Jackson Hole News & Guide: Music festival jumpstarts Friday
The Grand Teton Music Festival is entering its 62nd summer season and continues to provide unprecedented access to classical music for the Jackson community.
This summer, the goal for GTMF is clear: Bring as much music as possible to as many people as possible.
“Music is for everyone,” said Emma Kail, executive director of GTMF, “especially the music we offer at the music festival.”
This season will stretch eight weeks, from Friday to Aug. 19, with 220 classical musicians from 75 major orchestras and 55 educational institutions participating. It will start with Beethoven, Bruch and Mendelssohn by the festival orchestra with Grammy-award winning violinist James Ehnes. It will end with a semi-staged production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Music Director Donald Runnicles once again helms the orchestra.
Jackson Hole News & Guide
By Dillon Hanna
The Grand Teton Music Festival is entering its 62nd summer season and continues to provide unprecedented access to classical music for the Jackson community.
This summer, the goal for GTMF is clear: Bring as much music as possible to as many people as possible.
“Music is for everyone,” said Emma Kail, executive director of GTMF, “especially the music we offer at the music festival.”
This season will stretch eight weeks, from Friday to Aug. 19, with 220 classical musicians from 75 major orchestras and 55 educational institutions participating. It will start with Beethoven, Bruch and Mendelssohn by the festival orchestra with Grammy-award winning violinist James Ehnes. It will end with a semi-staged production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Music Director Donald Runnicles once again helms the orchestra.
Maestro Runnicles has also worked closely with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His continued participation in the festival is but one indication of GTMF’s ever-spreading, international influence.
Read more here.
OperaWire: Grand Teton Music Festival to Livestream ‘La bohème’ with Jose Simerilla Romero & Nicole Cabell
The Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming is set to livestream its semi-staged production of “La bohème.”
The production will be streamed on August 27 and features an all-star cast led by Nicole Cabell as Mimì, Jose Simerilla Romero as Rodolfo, Meechot Marrero as Musetta, Ryan Speedo Green as Colline, Thomas Lehman as Marcello, and Carlton Ford as Schaunard.
Sir Donald Runnicles conducts the Festival Orchestra in the concert version directed by David Lefkowich.
OperaWire
By Francisco Salazar
The Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming is set to livestream its semi-staged production of “La bohème.”
The production will be streamed on August 27 and features an all-star cast led by Nicole Cabell as Mimì, Jose Simerilla Romero as Rodolfo, Meechot Marrero as Musetta, Ryan Speedo Green as Colline, Thomas Lehman as Marcello, and Carlton Ford as Schaunard.
Sir Donald Runnicles conducts the Festival Orchestra in the concert version directed by David Lefkowich.
Read more here.
The New York Times: A Road Trip to Sample America’s Many, Many Music Festivals
My family and I — including children aged 6, 3 and not quite 1 — started with the up-and-coming Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, which is within easy reach of Rocky Mountain National Park. Then it made sense to a climb up to the ski resorts west of Denver — first to Bravo! Vail, then to the next valley for the Aspen Music Festival and School. Jackson Hole, Wyo., didn’t look all that far away, really. There, the Grand Teton Music Festival plays just outside the park of the same name, with Yellowstone National Park an hour to the north. Why not?
The New York Times
By David Allen
With a minivan and a three small children in tow, a critic spent 12 days discovering classical music offerings among the Rocky Mountains.
Four classical music festivals. Three children. Two exhausted parents, with a brave grandfather in tow. One bedraggled minivan.
It’ll be fun, my wife promised me. Surprisingly, it was.
…
My family and I — including children aged 6, 3 and not quite 1 — started with the up-and-coming Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, which is within easy reach of Rocky Mountain National Park. Then it made sense to a climb up to the ski resorts west of Denver — first to Bravo! Vail, then to the next valley for the Aspen Music Festival and School. Jackson Hole, Wyo., didn’t look all that far away, really. There, the Grand Teton Music Festival plays just outside the park of the same name, with Yellowstone National Park an hour to the north. Why not?
Read more here.
Photo Credit (right): Andrew Miller for The New York Times
Jackson Hole News and Guide: GTMF goes deep for 61st season
After two years of COVID-induced uncertainty and instability, we all deserve a little something — a treat or a bonus, something that begins to make up for all the time lost social distancing and isolating.
The Grand Teton Music Festival is doing its part. Its 61st season begins Sunday and Monday with two free outdoor concerts on the Center for the Arts Lawn and then runs for eight full weeks, all the way through Aug. 27 — its longest season in decades, GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said.
Jackson Hole News and Guide
By Richard Anderson
After two years of COVID-induced uncertainty and instability, we all deserve a little something — a treat or a bonus, something that begins to make up for all the time lost social distancing and isolating.
