Winery Picks Bill Graham Presents For Concert Series Promotion
Montalvo: Winery decision is difficult to understand
Money was a factor
By Kara Chalmers
The Mountain Winery, a Saratoga concert, wedding and corporate meeting venue, has contracted with the concert promoter Bill Graham Presents for its concert series, according to the Mountain Winery's president, Nancy Bussani.
Bussani said Bill Graham Presents' financial offer was the best, but that money was only one of the deciding factors. Most importantly, the promoter will give the winery more control over marketing and operations as well as the right to choose the artists, she said.
The four owners of the winery chose Bill Graham Presents over the nonprofit Villa Montalvo, which has managed the winery's summer series for the past four seasons.
Under the contract with Montalvo, which was scheduled to lapse in October, the winery did not choose which acts would perform at the winery. A previous owner of the winery, who did not wish to have any involvement with the choice of performers, agreed to the contract, which the current owners of the winery inherited when they came on board, according to Montalvo Executive Director Elisbeth Challener.
Montalvo had hoped to negotiate an extension or an entirely new contract with the winery, according to Challener. She said Villa Montalvo knew the winery wanted more control over the choice of artists and understood the winery's concerns about noise at the venue. She said the contract Montalvo offered reflected that understanding, so she was mystified that the winery did not choose Montalvo.
"It is in some sense an end of an era," Challener said, adding that the choice of Bill Graham Presents might mean a more commercial venue and might decrease the diversity of artists at the winery. She said the winery's decision was difficult for her to understand since concert sales had been so high this past season, and since Montalvo had brought in some top performers.
"We felt we would be the strongest partner they could have," she said.
Bill Graham Presents, based in San Antonio, operates Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. It is one of the country's largest concert promoters. The winery' contract with Bill Graham Presents will be through the 2003 concert series.
According to Bussani, while some in the community may associate Bill Graham Presents with a "rock & roll" image, the company is well aware that that type of music has no place at a venue like the winery.
The contract with Bill Graham Presents will allow the winery to veto any act it finds inappropriate, she said.
Montalvo took over booking, production, marketing, sales and operations of the concert series for the winery in 1997. The concert series at the winery typically comprised an average of 50 to 60 shows per season. The winery's permit allows up to 75 shows per season.
According to Challener, one of the hallmarks of Villa Montalvo's concert series is the diversity of performers, which range from country to jazz to opera to soft pop.
Montalvo donates proceeds from the concert series to arts education programs in schools that have a number of children from disadvantaged families, and children who are not exposed to the arts. The programs serve about 12,000 to 13,000 children a year. Concert proceeds also fund its artist-in-residency program and its free art gallery.
Challener said that Villa Montalvo would continue to have concerts at its other venues: the Garden Theatre, the front lawn and the Carriage House Theatre at Villa Montalvo and Los Gatos' Vasona Lake County Park. Beginning in February 2001, Villa Montalvo will hold concerts--mostly classical--at Mission Santa Clara Church, as well.
Challener said that now that the Mountain Winery has terminated its agreement with Montalvo, Montalvo will have to increase fundraising and maybe add more concerts at one of Montalvo's other venues. Challener has said in the past that Montalvo would see about a $700,000 deficit from lost ticket and box seats sales, corporate sponsorships and individual gifts with the loss of the winery venue.
According to Saratoga Mayor Bogosian, he is not concerned with the change in promoters, but he is concerned that the terms of the winery's conditional use permit from the county be met.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
