Jens Peter Maintz: Fredericksburg Music Festival & School - BACH & MODERN

The Fredericksburg Music Festival & School is honored to welcome internationally celebrated cellist Jens Peter Maintz for a rare solo recital in the intimate Lavender House at Becker Vineyards.

Surrounded by the vineyards and lavender fields of the Texas Hill Country, this special evening offers audiences the opportunity to experience one of Europe’s great cello artists in an atmosphere of extraordinary closeness and beauty.

Renowned for the depth of his musicianship, luminous tone, and intellectual artistry, Jens Peter Maintz has appeared with leading orchestras throughout Europe and Asia and collaborated with many of the defining artists of our time, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Franz Welser-Möst, Janine Jansen, Isabelle Faust, and Hélène Grimaud. He serves as principal cello of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and is Professor of Cello at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía.

This deeply personal program traces a journey through the evolution of the solo cello repertoire — from the timeless architecture of Johann Sebastian Bach to the modern sound worlds of György Ligeti, Henri Dutilleux, and contemporary Estonian composer Allison Kruusmaa.

Presented quasi attacca in its final sequence, the program unfolds as a continuous meditation on the cello itself — its voice, resonance, fragility, and expressive power.

• Allison Kruusmaa — Cadenza for Solo Cello
• J.S. Bach — Suite No. 2 for Solo Cello
• Ligeti — Sonata for Solo Cello
• J.S. Bach — Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello
• Dutilleux — Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher

Set among the lavender fields and vineyards of the Texas Hill Country, the Fredericksburg Music Festival & School welcomes audiences, artists, and students from around the world for an evening of music, wine, and celebration at Becker Vineyards.

As the sun sets over the vineyards, internationally acclaimed artists and rising young musicians gather to celebrate the cello at the 2026 festival season with a concert that reflects the spirit of Fredericksburg itself: beauty, warmth, artistic excellence, and human connection.

Presented by Texas Cellos, the Fredericksburg Music Festival & School brings together distinguished faculty, exceptional students, and guest artists from across the United States and Europe for two weeks of performances, master classes, chamber music, and artistic exchange in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.

This concert at Becker Vineyards is designed as more than a concert. It is an experience — an opportunity for audiences to wander the vineyard grounds, enjoy world-class music in an intimate setting, and encounter the atmosphere of a European-style summer festival without leaving Texas.

Guests will experience:

• An elegant performance featuring an internationally recognized guest artist and festival faculty
• The natural beauty of Becker Vineyards at golden hour
• A gathering of musicians, patrons, students, and music lovers from around the world
• Texas Hill Country wines and a celebratory gala atmosphere
• A rare opportunity to experience chamber music and cello artistry in one of Texas’s most beautiful cultural settings

The Fredericksburg Music Festival & School was created to cultivate artistry at the highest level while remaining deeply human in spirit — combining musical excellence with hospitality, mentorship, and genuine community.

Whether you are a devoted classical music listener, a young artist, a patron of the arts, or simply someone seeking a beautiful and meaningful evening in the Hill Country, we invite you to join us for the beginning of an extraordinary summer.

Becker Vineyards

Fredericksburg Music Festival & School
in partnership with Texas Cellos

June 7–21, 2026

Hill Country chic / summer evening attire encouraged.

Jens Peter Maintz enjoys an outstanding reputation as a versatile soloist, highly sought-after chamber musician, and committed cello teacher. Originally from Hamburg, he studied with David Geringas and took part in masterclasses with other great cellists such as Heinrich Schiff, Boris Pergamenschikow, Frans Helmerson and Siegfried Palm. He was further influenced by his intensive chamber music study with Uwe-Martin Haiberg and Walter Levin.
In 1994 he won first prize in the ARD international Music Competition, which had previously not been awarded to a cellist for 17 years.

He gathered several years of valuable orchestral experience as principal cello of the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, and travelled the world as a member of the renowned Trio Fontenay. Since 2006 Jens Peter Maintz has been principal cello of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, on the invitation of Claudio Abbado.

His solo career has brought him into contact with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Marek Janowski, Dmitry Kitajenko, Franz Welser-Möst, Reinhard Goebel and Bobby McFerrin. He has appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Den Haag Residenzorchester and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Alongside classical repertoire, Jens Peter Maintz has performed numerous works by contemporary composers from Isang Yun to Georg Friedrich Haas.

Since 2004 he has been professor at Berlin University of the Arts, where he teaches an exceptionally successful cello class. Many of his students are prize winners in important international competitions and some hold leading positions in major orchestras.
Jens Peter Maintz is in equally great demand as a chamber musician. He is a member of the prestigious 'Spectrum Concerts Berlin' concert series, and performs with chamber music partners such as Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn, Torleif Thedéen, Hélène Grimaud, Kolja Blacher, Isabelle Faust, Antoine Tamestit, and also the Artemis, Carmina and Auryn Quartets.
It is now 25 years since he formed the cello duo 'Cello Duello' with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt. Together they perform at the world's most eminent festivals, such as the Kronberg Festival, the Cello Biennale Amsterdam and the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival.

For his Sony Classical CD of solo works by Bach, Dutilleux and Kodaly, Jens Peter Maintz was presented with an ECHO-Klassik award. His highly acclaimed recording of Haydn's cello concertos with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen was released on the Berlin Classics label.

Since 2017 he is professor at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.

Jens Peter Maintz plays the 'Ex-Servais' cello made by Giovanni Grancino in 1697.

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