The Grand Teton Music Festival is doing its part. Its 61st season begins Sunday and Monday with two free outdoor concerts on the Center for the Arts Lawn and then runs for eight full weeks, all the way through Aug. 27 — its longest season in decades, GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said.
That’s eight weeks of symphonic music performed by the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra in the storied Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, with longtime Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles at the podium for five of them and guest conductors for the others; seven Wednesday night chamber music programs featuring orchestra members and guests; four “Gateway” concerts highlighting jazz, folk and popular music; three new Sunday matinee piano recitals; and loads of free outreach programs for kids and families (and anyone else who just can’t get enough) at Teton County Library, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Astoria Hot Springs and other fun and unexpected spots.
Read more here.
Pianist Magazine: 3 Idyllic US Music Festivals to Attend This Summer
Pianist Magazine
We take a closer look at Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival and Sun Valley Music Festival
Summer is swiftly approaching, and with it comes the opportunity to take a road trip and enjoy music outdoors. The US is home to many summer festivals with robust offerings, but three in particular stand out for their idyllic settings and the spotlight they shine on the piano this season. The best news? With some planning, one could even make a journey out of it and attend all three for a summer to remember.
Read more here.
Memeteria: A Homecoming for the Grand Teton Music Festival
It’s only my first time in these parts, but already I can understand the deep, magnetic sense of connection that draws people back here again and again. Upon passing through the elk antler arch at Jackson Hole Airport (the only U.S. airport located within a national park, incidentally), I soon began to feel the charm of a place that hasn’t been flattened out by plastic predictability. Even with lingering smoke from the latest Western fires imposing a thin pall, the capacity for this landscape to inspire awe was undimmed.
Memeteria
Thomas May
It’s only my first time in these parts, but already I can understand the deep, magnetic sense of connection that draws people back here again and again. Upon passing through the elk antler arch at Jackson Hole Airport (the only U.S. airport located within a national park, incidentally), I soon began to feel the charm of a place that hasn’t been flattened out by plastic predictability. Even with lingering smoke from the latest Western fires imposing a thin pall, the capacity for this landscape to inspire awe was undimmed.
With its marriage of valley and dramatic, looming scarps, it’s obvious how the Jackson Hole area beckoned as an ideal spot to make music. The Grand Teton Music Festival opened on 2 July, following the all-too-familiar hiatus, and is now into Week 4 of a seven-week season — which also marks the Festival’s 60th anniversary.
Read more here.
United Hemispheres: Take in Classical Music and Mountain Scenery at These Summer Festivals
While artists and venues have tried to make due with virtual performances over the past year, nothing can replace the shared thrill of an in-person concert. That goes not only for pop stars but for orchestras. With music festivals set to make a comeback this summer, here are three orchestral concert series that send world-class musicians onto stages with spectacular Rocky Mountain backdrops.
United Hemispheres
Thomas May
While artists and venues have tried to make due with virtual performances over the past year, nothing can replace the shared thrill of an in-person concert. That goes not only for pop stars but for orchestras. With music festivals set to make a comeback this summer, here are three orchestral concert series that send world-class musicians onto stages with spectacular Rocky Mountain backdrops.
Sun Valley Music Festival
Famous for attracting Hollywood royalty (Ernest Hemingway, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger), Sun Valley, Idaho, is also home to the largest admission-free classical music festival in the U.S…
Bravo! Vail Music Festival
Set at the base of Vail’s ski runs, the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater provides a beautiful setting for the Bravo! Vail Music Festival…
Grand Teton Music Festival
Returning for its 60th season, the Grand Teton Music Festival once again graces Jackson Hole, Wyoming, right next to Grand Teton National Park.
Read more here.
Wyoming Public Media: Grand Teton Music Festival's New Executive Director Hopes To Connect Community To Music
The Grand Teton Music Festival has picked its new executive director. Emma Kail will lead the organization, which holds a world class orchestra during the summer months and offers other classical music events year round. Kail has a background in music performance and as an administrative leader in classical music organizations across the U.S. Wyoming Public Radio's Kamila Kudelska spoke with her about her vision and hopes for the festival.
Wyoming Public Media
Kamila Kudelska
The Grand Teton Music Festival has picked its new executive director. Emma Kail will lead the organization, which holds a world class orchestra during the summer months and offers other classical music events year round. Kail has a background in music performance and as an administrative leader in classical music organizations across the U.S. Wyoming Public Radio's Kamila Kudelska spoke with her about her vision and hopes for the festival.
