Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, cello. Fredericksburg Music Festival & School

Description

The Fredericksburg Music Festival & School proudly presents an evening of German Romantic masterworks with internationally acclaimed cellist Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and pianist Lindsay Garritson.

Set within the historic atmosphere of St. Joseph’s Halle in the heart of Fredericksburg, Texas, this recital brings together two distinguished artists for a program of profound lyricism, intimacy, and emotional depth featuring music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms.

Praised for the richness of his sound and deeply expressive musicianship, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. A prize winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and recipient of the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris at the Rostropovich Competition, Schmidt is also one of Europe’s most respected pedagogues, teaching at the University of the Arts Berlin, the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, and the Kronberg Academy.

Together with pianist Lindsay Garritson, this recital explores the poetic inner world of the Romantic cello repertoire — from the conversational intimacy of Schumann’s Fantasiestücke to the searching lyricism of Brahms’s monumental E minor Sonata.

Program

• Schumann — Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
• Beethoven — Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102 No. 1
• Schumann — Adagio und Allegro, Op. 70
• Brahms — Sonata No. 1 in E Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 38

This concert forms part of the 2026 Fredericksburg Music Festival & School, an international summer festival bringing together exceptional artists, students, and audiences from around the world in the Texas Hill Country.

Venue

St. Joseph’s Halle

Festival Dates

June 7–21, 2026

Presented by

Fredericksburg Music Festival & School/ Texas Cellos