BBC Music: August Live Choice – Grand Teton Music Festival

BBC Music Magazine
Brian Wise

Grand Teton Music Festival
Teton Village, Wyoming
August 2-3, 2019

Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin joins the Festival Orchestra and conductor Donald Runnicles for Shostakovich ‘s buoyant Second Piano Concerto. Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour, Britten’s Young Person’s Guide, and Debussy’s Preludes, arranged for orchestra, complete the eclectic programme.

Read more of the August Live Choices in BBC Music’s August issue, available here.

Classical Post: Grand Teton Music Festival Celebrates Nature In 58th Season

Classical Post

The majestic foothills of the Teton Mountain Range promise a sublime, serene backdrop for the Grand Teton Music Festival’s 58th season, July 3 to August 17. Offering inspiration, rejuvenation, and wonderment for all, the Festival honors the natural environment it calls home and those composers and works that draw inspiration from nature. The Festival’s 2019 lineup includes more than 60 events over seven weeks.

The heart of the Grand Teton Music Festival is the Festival Orchestra, which is led by Music Director Donald Runnicles. Performing Friday and Saturday nights, the Festival Orchestra welcomes world-famous soloists including pianists Yefim Bronfman (July 12-13) and Denis Kozhukhin (August 2-3), violinists Hilary Hahn (July 26-27) and Augustin Hadelich (August 16-17), cellist Alisa Weilerstein (July 19-20), and saxophonist Branford Marsalis (August 9-10). Nature-inspired works run throughout the seven weeks, including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (August 9-10), Anna Clyne’s This Midnight Hour (August 2-3), Sibelius’ En Saga (July 12-13), and Lyadov’s Enchanted Lake (August 16-17).

Also appearing with the Festival Orchestra will be esteemed guest conductors Rafael Payare, the incoming Music Director of the San Diego Symphony (July 19-20), and Cincinnati Symphony Music Director Louis Langrée (August 16-17).

Pianist, vocalist, and nine-time Grammy Award winner Norah Jones will perform a special one-night-only concert July 21, co-presented with Live Nation. The event sold out online in five minutes. Jones’s appearance is part of the GTMF Presents lineup of showcase events that expand the Festival’s programming.

Other GTMF Presents artists include the Takács Quartet (July 31), the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (July 17), pianist Stephen Hough (July 10), and piano duo Anderson and Roe (August 17). Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth (August 15) and singer-pianist Michael Feinstein (July 3) will bring the world of theater and cabaret to the mountains.

On July 5, the annual Fundraising Gala will feature Maestro Runnicles and the Festival Orchestra in two performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Utah Symphony Chorus, the Madeleine Choir School Chorus, and soloists Meechot Marrero, Thomas Lehman, and Sunnyboy Dladla.

Read more here.

The Telegraph: The best opera and music holidays for 2019

The Telegraph

Our experts round up the most exciting holidays in 2019 for fans of opera and music.

Grand Teton Music Festival
Aspen’s great classical music rival in the Rocky Mountains is the Grand Teton, which has been held in Jackson Hole since 1962 and at its heart is a timber concert hall, the Walk Festival Hall, famous for its intimate atmosphere and excellent acoustics. Despite its relatively modest size, the hall attracts the greats – current music director is the Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles. The programme for 2019 is yet to be announced but subscriptions are on sale from Feb 1, single tickets from March 1.

July 2–Aug 17 (gtmf.org)

Classical Post: Mahler in the Mountains

Classical Post
Andrew Palmer Todd

I grew up in rural Ohio, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of acres of corn and soybeans. Fields vast enough that you could legitimately get lost as a young person, and sometimes I actually did. But from a very early age, boxed in by this bucolic Midwestern setting though I was, I dreamt of mountains. I happily remember drawing pictures of mountains for hours on end. My favorite TV show was that short-lived 1970s show set in the mountains, Grizzly Adams. I mean, I really thought everyone should grow up and have a pet grizzly bear named “Ben”!

There were no musicians in my family. The only thing remotely musical about my family was my grandfather’s 1914 silver Conn trombone. That said, music spoke to me from very early on. I remember being 6 or 7 years old and rushing up to the choir loft to watch the church organist play the postlude each Sunday. The sounds of the pipe organ. Those four manuals. The pedal board. All of those organ stops and buttons. It was mesmerizing.

Eventually, my parents did two things for their young son, captivated as I was by mountains and music. We embarked on the compulsory family vacation to Yellowstone, complete in a faux wood-paneled station Chrysler LeBaron station wagon towing a stylish Jayco camper to bask in the majesty of the mountains. And more importantly, they supported my dream to learn the piano.

Read more here.

Violin Channel: Grand Teton Music Festival Insta Takeover

Violin Channel

The Violin Channel recently caught up with the Grand Teton Music Festival for a behind-the-scenes Instagram takeover – direct from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States, with conductor Donald Runnicles, composer Sean Shepherd and cellist Johannes Moser.

GRAND TETON MUSIC FESTIVAL TAKEOVER | Since 1962, GTMF has presented spectacular #classicalmusic performances for 7 weeks each year. This is Walk Festival Hall in #TetonVillage where we hold most of our concerts – including the Festival Orchestra concert tonight! #GTMF2018 @grandtetonmusic

A post shared by The Violin Channel (@theviolinchannel) on Jul 28, 2018 at 7:30am PDT

See more highlight posts here.

Violinist: Interview with Cellist Johannes Moser: Shostakovich at the Grand Teton Festival

Violinist.com
Laurie Niles

"This may be a very controversial thing to say to a violinist: I started with the violin at age five, and my exit strategy from the violin was the cello."

German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser, now a soloist who has played with top orchestras all over the world, was telling me how he found his way to the cello. Moser, who studied with the renowned cello teacher David Geringas, was a top prize winner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition and has been involved in commissioning numerous new works for cello, will play this week at the Grand Teton Music Festival, in both a chamber concert Thursday and this weekend as soloist for Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1.

Read more here.

The New York Times: Grand Teton Music Festival Named One of Top 15 Classical Music Festivals

The New York Times
David Allen

From Bernstein centennials at Tanglewood to Mahler in the desert, concerts across the county you don’t want to miss this season.

Grand Teton Music Festival

TETON VILLAGE, WYO., JULY 3-AUG. 18 Donald Runnicles is the music director in this picturesque town opposite Jackson Hole, which is just south of Grand Teton National Park and an hour’s drive from Yellowstone. With an orchestra whose players are drawn from major symphonies across the country, Mr. Runnicles conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and much else. Visiting soloists include Daniil Trifonov, Leila Josefowicz and Kirill Gerstein. gtmf.org

For the full list of top 15 classical music festivals, click here.

Chicago Tribune: A selective guide to U.S. summer classical music festivals

Chicago Tribune
John von Rhein

Grand Teton Music Festival: July 3-Aug. 18; Jackson Hole, Wyo.: This year’s festival at the foothills of the Teton Mountains celebrates American music. Music director Donald Runnicles leads the orchestra, which comprises players from several top U.S. orchestras. The 2018 roster includes Daniil Trifonov, Julian Rachlin, Johannes Moser and Kirill Gerstein. Repertory includes Mahler’s gigantic Third Symphony and world premieres by Kareem Roustom and Sean Shepherd. 307-733-1128; www.gtmf.org

Click here to see the full guide.

Strings: The Majestic Sights & Musical Moments at the Grand Teton Music Festival

Strings
By James Ehnes

Writing about my experiences over the years at the Grand Teton Music Festival is a daunting prospect. How to describe the magic of a place where the physical beauty is beyond description, and where the quality of the music making defies rational explanation?

I first met maestro Donald Runnicles, music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, about a decade ago in Miami, where we performed the Walton Violin Concerto together with the New World Symphony. He invited me to perform at the Grand Teton Music Festival shortly thereafter—my first performance at the festival was of the Barber Concerto, with Steven Sloane conducting. In the years since, I’ve performed the Sibelius, Mozart’s Fourth, Brahms concerti, and the Beethoven Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 61, with Donald, as well as various chamber-music works—some with Donald at the piano.

I’ve also joined Donald and the orchestra for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, sitting in the second-violin section—one of the highlights of my musical life. The atmosphere within the orchestra is unique; I can think of few situations that blend relaxed fun with extremely focused and committed work in such a successful combination. The well-known expression of the orchestra as a whole being greater than the sum of its parts is very apt here, and when one considers the incredible assortment of distinguished musicians that make up this orchestra, that becomes high praise indeed! A huge amount of the credit must be given to Donald. We have become very close friends over the years, so perhaps I am biased, but I think he is a musical genius, and his commitment to musical excellence is absolute. He maintains a totally friendly, relaxed, and fun attitude, while at the same time the intensity of his music making is infectious. The performances I have heard or taken part in at the Grand Teton Music Festival have been, without exception, electrifying.

Teton Village, where the festival takes place, is located right on the edge of Grand Teton National Park. I am not a skier, but from what I’m told, this is one of the greatest ski destinations in the world. In the summer, the scenery is staggering. The mountains seem to come out of nowhere; one can admire what looks like endless prairie in one direction and craggy, spectacular peaks in the other. Wildlife is everywhere; I have seen herds of bison and elk, bears, moose, and birds of all sorts. There is a relaxed, “old west” atmosphere in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the surrounding villages. People are friendly and laid-back. Many are of course part-time residents, and one gets the sense that everyone is aware of how special the area is both in terms of natural beauty and relaxed atmosphere, and everyone tries to do their part to keep it that way.

If I were to make an itinerary of “must-sees” for visitors to the festival, Jenny Lake would be a good place to start. Located only a 40-minute drive from Teton Village, the lake offers canoeing, hiking, and some of the most spectacular views in America. One of my favorite nonmusical Grand Teton Music Festival memories is an hour-long adventure on a rowboat with my wife in 2012. Before a performance a few years later, I went for a jog around the lake and was a bit alarmed to find a moose blocking my path about a half-mile from the trail exit, having a leisurely snack and seemingly (and luckily!) unaware of my presence. I was very relieved when she decided to move along!

The orchestra itself is an ensemble unlike any other. Made up of a rather unorthodox combination of instrumentalists from major orchestras both foreign and domestic, chamber musicians, and distinguished pedagogues, the players are united by their commitment to musical excellence and their love of the Grand Teton Music Festival experience. For many of my friends in the orchestra, Grand Teton Music Festival is the highlight of their season, both musically and socially. Many players come back year after year, bringing their families and sometimes even purchasing homes. Lifelong friendships are formed, and generations of “festival kids” grow up in the magical fairytale land of Teton Village. I have friends who tell me that although they spend only a few weeks at Grand Teton Music Festival each summer, Teton Village is their family’s true “home.”

This summer was a special one for me, as my parents were joining me at the festival for the first time. Runnicles’ wife, pianist Adelle Eslinger, is from my hometown of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, and though my parents have known her since she was a little girl, this was their first time seeing her in years. It was an honor to introduce them to the Jackson Hole area, Grand Teton National Park, my dear friend Donald, and the incredible and inimitable atmosphere of the Grand Teton Music Festival, one of my favorite places on earth. 

1843 Magazine: Music in the Mountains

1843 Magazine

At the foot of the Grand Teton mountain range, you’ll hear the wind whispering through the pine trees, trumpeter swans tooting their horns, moose shuffling through the forest – and, for seven weeks this summer, the strains of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Rachmaninov. This enchanting spot is where some of the world’s best musicians congregate and perform together. This year, Yo Yo Ma is on the bill, along with Garrick Ohlsson, a pianist, and conductor Fabien Gabel. The dress code is informal: bring hiking boots and a cowboy hat. That’s the headwear of choice of the season’s musical director, Donald Runnicles.
Grand Teton Music Festival, until August 20th