Looking Back at Grand Teton Music Festival’s 60th Season

Celebrating a Successful Season and Welcoming a New Director of Development and Board Members

JACKSON, WY, October 12, 2021 – Grand Teton Music Festival’s (GTMF) 60th Season, which boasted 20 sold-out concerts and an audience of 16,000 people both in-person and online, marked a monumental season. Over one thousand people attended GTMF’s community outreach events and the Donald Runnicles Musical Arts Scholarship Competition Finals, which were presented during the Festival season for the first time this year.

“The Grand Teton Music Festival’s 60th Season was breathtakingly successful,” says Executive Director Emma Kail. “From outdoor and indoor concerts to our first foray into livestreaming, I am deeply proud of the Festival’s dedicated and adaptable staff and musicians who found a way to create and deliver music in a time when we needed it more than ever.”

Hailed by BBC Music Magazine as “one of America’s most impressive music festivals,” audiences and musicians alike have continued to gather as a community every summer at GTMF. Out of 220 musicians performing together this year, 7 have returned for 40 years or more, 36 for more than 25 years, and cellist Marcia Peck has been coming for more than 50 years. Andrew Raciti, Milwaukee Symphony’s associate principal bass, says, “Every summer season out here is special. This one meant more—not only because of what preceded it but because of what we all put into it.”

This summer, GTMF performed 4 outdoor concerts, 31 performances at Walk Festival Hall, 3 Gateway Series concerts, and 21 community engagement events throughout the valley. Two of the performances in Walk Festival Hall were livestreamed, which was a first for GTMF. Additionally, the Live from the GTMF program was carried by 110+ radio stations across the country.

As GTMF looks forward to next season, which will see the continuation of outdoor and Gateway Series performances, the Festival is pleased to announce Tim Dodge as the new Director of Development. Tim brings extensive experience in donor-centered fundraising. He joins the GTMF team from the Kansas City Symphony where he served as Manager of Major & Planned Giving and Endowment Campaign Manager. “The Grand Teton Music Festival is magic,” says Tim. “The music, the mountains, the people — they set this place apart. I’m so grateful to be part of this GTMF family, to serve the donors at the heart of it, and to help folks feel more connected through their giving.”

Tim also looks forward to working extensively with the GTMF board, which ushers in new arrivals and retirements this year. GTMF would like to thank Martha Birkett-Morley (Auxiliary President), Christian Erdman, Ralph Haberfeld, Tom Hooten (Musician Director), and Ari Rifkin for their service to the GTMF community. As these dedicated members retire, GTMF is thrilled to welcome new members Madeline Adkins (Musician Director), Natalie Clark, Peter Fenton, Lynn Fleisher, Matt Stoner, and Susan Sutton to the board.

For those who missed the 60th season or want to revisit it, a highlights program was broadcast on WyomingPBS on October 8 and 10, and the program can be streamed on the PBS video app. More info can be found here.

About Madeline Adkins (New Board Member, Musician Director)
Madeline is Concertmaster of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and joined the Utah Symphony as Concertmaster in September 2016. She has served as Guest Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago. In addition, she has served as the Music Director of the NOVA Chamber Music Series in Salt Lake City. Learn more at gtmf.org/bod.

About Natalie Clark (New Board Member)
Natalie Clark is a British-American classically trained artist/sculptor, designer, and educator. She has worked on collaborative art projects in South Africa, Australia, Canada, and the UK and with the governments of Australia and Burkina Faso to elevate indigenous art forms from those countries in the worldwide arts community. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, and other fine arts organizations, and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.

About Peter Fenton (New Board Member)
Peter Fenton joined Benchmark in 2006 after spending seven years as a partner with Accel Partners. Current Board Seats include Airtable, Buoyant, Cloudera (IPO: CLDR), Cockroach Labs, Digits, Docker, Elasticsearch (IPO: ESTC), Robocorp, Slashtalk, Sorare, TimescaleDB, and Wildlife Studios. He is also on the boards of the San Francisco Opera and the California Academy of Sciences.

About Lynn Fleisher (New Board Member)
Lynn D. Fleisher, PhD, JD, is a board-certified medical geneticist and a lawyer. She currently serves as General Counsel to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, and the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics. She currently serves on the Boards of Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the Off Square Theatre Company in Jackson, Wyoming. Lynn has served on the Board of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research, IntraHealth International, and Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE Epilepsy).

About Matt Stoner (New Board Member)
Matt Stoner is a Managing Director at Centerview Partners, a boutique investment banking firm headquartered in New York, where he advises consumer products and technology companies on mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic matters. A native Houstonian and long-since retired amateur lyric tenor, Matt studied voice under Dr. Joyce Farwell and the late William Murray at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and later received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

About Susan Sutton (New Board Member)
Susan Sutton brings to the Board extensive experience in development, primarily in the independent school sphere. After starting her career with Georgetown University, she moved to The Spence School in Manhattan and then to The Branson School in Marin County, California. During her 25-year career in development, Susan was responsible for raising funds for annual support, endowments, and brick and mortar projects.


About the Grand Teton Music Festival (GTMF)
Over seven weeks each summer, the Grand Teton Music Festival unites 220 celebrated orchestral musicians led by Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles. These musicians represent 80 orchestras and 55 institutions of higher learning in North America and Europe. 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 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.


Media Contact:
Patricia Price
8VA Music Consultancy
patricia@8vamusicconsultancy.com

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