ASU Symphony Participates in Van Der Stucken Festival

About the Festival

The Van der Stucken Music Festival was founded in 1991 to honor Frank Van der Stucken. The festival was started by Kenn Knopp in 1991 and continued for more than 20 years with the support of the Friends of Van der Stucken organization. The Fredericksburg Community Orchestras first performed at the festival in 2012 and have continued to be a part of the festival ever since. Angelo State Symphony has joined the festival every year of the festival since 2015.

In the tradition of the festival, the Hermann Sons Mixed Chorus will perform. Van der Stucken was a Fredericksburg native, born Oct. 15, 1858, to a Flemish father and German mother. He became the founder and first director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and what is now the University of Cincinnati Music School. After retirement he and his wife Maria (Schoenewolf) moved to Hamburg, Germany, to be near his parents in Antwerp, Belgium. Although Van der Stucken was born in the US, his parents returned to Belgium in 1865 to escape the Civil War. He died Aug. 16, 1929, and is buried in the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof of Hamburg alongside most other members of his immediate family.