Wine, wedding and song - Barrett Wissman

NAPA, California (CNN) -- If Barrett Wissman were in the ministry, his arts festivals would be sunny outposts on a fast-widening mission field. His Tuscan Sun Festival opens Saturday in Cortona, Italy. An all-new Singapore Sun Festival opens October 18.

And a secret known to missionaries everywhere is clearly in sway at the Festival del Sole in Napa Valley, which has just concluded its second year: Bonding with the locals.

With quick fervor, local leaders, the hospitality industry and those all-important vintners of Napa have embraced their festival.

When symphony conductor Stéphane Denève mentioned last year that he'd like to get married there, Tatiana and Gerret Copeland of the Bouchaine wine estate threw the ceremony for them in the vineyards. Read More @ CNN.com >>

Verbier Festival 2012 - Dates Announced

Be here from 20 July to 5 August 2012!

The 18th Verbier Festival concluded in magnificent style with a Crazy night in Verbier. Over 17 days, approximately 60 concerts attracted more than 35,000 concert-goers, which is an increase on last year.

The 2012 Verbier Festival will run from 20 July to 5 August. The programme will be unveiled in February, and once more it will bring together some of the biggest names in classical music. And if you cannot wait until next July, then there will be concerts by the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and the traditional winter concerts presented by the Friends of the Verbier Festival to keep you going until then.

Spotlight: Tuscan Sun Festival

The Tuscan Sun Festival is an annual music and arts Festival that takes place within the intimate setting of the medieval town of Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany. This lifestyle Festival offers an exciting program that includes not only world class concerts, but a daily program of events that explore fine arts, culinary & wine, wellness, and local culture & history.

Each evening, concerts featuring some of the world's most distinguished artists are performed in the intimate setting of the Romantic-period theatre, Teatro Signorelli.

The Story of the Sun Festivals

In the 1990s, Barrett Wissman and cellist Nina Kotova had often discussed organizing an event somewhere in the world where friends could make music together in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

As regular visitors and part-time residents in the Cortona area, Wissman and Kotova discussed their desire to bring together musicians, as well as artists from many disciplines, with their neighbour, Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun. Mayes suggested that Cortona might be the very location for such a gathering.

Barrett Wissman: Renaissance Man

PARVATHI NAYAR meets Barrett Wissman: chairman of arts management company IMG Artists, philanthropist, pianist and bon vivant

'have always been interested in doing many different things at the same time.' An unusual admission to make in these specialist times, when the age of the generalist, polymath or Renaissance man seems long gone. But Barrett Wissman - chairman of IMG Artists, also financier, philanthropist, classical pianist and bon vivant - is an unusual combination. You could call him a creative businessman, or a man interested in the business of creativity.

Photo: J. Henry Fair

Today, with an annual turnover exceeding US$100 million, 'we are the largest arts management company globally,' says Mr Wissman. IMG Artists represents some 500 top artists - Hilary Hahn, James Galway, Lang Lang, Murray Perahia, the Oslo Philharmonic with Andre Previn, and Pilobolus among others. Mr Wissman's personal contacts have expanded the areas of business, as in extending their representation of violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman to Europe.

Spoleto will honor Menotti's spirit

S.C. Festival will remember its founder
as it stages his opera, 'The Medium.'

If ever a life testified to the power of art, Gian Carlo Menotti's did.

He wrote his first opera as an 11-year-old in Italy, and he was still at work in his 90s. In between, he composed copious amounts, most famously operas - such as his Christmas classic "Amahl and the Night Visitors," a hymn to the healing power of generosity.

When he wasn't composing, he founded arts festivals that transformed two towns: Spoleto, Italy, and Charleston.

It's only been four years since Menotti's death. Yet the 100th anniversary of his birth falls soon after this year's Spoleto Festival USA.

Even though Menotti and the festival split in 1993, Spoleto - offering its own lesson about generosity - will celebrate his memory. The festival, which opens May 27, will unveil a new staging of "The Medium," Menotti's thriller about a fake psychic who loses control of her scam.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/17/2224263/spoleto-will-honor-menottis-spirit.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1Yi3b5xB2