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.
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.