Eighth-grade string players from the region will get a taste of the big time on April 10, when they come together at Walk Festival Hall for the culminating performance of StringFest 2024.
But first they have to prepare under the baton of violinist Barbara Scowcroft, a 26-year veteran of the Grand Teton Music Festival who also has logged 24 years as a member of the Utah Symphony Orchestra and is the founder, music director and conductor of the Utah Youth Orchestra, among many other musical duties and accolades.
On Monday and Tuesday, Scowcroft will work with students from Star Valley Middle School, Jackson Hole Middle School and, over the pass in Idaho, Teton High School — a total of 40 to 60 students, all told.
Working with each school’s string instructor — Julie Schindler at Teton, Lisa Barber at Star Valley and Vince Gutwein at Jackson Hole — students will prepare three pieces for the 6 p.m. show: “Battle,” by Soon Hee Newbold, the first movement of William Boyce’s Symphony No. 4 and “Red Pepper,” a piece based on zydeco melodies, by Jeffrey Bishop.
Scowcroft said that in addition to gaining performance experience, StringFest players get to sample what it’s like being part of a large ensemble.
“It’s an have incredibly fun day,” said Scowcroft, who has been leading the program since the Grand Teton Music Festival inaugurated it some 20 years ago. “They are treated like a professional orchestra. … On the hour, everyone is expected to be quiet and tuned. We rehearse and then take an appropriate break. We even have a personnel manager come to announce, ‘Five minutes to break’ and then ‘Five minutes to stage.’ ”
Rehearsal goes until 4 p.m., and the players break for dinner and to change for the free concert at 6 p.m.
