Take your father on a musical world tour on Father’s Day, June 19, at 1:00 p.m. at Congregation Beth Sholom in Napa when the Napa Valley Chamber Orchestra plays its third concert. Napa’s own favorite soprano Deborah Tonella will be featured, singing a Puccini opera selection and “This Is My Beloved” from Kismet.

Music from Ukraine, Norway, France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy will be performed. In addition, the orchestra will perform “Danzas de Panama” by the American composer William Grant Still. Still is known as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers.” He was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera and composed the most widely performed symphony by an American – the “Afro-American Symphony” (1930). Among his many firsts, he was the first African-American to conduct a major symphony and the first to have an opera performed on national television.

Robert Wright, composer and principal bassist with the orchestra, also arranged two of the pieces – the Puccini and Borodin, for our string orchestra.