JUNE 2-9, 2018 Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Artistic Director Albert E. & Myrtle Gunn York Trust AEOLUS QUARTET pg. 10 MOZART’S JOYS pg. 30 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Nina M. Di Leo AEOLUS EMERGING ARTISTS COORDINATOR Faith DeBow QUARTET RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE pg. 10 pg. 26 BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS Ronald Walker, President Tim Hornback, Vice President Carolina Astrain, Secretary David Faskas, Treasurer Calendar of Events | 2-3 Thursday, June 7, evening: BOARD MEMBERS History of the Festival | 5 Homage | 22-23 Sallye Allen Bill Blanchard Friday, June 8, noon: Meet the Artistic Director | 7 Doris Boyd Teenage Geniuses | 24-25 Contributors / Memorials | 8-9 Clay Cain Friday, June 8, evening: Gary Childress Saturday & Sunday, June 2-3, evening: Renée Anne Louprette | 26-28 Paula Cobler Aeolus Quartet | 10-12 Saturday, June 9, evening: Annie Cullen Wednesday, June 6, noon: Mozart’s Joys and Sorrows | 30-35 John Griffin Emerging Artists | 14-16 Vanessa Hicks-Callaway About the Artists | 36-38 Dr. Michael Hummel Wednesday, June 6, evening: Festival Staff | 38 Phyllis Keller Baroque Masters | 18-19 Dr. Suzanne LaBrecque Thursday, June 7, noon: Acknowledgements and Thanks | 43 Linda Patterson Die Fünf & Les Six | 20-21 John Quitta Dr. Margaret Rice Mary Ann Sawyers SEASON SPONSORS Eileen Stewart Dolly Stokes Tommy Taylor Felecia Vela Philip Welder Albert E. and Myrtle Gunn York Trust ADVISORY BOARD John B. Bierman LEAD SPONSORS John E. “Buddy” Billups Wilbur Collins Dr. Marylynn Fletcher Joe A. Hewell Cloyd and Ethel Lee Tracy Foundation Lynn Knaupp M. Russell Marshall Neldene Matusevich Catherine McHaney David P. McLarry Janet S. Miller Mary Sue Koontz Nelson Dr. Anne Wagner Dr. Will Wagner VICTORIA BACH FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION Tony Yarbrough PO Box 1086 • Victoria, TX 77902 • 361-570-5788 www.victoriabachfestival.org • info@ victoriabachfestival.org VICTORIA BACH FESTIVAL 1 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 BACHFEST BREAKFAST WELCOME Nathan Koch, bassoon TO VICTORIA! Grace Cho, piano The City of Victoria is pleased to be a season sponsor Liberty Coffee Haus 9:00 am of the 43rd annual Victoria Bach Festival. While you 206 N. Liberty Street FREE ADMISSION are here enjoying this fabulous music, I encourage you to explore our vibrant community’s history, museums, attractions, restaurants, and merchants. EMERGING ARTISTS Faith DeBow leads the 2018 Emerging Artists: flutist Natalie Magaña and guitarist Matthew Gillen. Paul Polasek Mayor, City of Victoria NOON First United Pay what you Methodist Church can at the door. SATURDAY, JUNE 2 SUNDAY, JUNE 3 407 N. Bridge Street Suggested admission: $10. AEOLUS QUARTET AEOLUS QUARTET BAROQUE MASTERS: AT THE PRESIDIO AT THE SANCTUARY BACH, VIVALDI, TELEMANN Violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Music by masters of the baroque era: J.S. Bach’s Shapiro, violist Caitlin Lynch and cellist Shapiro, violist Gregory Luce, and cellist Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 and Actus Tragicus, Alan Richardson in the intimate, historic Alan Richardson in the beautifully renovated Telemann’s Overture from Suite for Trumpet, setting of Our Lady of Loreto Chapel in Sanctuary in Edna. “A rich and warm tone and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Goliad. “A rich and warm tone combined combined with precise ensemble playing… leads the VBF Baroque Orchestra and Chorus. with precise ensemble playing ... and and an impressive musical intelligence.” an impressive musical intelligence.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer Pre-concert talk with – Cleveland Plain Dealer George Stauffer at 6:45 p.m. 7:30 pm 7:30 pm 7:30 pm Our Saviour’s $40 sec. A Presidio La Bahía $60 sec. A The Sanctuary $40 sec. A Lutheran Church $25 sec. B 217 U.S. 183, Goliad $40 sec. B 301 W. Church Street, Edna $25 sec. B 4102 N Ben Jordan Street $20 sec. C FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON PERFORMERS, VENUES, AND CONCERTS, GO TO WWW.VICTORIABACHFESTIVAL.ORG OR LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE hank you for joining us for one of the best weeks in music- The Emerging Artists program led by Tmaking in Texas and beyond. The 2017 Festival, led by Alejandro Faith DeBow is one of these beloved Hernandez-Valdez in his first year as Artistic Director, received traditions that reaches children and glowing accolades from Texas-based and national music critics, and families throughout the community. We’re pleased to welcome these we’re thrilled to welcome Alejandro and our VBF musicians back for talented musicians at the beginning of their careers as they perform another inspiring week of music. and bring joy to audiences around Victoria. Our Board of Directors, Executive Director Nina Di Leo, and her staff Much of the Festival’s success comes from the outstanding aim to expand the Festival’s impact in our area. This will be our third musicians from around the country who join us in Victoria each year to perform at the Presidio La Bahía in Goliad