Mount Vernon Music is about to start its 21st season with "Achieving Harmony," a theme based on the idea that music has the power to bring people together at a time when division and isolation seem to be becoming more and more widespread. For the musicians, harmony means more than just notes being played together; it involves listening to one another, showing respect and depending on each other to produce something which could not have been achieved individually.
That message will be included in the season's opening program, a performance which looks at music's transformative power by means of composers whose lives have been influenced by tragedy, prejudice, and difficult situations. One of them is the American composer George Rochberg, whose approach to music changed after the death of his son; since his earlier style did not seem to him adequate for expressing his sorrow, Rochberg started to compose in a different way. Mount Vernon Music will perform a movement from one of his quartets that is based on Pachelbel's well-known Canon, altering the familiar melody in what the musicians refer to as a state of reverence and tenderness. The program will also highlight Florence Price, a Black American composer whose work was not widely recognized during her lifetime but has in recent years attracted more attention. Her music often draws on the tradition of Black spirituals and has, according to Mount Vernon Music, an unmistakably American character.
Although it is now in its third decade, Mark and Ute Miller of Mount Vernon Music admit it is still something of a 'best kept secret' in the region. While their aim goes far beyond giving concerts in the Mount Vernon Music Hall, the organization brings music to elementary schools all over East Texas, gives a free family concert every year, and also performs in public libraries and in long-term care facilities. At a recent show in a nursing home, one woman said that the music had reminded her of singing in her high school choir at the 1965 World's Fair, illustrating the surprising links that music can establish between different generations.
From the very start, making those experiences available has been a fundamental aspect of the organization's foundation. Over three decades ago, the Mark and Ute initially came to Texas from Germany as part of a scheme aimed at getting young ensembles into rural areas that had limited access to concert halls and other cultural opportunities. This experience still influences the work of Mount Vernon Music nowadays, especially its initiatives to reach young people who might not have the opportunity to travel to Dallas or Fort Worth in order to attend a professional musical performance.
With Mount Vernon Music, such experiences have the possibility of remaining with a person long after the last note has been played. This is the fundamental concept of 'Achieving Harmony ': individual voices hearing one another, joining together and producing something that is greater than anything any one person could achieve by themselves. As it starts its 21st season, Mount Vernon Music hopes that even more people in Mount Vernon and East Texas will come to discover this experience taking place right in their own community.
Find more information, including their upcoming 2026-2027 season, online at www.mountvernonmusic.org
