Today we feature one of our fantastic young violinists from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Marta Krechkovsky. Please enjoy her incredible rendition of Debussy's iconic Claire de Lune. This year would have been Marta's 5th year with GTMF, and we are lucky to have her. You may remember Marta from GTMF's first Backstage Pass episode.

Also, Monday August 17th at 6pm MT, just one week from today marks the opening night of our Music from the Mountains series. Stay tuned for more great music!

#gtmf2020 #musicfromthemountains #keepthemusicalive #violin #classical #debussy #orchestra ... See more

Check out this interview featuring members of the GTMF bass section. Watch as they talk about music, memories, and cooking in this light-hearted, fun episode! ... See more

Today we highlight American composer and instrumentalist, George Walker.

George Walker was born in Washington, DC in 1922. At the age of 5, Walker had his first piano lesson. At age 14, he was admitted into Oberlin College on scholarship and eventually became the organist for the Graduate School of Theology at Oberlin. He graduated from Oberlin with the highest honors and was later admitted to the renowned Curtis Institute of Music at age 18.

In 1945, Walker became the first black instrumentalist to perform in Town Hall, New York. He also won the the Philadelphia Youth Auditions, and was asked to perform Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto with the Philadelphia orchestra.

After an extensive tour in Europe, Walker became a professor at Dillard University in New Orleans before becoming a Doctoral student at the Eastman School of Music. In 1956, he became the first black recipient of a doctoral degree from Eastman.

Walker's career was highlighted by more prestigious teaching posts at institutions such as (but not limited to) University of Colorado, Rutgers, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Delaware. He composed over 90 works for orchestra, chamber orchestra, piano, strings, voice, organ, etc. Walker received dozens of awards throughout his acclaimed career, including being the first black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work, Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra. Many of his works are continuously performed by major orchestras all around the world to this day.

A true trailblazer in his field, George Walker was no doubt one of the most renowned American composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. In 2018, at the age of 96, Walker left this world, but left us with a fantastic legacy of music.

GTMF will feature his beautiful "Lyric for Strings" as part of our Music from the Mountains concert series. Our fabulous string quartet from Atlanta will perform this piece on Wednesday, August 19th at 6:00pm MT. ... See more

Today we have something a little different. Our beloved trumpeter Jennifer Marotta plays a sweet rendition of All By Myself, by Eric Carmen. Certainly a fitting title for these strange times of isolation. Well done Jen!

#keepthemusicalive #gtmf2020 #trumpet #ericcarmen #celinedion #acapella #cover ... See more

This Friday at 3:30pm MT, we film our season finale of GTMF Backstage Pass, featuring two very special guests. Maestro Donald Runnicles returns to the show alongside his good friend and virtuosic violinist James Ehnes.

We encourage you all to leave any questions you may have for our two guests in the comments section here, or you can message them to the GTMF Facebook page. We will select two or three of your questions to ask them live during the production!

This is one Backstage Pass you won't want to miss. If you are interested in joining the Zoom production and have not already registered, please email mike@gtmf.org.

See you on Friday! ... See more

We are thrilled to announce the programming for 'Music from the Mountains,' an online mini-festival showcasing the music, people, and atmosphere of the Grand Teton Music Festival.

From August 17-23, join us here on Facebook or on our YouTube channel each day at 6 PM MT for inspiring musical performances streamed from Walk Festival Hall and across the country, plus interviews and behind-the-scenes vignettes shared throughout the week. Content will be available for viewing on YouTube for a limited time after the streaming date.

Music Director Donald Runnicles, pianist Yefim Bronfman, and soprano Jacquelyn Stucker headline the online programming, alongside GTMF musicians. The repertoire features beloved works by Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms and Dvořák to modern works by George Walker, Jennifer Higdon and Caroline Shaw.

The full schedule and artist information is available here: https://gtmf.org/mftm/.

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Today we begin our celebration of some of our musicians that would have celebrated their 25th year in the Tetons with the Festival. Our first musician feature is Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra bassist Patrick Bilanchone.

Some of Patrick's fondest memories of the Tetons is his day-long hikes of Table Mountain and performing the Mahler's incredible 2nd Symphony.

To read more about our musician anniversaries, follow the website link below!

https://gtmf.org/musician-anniversaries/ ... See more

Attention Grand Teton Music Festival fans!

This Friday at 3:30pm Mountain time/5:30pm Eastern, GTMF Backstage Pass will film its Season 1 Finale. Maestro Donald Runnicles returns with his friend and special guest, James Ehnes. This is a production you will not want to miss.

Also, we encourage you to leave any questions you may have for Donald and James in the comments section of this post. We will select 2–3 questions from our audience to ask our wonderful guests as part of the show.

Thank you for all the support, we hope to see you at the Finale! To sign up to attend, email mike@gtmf.org. ... See more

Happy August GTMF family! For today's Musician feature, we recognize Chicago Symphony Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong. Stephanie has only been coming to GTMF for a few years, but as you'll see from this video, she is an incredible player and we are lucky to have her in the violin section.

#keepthemusicalive #gtmf2020 #prokofiev #doppelgänger #violin #classical ... See more