A Look Back: Memorable VBF Performances
Saturday, June 6, 10 AM CDT
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“There have been so many magical musical experiences at VBF that it’s hard to choose just one. I have especially fond memories of the 2019 finale concert—when after a power outage just before concert time, the entire show moved to a new venue across town in 45 minutes! It was amazing to see orchestra musicians, board members, crew, and audience all pitching in together to pull it off… not sure that could happen anywhere but in Victoria! The community teamwork, resiliency, and sense of adventure were so much fun, and made that late-night music making even better.”
-FAITH DEBOW, Emerging Artist Coordinator, piano
“Ninety minutes before the performance, I happened to look at my phone and I saw a note that my dear friend and mentor, J. Reilly Lewis, had just passed away. I was shocked by the news. I just let inspiration take me where it wanted. I remember it being a very special, very moving performance and I will never forget it.”
-ALEJANDRO HERNANDEZ-VALDEZ, Artistic Director
“It’s so hard to pick just one, so I’m going to cheat! My favorite concert happened in 2014 when clarinetist Richard Stoltzman performed. He is absolutely amazing, and clarinet is my favorite instrument to listen to since I played it through junior high, high school and college (and a little bit since then). I also have fond memories of the 2015 40th anniversary Festival. I was president of the Board of Directors at that time, and it was exciting to be part of the celebration. The Mother Falcon concert downtown at DeLeon Plaza brought many people to the Festival who had never attended a performance. The Bach Magnificat performance on the final night of the Festival was a wonderful end to a wonderful week.”
-PAULA COBLER, Board Member & Past President
“The way this orchestra had come together as such a fine ensemble, and then combining with the beautiful singers of Conspirare…to bring these forces together, it was golden. This piece [the St. Matthew Passion] is particularly meaningful for me—it was a piece that really opened up my deepest life-long relationship with Bach—but this was a magical performance. I felt like this piece really spoke to us. We surrendered ourselves to it and gave ourselves to it whole.”
-CRAIG HELLA JOHNSON, Conductor Emeritus
“It was the first summer that Craig stayed with us, and the first performance of that evening in 1995 was Craig himself soloing on Beethoven’s third piano concerto. He had done some practicing on our piano, and he was incredible. It was wonderful to see it.”
-ANNE & WILL WAGNER, VBF Advisory Board Members
“In 2003, when the Brahms Requiem was sung and played here in Victoria, it was a time in my life when I had lost a mentor… and it meant a lot because of the memory of those we’ve lost, the legacy that they leave us, and the grieving that goes with that. It was very special.”
-JOHN GRIFFIN, Board Member & Past President
“I can remember so many memorable moments with so many different musicians. I’ve done dozens of chamber music pieces with wonderful people.”
-ADAH TOLAND JONES, Principal Flute
“I knew coming offstage that we’d had a first-rate performance, but I couldn’t really remember what had happened. That always tells me that I was ‘in the zone.’ As I was walking offstage in a daze, Craig embraced me and said, ‘Bruce, you’re a poet.'”
-BRUCE WILLIAMS, Principal Viola
“I remember the energy in the room. It was one of those concert days where that loop, that energy loop between the audience and the performers, was complete, and you could feel the electricity in the room.”
-NINA DI LEO, Executive Director
