINES 17150 NE Hillside Drive, Newberg, Oregon 97132
Also on the program is “Movement for String Trio,” the touching final work by American composer Coleridge Taylor Perkinson, and the gloriously uplifting “Sunrise” Quartet (Op. 76, No. 4) by Franz Joseph Haydn.
Concert admission is $95 per person, which includes a tasting of three wines that have been specially selected to pair with the program. A supplemental meet-the-composer Afterparty will follow the performance, on the winery’s beautiful outdoor terrace, for $50 per person. The Afterparty will feature a casual dinner of artisanal wood-fired pizza from local food truck Wooden Heart Food, premium pours of J. Christopher Wines, and some of the best views of the valley at sunset. Tickets for both the concert and Afterparty are available here.
To commemorate the 2021 season, and to honor the participation of Osvaldo Golijov, J. Christopher will issue a special single-barrel bottling of 2018 Chehalem Mountains Pinot Noir. It will be labeled as “Dreams & Prayers — Commemorative Edition” and will be released for sale at the performance on August 14.
About the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival
A unique confluence of music and wine, the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival pairs a dynamic mix of classic and contemporary musical masterpieces with the extraordinary wines and stunning settings of wineries in Oregon’s premier wine-growing region. The Festival was founded by violinist Sasha Callahan and cellist Leo Eguchi, professional musicians living in Boston who also happen to be serious wine lovers. During a visit to J. Christopher, they discovered the remarkable acoustics of the winery’s in-ground barrel room and instantly knew that it would be an ideal venue for the Festival. In 2018, the Festival ensemble took advantage of the barrel room’s natural acoustics and recorded an album there. Titled “Her Own Wings,” the album features original compositions by 2020 composer-in-residence, Gabriela Lena Frank.
About J. Christopher Wines
Located in the Chehalem Mountains of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the J. Christopher winery focuses on Pinot Noir made using the traditional methods of the Old World. Owned by renowned Mosel winegrower, Ernst “Erni” Loosen (of the Dr. Loosen estate), the wines are sourced from superior vineyards throughout the northern Willamette Valley, including our own Appassionata Vineyard, and hand-crafted to emphasize balance, expression of origin and ageability.
