The Mid-Texas Symphony, one of the regional symphonies, will take the stage this weekend.
Music Director Akiko Fujimoto describes them this way: “The Mid-Texas Symphony is a professional orchestra based in Seguin and New Braunfels, Texas,” Fujimoto said. “And we perform six concerts a year in both cities: three in Seguin and three in New Braunfels. And we aim to serve the community in symphonic music.”
She said Sunday’s program is a stand-out.
“This is an all-German program, two of the greatest hits of symphonic music. Mendelssohn’s ‘Violin Concerto,’ featuring violinist Eric Gratz, who is familiar to many people in South Texas. And also Beethoven’s ‘6th Symphony, Pastorale,’ so it should be a gorgeous program,” she said.
The difficulty of this piece makes it one that aspiring violinists seek to master.
“The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is the king of all violin concertos. It is one of the most popular, the most beautiful, really a groundbreaking violin concerto in music history,” Fujimoto said.
The circumstances of the writing of the Beethoven Symphony is also one of the aspects that makes it great.
“After the intermission, Beethoven’s 6th Symphony is probably one of the most personal, intimate expressions of feelings that Beethoven composed. The symphony is about his recollections of walking around the countryside, away from the big city life,” she said.
“And whenever I think about the fact that he was going deaf while he was writing this, the amount of gratitude that he imbued this symphony and his observations of what’s going on in nature: the woods, the birds, it really astounds me, of what he was hearing from the nature that he experienced,” Fujimoto said.
The concert takes place on Sunday, October 16th at 4 o’clock in the afternoon at Canyon High School Performing Arts Center. Fujimoto said she’s looking forward to performing both pieces this weekend.
Tickets are available here.