180 regional students to play in GTMF’s StringFest – JH News&Guide

Middle school students from Jackson Hole, Star Valley and Teton Valley, Idaho, have come to look forward to the annual spring gathering of StringFest, which the Grand Teton Music Festival has organized for more than 20 years. High school string players joined last year, and this week all of them — 180 violin, viola, cello and bass players — will come together to perform at Jackson Hole High School.

“Wyoming offers all-state band and orchestra, but there isn’t really an ‘all-district’ or ‘all-county’ experience,” GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said. StringFest, one of the Festival’s longest-running formal collaborations with schools, helps fill the gap.

Violinist Barbara Scowcroft — a longtime member of the Utah Symphony, music director of the Utah Youth Symphony and 28-year veteran of the Festival orchestra — spent Monday through Wednesday this week working with each of the three middle school groups and teachers Lisa Barber of Star Valley, Julie Schindler in Teton Valley and Vince Gutwein at JHHS.

Meanwhile, violinist Lorien Benet Hart — a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 2001 and 15-year GTMF player — is back for her second StringFest to meet with Barber’s high schoolers and with JHHS choir, band and orchestra teacher Collin Binko’s string players.

StringFest 2026‘s final performance is free and open to the public. Join us on February 26 at 6 PM MT at the Jackson Hole High School Auditorium.

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