and our first year to June. Besides the congeniality of playing with old friends and new perform at the Sanctuary in Edna. We know the value of our Festival colleagues, they remark on how warmly the community of Victoria concerts, and are pleased to be able to share them with communities and the surrounding region includes them. Many stay in local homes, outside of Victoria. attend parties and gatherings, and become close friends. Some of our musicians have performed with the Festival for twenty years or We welcome you to the forty-third Victoria Bach Festival and thank more, and we are honored that they continue to share their talents you for your support of this special experience. Feel free to contact with us as their careers develop. any board member or go to our website for information on how you can further support this great tradition of music-making in South Texas. Our main goal is to maintain the quality of performance and the integrity established by forty-three years of exceptional music in Victoria. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez has furthered that tradition while introducing innovation to our productions. His reputation for excellence in his hometowns of New York City and Washington, Ronald Walker D.C. is exhibited in his programs. President, Victoria Bach Festival Board of Directors 2 VICTORIA BACH FESTIVAL Start your mornings with music Wednesday THURSDAY, JUNE 7 FRIDAY, JUNE 8 through Friday at the BACHFEST BREAKFAST series. Enjoy performances by VBF musicians with BACHFEST BREAKFAST BACHFEST BREAKFAST your coffee and pastries at Liberty Coffee Haus. Tom Burritt, marimba Stephen Redfield, violin The BachFest Breakfast series is underwritten by Suzanna Giordano-Gignac, viola Janey and Melvin Lack. Liberty Coffee Haus 9:00 am Liberty Coffee Haus 9:00 am 206 N. Liberty Street FREE ADMISSION 206 N. Liberty Street FREE ADMISSION SATURDAY, JUNE 9 DIE FÜNF & LES SIX TEENAGE GENIUSES BIG BANG Music for piano and winds for five and six players: Masterworks for strings by Britten, Mozart, and Join us for a rhythm party! Victoria Bach Festival Ludwig van Beethoven’s stately Quintet in E-flat Mendelssohn, written when the composers were percussionists lead a drum workshop for participants for Piano and Winds and Francis Poulenc’s sixteen and seventeen years old. Mendelssohn of all ages who want to get in the groove. raucous and lively Sextet for Piano and Winds. spoke of the Octet in E-flat major as his favorite among all his works. NOON NOON Trinity Episcopal Pay what you First United Pay what you Church can at the door. Methodist Church can at the door. Victoria Public Library 1:00 pm 1501 N. Glass Street Suggested admission: $10. 407 N. Bridge Street Suggested admission: $10. 302 N. Main Street FREE ADMISSION HOMAGE: NEW WORKS RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE, MOZART’S JOYS AND INSPIRED BY THE PAST ORGAN SORROWS: REQUIEM AND Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez conducts Hailed by The New York Times as “one of New CORONATION MASSES contemporary works inspired by composers York’s finest organists,”Renée Anne Louprette Intimate moments from Mozart’s personal letters of the past, including music by Arvo Pärt, has established an international career as organ paired with two of the composer’s most beloved Knut Nystedt, Lera Aurebach, and Rodion recitalist, accompanist, conductor, and teacher. works: the Coronation and Requiem Masses. Schedrin’s Carmen Suite after Bizet’s opera. Reader Brett Jones joins the VBF Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez. Pre-concert talk with George Stauffer at 6:45 p.m. 7:30 pm 7:30 pm 7:30 pm Our Saviour’s $40 sec. A First United $40 sec. A Our Saviour’s $40 sec. A Lutheran Church $25 sec. B Methodist Church $25 sec. B Lutheran Church $25 sec. B 4102 N Ben Jordan Street $20 sec. C 407 N. Bridge Street $20 sec. C 4102 N Ben Jordan Street $20 sec. C FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON PERFORMERS, VENUES, AND CONCERTS, GO TO WWW.VICTORIABACHFESTIVAL.ORG OR LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE s performers, audiences, staff, and The namesake of our festival will be honored in a concert of Baroque ABoard members come together to masterpieces that include Bach’s “Actus Tragicus” and fourth enjoy the fruits of a year of preparation, Brandenburg Concerto, a rarely-heard overture by Georg Philipp let us reflect on the Festival’s fleeting nature. In only 6 days, over 20 Telemann, and Antonio Vivaldi’s timeless “Gloria.” Returning after her fabulous performances in a variety of settings involving a multitude highly successful appearance last year, concert organist Renée Anne of artists, composers, and compositions will fill South Texas. People Louprette will perform a second program of Bach’s organ masterpieces. will come from different parts of the country with the sole purpose of nourishing their spirits via one of the most mystical, magical, As in previous years, chamber music will be front-and-center with rewarding, and inspiring phenomena in the human experience: live concerts by the Aeolus Quartet, a concert of thrilling pieces for piano music.