CLASSES + WORKSHOPS

One of the major summer music festivals in the United States, the Round Top Music Festival celebrates its 41st year in 2012.

As part of the 2012 Round Top Music Festival, Gregory Fulkerson, violin (pictured) presents a Master Class in the Edythe Bates Old Chapel, Wednesday, June 13 at 1:30pm. Master classes are open to the public… as well as orchestra rehearsals.

Gregory Fulkerson rose to prominence as a major exponent of American contemporary music, taking the first prize in the International American Music Competition sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Kennedy Center (now sponsored by Carnegie Hall). As a result of that victory, Fulkerson began a very active performing career that included debuts in New York, London, Paris, Rome, and Brussels. He has performed more than 30 concerti with orchestra, including the world premieres of the John Becker Concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony, the Roy Harris Concerto with the North Carolina Symphony, and the Richard Wernick Concerto with Riccardo Muti conductiong the Philadelphia Orchestra. He performed the title role in the 1992 revival of the Philip Glass opera, Einstein on the Beach, for a total of 48 performances on four continents, and later recorded the work for Nonesuch.

About the 2012 Round Top Music Festival: Founded by renowned concert pianist James Dick, it gathers more than 90 young talented young artists – accepted after auditions – for an intensive 6-week program. They are mentored and coached by more than 40 distinguished faculty members and participate in more than 20 orchestral and chamber music concerts performed in the outstanding Festival Concert Hall (1,000 seats) built over a period of 30 years.

The Texas Festival Orchestra will perform 8 concerts conducted by eight different conductors from the United States (Michael Stern, Stefan Sanders and Emilio Colon), Canada (Charles Olivieri-Munroe), France (Pascal Verrot), Austria (Christoph Campestrini), Portugal (Pedro Carneiro) and China (Perry So.)

Orchestral programs mix, as usual, the well known and not so well known repertoire and also a world premiere (Concerto for two percussionists and orchestra by Jonathan Leshnoff.)

Highlights include,Claude Debussy Images for Orchestra, L. van Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 5, Aaron Copland Symphony No. 3, Gustav Mahler Ruckert Lieder (sung by the fast-rising mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke), and Aram Khachaturian Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (performed by James Dick.)

Chamber music programs are also offering contrasted repertoires (Debussy, Spohr, Dvorak, Rouse, Brahms, Harsanyi, Bach, Carter, Poulenc, Bartok…)