Mount Vernon Music

10/06/2026

Cadence Magazine called them “a band not to be missed” and “contemporary jazz at its best.” Don’t miss this extra special opportunity to hear Fort Worth based trio Flipside in the magical setting of the Daphne Prairie, one of the most biodiverse remnants of grassland remaining in Texas. Take a hayride to savor the vastness of 900 acres that were never plowed since first under the stewardship of the landowner’s family in the 1840’s, looking as it did for centuries before civilization transformed this iconic yet all-but-vanished ecosystem. Then enjoy a catered barbeque supper, and experience a prairie sunset as you enjoy creative music making at its best.

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Daphne Prairie, 4020 FM 1896
Mt. Vernon, TX 75457

In the barn, just before sunset.
Come early and take part in a prairie excursion hayride from the barn at 5:00 pm.
BBQ starts at 6:00 pm.
Concert at 6:30 pm.
Hayride, full meal and concert are all included in ticket price, but we are grateful for donations in any amount to support MVM's work.

Flipside
Dennis Durick, drums
Dave Monsch, saxophone
Paul Unger, double bass

The MVM flag will be marking the entrance to the prairie. The concert will take place at the barn on the property, about 1 mile in.

Tickets at https://www.mountvernonmusic.org/

09/16/2026

Take ownership of harmony! Mount Vernon Music invites you to support our diverse 21st season of concert programs in the DFW area, Achieving Harmony, with music by George Rochberg, Florence Price, Erwin Schulhoff, Jean Cras, Daniel Roumain, Samuel Barber, Imogen Holst, Franz Schubert, Howard Hanson, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Felix Mendelssohn, Alexandra Vrebalov, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nikolai Medtner and more!

All concerts are admission free, but represent a substantial expense for MVM. That is why we are excited to be participating in Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day. Please give as generously as you can tomorrow, September 17!
Thank you for your kind support!!!

https://www.northtexasgivingday.org/organization/mountvernonmusic

09/15/2026

🎶 Music has a home in the Upper East Side of Texas.

In our September/October issue, we visit Mount Vernon Music, where world-class musicians bring intimate performances to East Texas and introduce students to the power of live classical music.

For more than two decades, Mount Vernon Music has shown that you don’t have to travel to a big city to experience extraordinary music. It’s happening right here in our own communities.

Read “A Place for Music” in the September/October issue of Upper East Side Texas Magazine.

Read the current issue: https://isu.pub/tiQ12os

People. Place. Purpose.

09/14/2026

Several days ago we had a clean-up day for MVM Hall, done by five volunteers. It was so great to have the help! Other than cleaning the hall inside in preparation for the season opener, we painted the railings and the sign outside. Looking great now!
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers!

09/13/2026

In 1933, an orchestra in Chicago began playing a symphony that almost no one in the audience could have understood was making history. The composer was Florence Price, a Black woman born in Arkansas in 1887, and her Symphony No. 1 in E minor was being performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It was the first known symphony by a Black woman to be performed by a major American orchestra.

Price had reached that stage carrying burdens her white male contemporaries did not. She had studied at the New England Conservatory, sometimes presenting herself as Mexican to navigate the racial barriers surrounding her. Later, racial violence helped drive her family from Arkansas to Chicago. There, after her marriage collapsed, she supported her daughters while composing, teaching music and taking whatever musical work she could find.

Then came the breakthrough.

Her first symphony won the prestigious Wanamaker competition in 1932. The following year, conductor Frederick Stock brought it to the Chicago Symphony. Price took the European symphonic tradition and made room inside it for Black American musical language, including spirituals, African American rhythms and the juba dance.

Yet recognition did not erase prejudice. In 1943, Price wrote to conductor Serge Koussevitzky with painful clarity: “I have two handicaps, those of s*x and race.”

She kept composing anyway.

When Price died in 1953, much of her enormous body of work gradually slipped from view. Then, in 2009, a couple renovating an abandoned house in Illinois discovered boxes of her manuscripts and papers inside.

Dozens of scores thought lost were suddenly back in the world.

Florence Price had spent her life fighting to be heard. More than half a century after her death, her music was waiting in an old house for someone to listen again.

09/10/2026

Love to see this from our friends at Upper East Side Texas!

Experience European cultural influences in NE Texas. Explore local architecture, cuisine, & outdoor activities today!

09/01/2026

Really happy and excited about the release of this incredible new album by MVM's Evan Mitchell, pianist! Available for preorder now, for example at

A Light Exists. First Hand: FHR195. Buy CD or download online. Evan Mitchell

08/28/2026

The new season (our 21st!) has started. Please have a look at our programing this year here: https://www.mountvernonmusic.org/season-brochure/

08/27/2026

MVM's 21st Season brochures are out, and the first concert announcements will be in your mailbox soon! Thanks to our wonderful directors and volunteers for helping prep this year's mailings!!!

08/27/2026

We may usually present a different style of music, but at MVM we mourn the passing of Dolly Parton, extraordinary musician and one of our country's great humanitarians. May we never forget her example.

I never saw Dolly Parton in person, but I saw the world she grew up in. Children walked barefooted in the snow, slept in dirt-floor cabins, and wore clothes sewn from gunny sacks. That's not an exaggeration. Ms. Parton's life is perhaps one of the greatest examples of human bravery, decency, kindness, honor, goodness, and the willingness to persevere through sickness and even death, to never fail, never flinch, and still be charitable to a fault and entertain the entire world.

Her voice will always be here. Few have it. It seems magical. It's the kind we associate with angels. It rang like crystal when she sang. Or for that matter, when she spoke. But it is not only her voice that is with us; she has given us the example of the light bearer, one that casts away darkness and helps others smile and each morning rises with the sun.