Description

An International Celebration of the Cello in the Heart of the Texas Hill Country FREDERICKSBURG, Texas — For two luminous weeks in early summer, a small Hill Country town renowned for its German heritage, vineyards, and slow rhythms of life will once again become an international meeting place for the cello. From 7–21 June, 2026, the Second Fredericksburg Music Festival and School, presented by the nonprofit TexasCellos, returns to Fredericksburg with an ambitious programme of concerts and masterclasses that places the town firmly on the global map of classical music destinations. What began as a bold experiment has now established itself as an annual event, drawing artists and audiences from across the United States, Europe, and Asia. At the heart of the festival is an exceptional gathering of cellists—masters of the instrument whose artistry spans continents, traditions, and generations. Performances will unfold across a series of evocative venues that mirror the festival’s spirit of dialogue between history, landscape, and sound: the Marienkirche at St. Mary’s Church, Becker Vineyards, Altstadt Brewery, the Historic Nimitz Ballroom, and, in one of the festival’s most striking settings, the vast limestone chambers of Cave Without a Name. The 2026 faculty reads like a roll call of the world’s leading cello voices. Among them are Richard Aaron, renowned pedagogue and professor at the San Francisco Conservatory; Jens Peter Maintz, professor at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía; Clive Greensmith, professor at the Colburn School and former cellist of the Tokyo Quartet, and former principal of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, professor at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” Weimar, the Berlin University of the Arts, and Kronberg Academy; Lluís Claret, the celebrated international soloist and longtime professor at New England Conservatory; and Texas-based cellist Joseph Kuipers, founder of TexasCellos and artistic director of the festival. The repertoire is as richly varied as the artists themselves. Highlights include a Spanish-themed recital by Lluís Claret; a rare CelloDuello concert uniting Jens Peter Maintz and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt; and an Eastern European programme performed by Valentin Radutiu, Principal Cellist of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the newly appointed Professor of Cello at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. The festival also embraces genre-crossing collaborations, including a special appearance by six-time Grammy Award-winning French jazz violinist Scott Tixier, performing amid the cathedral-like stalagmites of the cave. The festival culminates on 21 June with a gala concert at Altstadt Brewery, where a grand cello choir of 70CELLOS —bringing together faculty and students— will perform luminous transcriptions of beloved melodies, offering a powerful collective voice to close the fortnight. Education remains central to the festival’s mission. The second season of Cello Masterclasses will welcome more than sixty of the world’s most promising young cellists, who will perform and study in an open, European-style masterclass format, inviting the public to witness the artistry of teaching as well as performance. Founded in 1846 by German immigrants, Fredericksburg—home to some 10,000 inhabitants—regularly appears on lists of Texas’s most beautiful towns. Its blend of historic architecture, refined dining, and rolling vineyard landscapes provides an unusually fitting setting for a festival rooted in both tradition and discovery. The town lies approximately 70 miles northwest of San Antonio. Founded in Dallas in 2020, TexasCellos is dedicated to fostering intimate, meaningful encounters between musicians and audiences, while offering the highest level of cello education through its Texas Cello School. With the Fredericksburg Music Festival and School, the organization continues to demonstrate how world-class artistry can flourish far from conventional metropolitan centres—where music, place, and community meet in lasting harmony. 

https://www.texascellos.org/fredericksburg-festival