A two-week cellobration is coming to an end this weekend as the Texas Cellos wrap up their Fredericksburg Music Festival with concerts on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
The concerts have been happening at beautiful, nontraditional concert spaces this month.
Friday’s program at Becker Vineyards is called “Hinges” and features a cello and accordion duo playing music from Bach to modern composers like Karl Jenkins, and even popular songs such as “Over the Rainbow.” The idea, according to the festival's creative director Joseph Kuipers, is to “pass through different stories in sound, and experience the ‘hinges’ between chapters in close proximity.”
Saturday’s show centers Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” one of the greatest melodies of humanity that speaks to the human heart, no matter what culture you're from.
Kuipers said he was inspired to bring his festival to Fredericksburg after living in Europe.
“There are a lot of very lovely little German towns that have wonderful music festivals,” Kuipers said. “And after moving to the Dallas area in 2012 I just started search for towns that had culture, that had more age, that had a longer story. And I stumbled upon Fredericksburg.”
By their count, the festival so far has been a success.
“I had 1500 programs printed, and we have 200 left,” Kuiper said.
Don’t miss the final performances, Friday night at 7:00 at Becker Vineyards, and Saturday afternoon at 5:00 at the Admiral Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War. Tickets and details may be found at: https://www.texascellos.org/fredericksburg-festival
Use the audio player at the top of this page to hear their segment on KPAC 88.3 FM, featuring:
- Handel: Sarabande
- Beethoven: Ode to Joy
- Radiohead: Karma Police