Emma Kail: I am a lifelong music lover. I grew up until I was about 10 years old in very rural Kentucky. So, my introduction into classical music was thanks to public radio. We had a repeater station from Western Kentucky Public Radio. And so working on our farm, I heard music from a very early age and fell in love. I ended up studying music. But as I moved along, I began to see more about the other side of music beyond just what was happening on stage. So they need to have support not only backstage, but in the office and in the advocacy for music and how musical institutions connect to a community.
Read more and listen here.
BBC Music Magazine: 2020 North America Festival Choice – Grand Teton Music Festival
BBC Music Magazine chooses Grand Teton Music Festival as “Festival Choice” for North America.
BBC Music Magazine
Our Festival Choice
Grand Teton Music Festival
gtmf.org
Not distracted by its spectacular Wyoming setting, Grand Teton sets its customary focus on big names and splashy, large-scale programmes. Donald Runnicles conducts the Festival Orchestra in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. 2, Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration and Beethoven’s five piano concertos with Garrick Ohlsson. Other noted soloists include Johannes Moser (Dvořák Cello Concerto), soprano Erin Wall (Strauss’s Four Last Songs) and Midori (Sibelius Violin Concerto). Also look for performances by pianist-composer Clarice Assad, violinists Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, and singer Bernadette Peters.
Read the full festival guide in the April 2020 issue, available here.
Grand Teton Music Festival Announces 2020 Season: 20/20 Visionaries
2020 marks two momentous events: Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
2020 marks two momentous events: Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
Known as “The Equality State,” Wyoming granted women the right to vote in 1869, more than 50 years before suffrage and the first in the Union to do so. It was also – in 1825 – the first to elect a female governor. And in 1920, Jackson Hole became the first town in the country to be governed by an all-female Town Council.
2020 also gives us the opportunity to reflect on the extraordinary life and legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven. His music has enriched people’s lives for more than two centuries, and his works are as relevant to our lives in the 21st century as they were the day they were premiered.
20/20 Visionaries commemorates these historical occasions by paying homage to women in classical music – instrumentalists, singers, conductors, and composers; by thrilling performances of some of Beethoven’s most beloved works; and by masterpieces of composers on whom he had a lasting impact.
World-renowned conductor and GTMF Music Director Donald Runnicles comments, “For seven weeks in the summer of 2020, audiences in Jackson Hole will again experience one of the finest orchestras in the world. The uniquely seductive alchemy of music, musicians and mountains informs and inspires another season, bringing together the world's finest – we welcome back among others musical giants such as Renée Fleming and Garrick Ohlsson. We welcome for the first time the great violinist Midori and the conductor Eun Sun Kim. Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Sibelius – both literally and metaphorically, wherever you look, whatever you hear – veritable mountain peaks. That is the Grand Teton Music Festival.”
Grand Teton Music Festival’s 2020 Summer Season begins July 3 and runs through August 22 – a season of joy and celebration, with Maestro Donald Runnicles, renowned guest artists, and the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra.
GTMF Presents Bernadette Peters
Friday, July 3, 8 pm
The festivities begin with Tony Award-winning superstar Bernadette Peters. Regarded as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Stephen Sondheim, her starring roles in Annie Get Your Gun, Into the Woods, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly! are legendary. Peters makes her GTMF debut with an evening of Broadway favorites.
Patriotic Pops
Saturday, July 4, 6 pm
Donald Runnicles leads the GTMF Festival Orchestra through a spectacular concert of patriotic pops classics in this spirited holiday celebration. The evening culminates with a veteran tribute during the US Armed Forces Medley.
The Heroic Life
Friday, July 10, 8 pm and Saturday, July 11, 6 pm
Beethoven kicks off this season’s weekend concerts with Donald Runnicles conducting the Festival Orchestra in the Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.” The Orchestra also performs two haunting Strauss masterpieces — Four Last Songs with soprano Erin Wall and Death and Transfiguration.
GTMF Presents Time for Three
Wednesday, July 15, 8 pm
Known for their rock concert energy and dynamic arrangements, celebrated classical crossover group Time for Three returns to GTMF with a vibrant program bridging classical composers and popular tunes. Their repertoire spans the Bach Double Concerto to Eleanor Rigby to Coldplay.
GTMF Presents Renée Fleming
Thursday, July 16, 8 pm
Opera star Renée Fleming “is the go-to soprano for royals, world leaders, and Broadway musicals” [The Guardian], and she makes her much-anticipated return to the GTMF stage with a program of beloved opera repertoire and musical theater favorites. Among her many accomplishments, Fleming is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts, a Tony nominee, and a 16-time Grammy nominee with four wins.
