Artistic Director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez shares his thoughts on the 2018 Victoria Bach Festival, June 2-9.

VBF: What are you most looking forward to about this year’s Victoria Bach Festival?
AHV: Being in Victoria with a very special group of people. Seeing how the musicians interact with patrons and audiences is wonderful. It’s a very special synergy, and Victoria is such a welcoming community.

VBF: Tell us some highlights of the concerts you have planned.
 AHV: We’re highlighting Bach, the namesake of our Festival. We’ll have an organ recital on Friday, June 8, by Renée Ann Louprette with some of Bach’s greatest pieces for the organ. In addition, Bach will be featured the evening of Wednesday, June 6, when the Festival Baroque Orchestra and Chorus will perform works by Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann.
We are also focusing on Mozart this year. The evening of Saturday, June 9, I’m looking forward to conducting Mozart’s Coronation and Requiem Masses. Throughout the concert, actor Brett Jones will read letters written by Mozart. The first letter we’re reading was written he was 19 years old, and the letters go all the way through to his 35th year, when he died. These letters represent his most joyful years and also his most sorrowful years. He lost family members and had some serious financial problems. Audience members will witness Mozart’s life story as they experience this wonderful concert.
The Teenage Geniuses concert at noon on Friday, June 8, will feature works for strings by Mozart, Britten and Mendelssohn, written when they were only 16 or 17 years old. There also will be a concert the evening of Thursday, June 7, of contemporary works inspired by composers of the past. These are wonderful, highly accessible pieces written from a place of love and inspiration.

VBF: What do you think the Victoria Bach Festival adds to the South Texas region?
AHV: It enriches the region greatly. We present music of very high quality, like you would see in major metropolitan areas. I don’t know of many communities in the United States the size of Victoria that present programs of such high quality.

VBF: What do you tell people who say they don’t feel comfortable coming to “classical” music concerts?
AHV: This music is for everyone. We present music that we hope will be transformative in some way. By the end of the concert, I want you to feel rejuvenated, moved, or empowered. That’s the goal with my concerts.