The Fredericksburg Music Festival and School will launch its inaugural season, “Music Connects Us,” this summer with 12 concerts featuring 25 world-class musicians at five historic venues across the Texas Hill Country, running June 8–21.
Presented by TexasCellos, the new festival blends classical tradition with contemporary innovation in what organizers call “one of Texas’s most picturesque cultural destinations.”
Joseph Kuipers, creative director of TexasCellos, described the event as a signature summer experience that pairs high artistic achievement with Fredericksburg’s natural beauty and rich heritage.
The festival’s diverse repertoire spans more than 700 years, from Renaissance-inspired works and Baroque masterworks such as Bach’s Six Cello Suites to contemporary compositions by Fazil Say, Caroline Shaw, Giovanni Sollima, Mieczysław Weinberg and others.
Folk music will be a unifying theme throughout the program, underscoring the festival’s motto, “Music Connects Us.”
Special performances include a mass cello choir concert featuring Sollima’s
Note Sconte, based on Beethoven’s unpublished pieces and unused sketches.
Eight cello recitals will also be presented, exploring themes like “Jewishness in Music,” “Miniatures,” and “Hinges,” which delves into transitional moments in music.
The festival opens June 8 with a gala performance by Houston Symphony Principal Cellist Brinton Averil Smith at St. Joseph’s Halle.
It concludes June 21 with a celebratory sideby- side cello choir performance titled Ode to Joy, featuring both faculty and students.
Concert venues include St. Joseph’s Halle, Becker Vineyards, the 1861 Marienkirche, the Pioneer Museum Auditorium, and the Nimitz Museum Auditorium.
This year also marks the launch of the Texas-CelloSchool FREDERICKSBURG, bringing 15 international cello students to study and perform alongside renowned faculty, fostering mentorship and musical exchange.
For a full schedule and registration details, visit texascellos. org.
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