GTMF Musicians Take Center Stage
Friday, July 17, 8 pm and Saturday, July 18, 6 pm
Runnicles conducts GTMF flutist Angela Jones-Reus and harpist Elisabeth Remy Johnson in a performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with the Festival Orchestra. Also on the program is the world premiere of a GTMF commission by Melody Eötvös and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
GTMF Presents Gil Shaham & Adele Anthony
Wednesday, July 22, 8 pm
Enjoy a night of violin virtuosity with “one of today’s preeminent violinists” [The New York Times] Gil Shaham and his wife, violinist Adele Anthony. Shaham is a Grammy Award-winner, Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year, and a winner of the coveted Avery Fisher Prize.
The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
Friday, July 24, 8 pm and Saturday, July 25, 6 pm
Beethoven’s piano concertos are some of his greatest works, and hearing them over the course of two evenings offers incredible perspective on Beethoven’s compositional breadth. In a grand celebration of Beethoven, pianist Garrick Ohlsson reunites with conductor Donald Runnicles for a pair of magical evenings paying tribute to the composer with Beethoven’s five immortal Piano Concertos.
GTMF Presents Clarice Assad
Wednesday, July 29, 8 pm
Composer, pianist, and vocalist Clarice Assad makes her GTMF debut in a special evening of her wildly-adventurous compositions marrying piano and voice, with influences stemming from classical, Brazilian, contemporary, jazz and world music repertoire.
Tchaikovsky's Fourth
Friday, July 31, 8 pm and Saturday, August 1, 6 pm
Check out Eun Sun Kim before your city friends! Hot on the heels of her appointment as San Francisco Opera’s Music Director, Eun Sun Kim conducts cellist Johannes Moser in his return to GTMF, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Festival Orchestra. Completing the evening are Clarice Assad’s Bonecos de Olinda and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
GTMF Presents St. Lawrence String Quartet
Wednesday, August 5, 8 pm
The acclaimed ensemble takes the stage to perform Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 20, No. 4, John Adams’ String Quartet No. 2 and Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 131.
Jests and Conquests
Friday, August 7, 8 pm and Saturday, August 8, 6 pm
With the Festival Orchestra, the St. Lawrence String Quartet takes on John Adams’ Absolute Jest, Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra. Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 round out this stellar concert, conducted by Karina Canellakis, winner of the 2016 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award.
GTMF Presents Dover Quartet
Wednesday, August 12, 8 pm
The Dover Quartet returns to GTMF to lend its distinctive sound to a program of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 18, No. 2, Bartok’s String Quartet No. 2, and Ravel’s glorious String Quartet.
Mahler in the Mountains
Friday, August 14, 8 pm and Saturday, August 15, 6 pm
As one of the world’s leading Mahler interpreters, Donald Runnicles’ “Mahler in the Mountains” concerts have become a pilgrimage for GTMF patrons. The Maestro conducts the Utah Symphony Chorus, soprano Jacquelyn Stucker, and mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford in Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”.
GTMF Presents Daniela Liebman
Wednesday, August 19, 8 pm
Seventeen-year-old Mexican pianist and rising star Daniela Liebman graces the GTMF stage with a colorful program of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110, Debussy’s Images, Book I, Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28, and Chopin’s Ballades.
Fiery Violin
Friday, August 21, 8 pm and Saturday, August 22, 6 pm
To conclude a spectacular season, conductor James Conlon and violin legend Midori team up for Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, in the virtuoso violinist’s GTMF debut. Completing the program are Beethoven’s Coriolon Overture and Egmont Overture and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
Chamber Music Nights
Tuesdays: July 7, 14, 21, 28, August 4, 11 and 18 at 7 pm; Thursdays: July 9, 23, 30, August 6, 13 and 20 at 8 pm
The Haberfeld Chamber Series on Tuesdays at St. John’s Episcopal Church and Thursday Chamber Series at Walk Festival Hall feature the artistry of GTMF’s world-class Festival Musicians. Enjoy core classical repertoire mixed with rarely heard gems.
Purchase tickets online at gtmf.org or by calling 307.733.1128. The Fritz Box Office at Walk Festival Hall opens June 19.
About the Grand Teton Music Festival (GTMF)
Over seven weeks each summer, the Grand Teton Music Festival unites 228 celebrated orchestral musicians led by Music Director Donald Runnicles. These musicians represent 64 orchestras and 47 institutions of higher learning throughout Europe and North America. In addition to orchestral concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, the summer season also features visiting guest artists and chamber music on weekdays.
GTMF is the single largest performing arts presenter in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with nearly 100 annual events. GTMF presents yearlong programming that includes monthly community concerts, a Winter Festival in February, the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series, and education programs for Teton County Students.
GTMF is a 4-star charity as rated by Charity Navigator and has a Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar.