Opening GALA Fredericksburg Music Festival & School: Chopin & Rachmaninov

Join us at for an evening of sublime music and fine wine at the Opening GALA of Fredericksburg Music Festival & School 2026 . Immerse yourself in the sounds of supremely popular and beloved music of CHOPIN & RACHMANINOV for cello and piano performed live in a beautiful vineyard.

The Barrel Chai at Becker Vineyards will open at 4:30PM allowing you to sip on exquisite wines and savor the moment with music at 6:00PM.

Don't miss this unique experience that combines the best of classical music and wine culture!

Joseph Kuipers, cello

Victor Asunción, piano

Set among the lavender fields and vineyards of the Texas Hill Country, the opening gala of 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 inaugurate 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.

The Opening Gala at Becker Vineyards is designed as more than a concert. It is an arrival 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 opening-night performance featuring internationally recognized guest artists 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.

Joseph Kuipers is an American cellist, educator, and arts leader whose work is defined by artistic excellence, innovation, and a deep commitment to community engagement. Raised in a musical family, he began performing chamber music and singing in choirs at an early age, experiences that continue to shape his collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to music-making.

Kuipers pursued advanced studies in the United States and Europe, training in St. Paul with Hong Wang and Tom Rosenberg, in Boston with Paul Katz, in Mannheim with Bernard Greenhouse and Michael Flaksman, and in Basel with Thomas Demenga and Rainer Schmidt. Additional formative influences include Richard Aaron, Hans Jørgen Jensen, and the late Anner Bylsma. This broad educational background fostered a performance practice equally grounded in historical awareness and contemporary expression.

Renowned for his versatility on both modern and gut strings, Kuipers is known for imaginative programming that often juxtaposes Baroque repertoire with new and recent works. He has appeared at leading festivals and institutions worldwide, including the Aspen and Ravinia Music Festivals, Festival International du Domaine Forget, Kronberg Academy, Ascoli Piceno Festival, Carl Orff Festival, and the World Cello Congress. His dedication to the music of our time has led to close collaborations with living composers such as Robert Cogan, Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenmann, and Arvo Pärt.

Chamber music is central to Kuipers’s artistic life. His collaborators include the Dover, Escher and Miró Quartets and members of the Cleveland, Hagen and St Lawrence Quartets.

Teaching and mentorship play a vital role in Kuipers’s career. He has held faculty positions at Washington and Lee University, Eastern University, and the Binningen School for Gifted Students in Switzerland, and has given masterclasses at festivals and institutions worldwide. He maintains a private teaching studio in North Dallas, where his students regularly earn top honors at regional and national competitions and perform with leading youth orchestras.

Kuipers is the Creative Director of Texas Cellos, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching communities through performance and education. Under his leadership, Texas Cellos has expanded its programming to include Texas Cello School, one of America’s premier cello institutes; TexasCellos SESSIONS, presenting world-class musicians in accessible and informal venues; the Fredericksburg Music Festival and School and Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra;. Through these initiatives, he continues to champion artistic excellence, accessibility, and the development of the next generation of musicians.

He performs on cellos by Enrico Ceruti (Cremona, ca. 1850) and Mason Weedman (2024). Based in Dallas, Kuipers balances his musical life with interests in composition, painting, chess, gardening, and time spent outdoors with his two Australian Shepherds Ronin and Ghost.

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “poised and imaginative playing,” Filipino-American pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion has appeared in concert halls in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain, Turkey and the USA, as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He played his orchestral debut at the age of 18 with the Manila Chamber Orchestra, and his New York recital debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1999. In addition, he has worked with conductors including Sergio Esmilla, Enrique Batiz, Mei Ann Chen, Zeev Dorman, Arthur Weisberg, Corrick Brown, David Loebel, Leon Fleisher, Michael Stern, Jordan Tang, and Bobby McFerrin.

A chamber music enthusiast, he has performed with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Andres Diaz, James Dunham, Antonio Meneses, Joshua Roman, Cho-Liang Lin, Giora Schmidt, the Dover, Emerson, Serafin, Sao Paulo, and Vega String Quartets. He was on the chamber music faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Summer Music Festival. He was also the pianist for the Garth Newel Piano Quartet for three seasons. Festival appearances include the Amelia Island, Highland-Cashiers, Music in the Vineyards, and Santa Fe.

His recordings include the complete Sonatas of L. van Beethoven with cellist Tobias Werner, Sonatas by Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff with cellist Joseph Johnson, the Rachmaninoff Sonata with the cellist Evan Drachman, and the Chopin and Grieg Sonatas, also with cellist Evan Drachman. He is featured in the award winning recording “Songs My Father Taught Me” with Lynn Harrell, produced by Louise Frank and WFMT-Chicago. Mr. Asuncion is the Founder, and Artistic and Board Director of FilAm Music Foundation, a non-profit foundation that is dedicated to promoting Filipino classical musicians through scholarship, and performance.

He received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 2007 from the University of Maryland at College Park under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. Victor Santiago Asuncion is a Steinway artist.

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