Reaching the seventh week of its 2022 season, the Grand Teton Music Festival will showcase mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor to perform a world premiere of Kareem Roustom’s “The Clustered Vine – Songs of Love, Loss and Remembrance” on Friday and Saturday nights in Walk Festival Hall.
“I adore performing new music and feel it’s so liberating as an artist to be part of that creative process,” O’Connor said.
“The commissioner and I were very certain that we wanted melodies and beauty and music that people will like,” she said. “I really hope that we were able to capture that in this piece.”
This is the mezzo’s sixth season performing with the festival. She is a Grammy Award-winning, internationally acclaimed musician, noted in the GTMF program as one of the most compelling performers of her generation.
“The Clustered Vine” has been in the works for more than two years and was written with O’Connor’s voice of uncommon allure in mind. It is the third of Roustom’s pieces composed for the Grand Teton Music Festival, written in memory of Maggie Kongsgaard, whose husband, John, provided the commission.
“I really, really feel connected to this organization, and it’s so rare that you create this family at a festival like that,” O’Connor said. “I hope everyone realizes how special it is and how everyone gives it their all. I love it every time that I come.” 
