At the Napa Symphony season opener this week, the sister act Christina and Michelle Naughton play a pair of duo piano concertos, one by Mozart and one by Poulenc. Meanwhile the orchestra opens with music by the “Spanish Mozart,” Juan Crisostomo Arriaga (1806-1826).
True, dying at 19 years old left him a bit short on time to make his mark in composition, even as a prodigy. But talent will out and the overture to his comic opera, Los esclavos felices, written when he was 13 years old, makes a pleasant concert opener.
Finally, the orchestra takes on Brahms' version of 18th-century wit and sparkle in the Variations on a Theme by Haydn. The orchestra is conducted by up-and-comer Josep Caballé-Domenech.