(Photo: Glodow Nead press)

Festival Napa Valley celebrates its 20th anniversary July 4–19, 2026, featuring the world premiere of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s new opera, “The Judgement of Paris.” This opera is commissioned by the festival and includes conductor Kent Nagano and director Jean-Romain Vesperini, alongside a stellar cast including soprano Danielle De Niese, baritone Quinn Kelsey,
tenor Nicholas Phan, mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, soprano Brenda Rae, and Fellows from the Manetti Shrem Opera Program.

Festival Napa Valley’s 2026 presenting sponsor is Bouchaine Vineyards. OperaWire attended the special Q&A preview of “The Judgement of Paris” at NYC’s Printemps and toasted this exciting new work with Bouchaine vineyard’s delicious wines featuring the opera’s poster as its label.

(Photo: Glodow Nead press)

The Judgement of Paris

Heggie and Scheer’s new one-act opera focuses on the legendary 1976 wine tasting competition in Paris when the annual blind tasting event deemed Napa Valley rated best in both a white and red category. This event also commemorated the US Bicentennial and the name itself, “Judgement of Paris,” alludes to Greek mythology. This unique combination of ideological tradition versus change make for the perfect dramatic landscape of an opera, especially one that commemorates this year’s 250th anniversary of the US when now more than ever most Americans want change.

“Baucus and Venus, who are lovers, open the first scene, which is hysterical.
They’ve just made love and Bacchus is, of course, asking Venus to taste this wine.
And you know, she’s like, why are we still drinking this wine?
And Bacchus just wants to relish in the old world, what he knows.
And Venus, of course, is all about possibility and exploration.
So she’s determined to prove to him that there’s more than the French wine that he loves.
There are these great moments of tension that sort of set the stage in this opera.
And because of what happened in Paris during the blind tasting competition in 1976, I think about what if that Times magazine reporter had not been there. We would not be talking about this tonight and the other fact is that they did it with only one bottle. That had to have been some kind of divine intervention.
And so we get to know the mortals and the gods in this opera and what they represent in terms of possibility, innovation, exploration and community.
And it also, I mean, all of a sudden, you know, you think about operatic voices.
It’s kind of perfect.
We can do soaring lines.
We can also do very, very beautiful things especially with such an amazing cast,” said Jake Heggie.

The creative process began with structuring the story and writing the libretto (completed by October), followed by the music composition (ongoing since then, still handwritten by the composer). While speaking about his process, Heggie showed the audience at Printemps his original manuscripts. Even after the Q&A he told OperaWire how important it is during his creative process to continue using his hand-to-paper method instead of plugging notes directly into a computer. He described the waves of emotions, his detailed awareness when understanding where singers will feel the need to take a breath, and the lived-in instinct it takes for him to cultivate nuance in a composition, especially an opera where drama takes center stage. He went on describing to OperaWire how important it is for him to send handwritten notes instead of text messages and how he feels this deeper connectivity to what he is making must come from his heart, it must be felt.

(Photo: Glodow Nead press)

Gene Scheer shared similar sentiments and spoke about how the historical aspect of this opera became a blueprint, but the emotions felt when the US won at the wine competition built this connection to the Greek mythology tie-in and how it all plays into the hand of one’s own ideologies when it comes to change and innovation. Scheer said this opera is not about “who won,” it’s about so much more.“

“Few subjects embody passion and drama as vividly as wine! Wine lovers speak of exceptional
bottles the way opera devotees recall transcendent nights at the theater: with reverence, emotion
and a keen memory of where they were, who they were with and the magic of the moment”, said
librettist Gene Scheer. “Wine is inseparable from romance, celebration, and indelible
experiences—the very lifeblood of opera. In our opera, gods and mortals collide as they navigate
the challenge of honoring cherished traditions while embracing the exhilaration of taking risks and
finding new ways of tasting the delights of the world.”

(Photo: Glodow Nead press)

Festival Napa Valley Highlights

In addition to the world premiere of “The Judgment of Paris,” Renée Fleming returns to Festival Napa Valley as keynote speaker for the Music and Wellness Summit and as headliner in Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, an Olivia Decker Power of Music concert. Other highlights include Uytengsu Family Opening Night: From Beethoven to Getty to Dylan with Time for Three and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, conducted by Steve Hackman; soprano Lisa Delan and friends in an intimate art song recital; a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti as part of Maria Manetti Celebrates La Dolce Vita!; a Grand Cru performance with violinist Ray Chen and pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet; a swinging concert with the LMR Jazz Orchestra; and a Symphonic Finale honoring America’s 250th anniversary.

Signature events include A Night at the Ballet: From Swan Lake to The Stones, directed by Live Arts Global’s Melanie Hamrick; a performance of Opera Scenes with the Manetti Shrem Opera Fellows; and an outdoor film screening of The Wizard of Oz with live orchestra.

Tickets will be available beginning March 11. Festival Napa Valley also offers passes for the Patron Experience, which runs July 10–19 and provides access to renowned wineries, luxury resorts, and private estates while supporting the Festival’s nonprofit mission to enrich lives through education, wellness, and the arts.

(Photo: Fantasia Krug)