Page 187 - GTMF 2024 Season Program

Claudine Bigelow was able to get summer work at eclipse of 2017 from atop Sheep’s
Viola Persephone and was mentored Mountain and watching the moon’s
and developed her passion for shadow approaching rapidly from
It’s been a tender experience to baking by locals, Kevin and Alli the West, in addition to the 360°
explore memories of 25 years with
the Grand Teton Music Festival and Cohane. She was welcomed by the sunrise/sunset, was a miraculous
local community, a tremendous
event made even more meaningful
what it has meant to me and to my
family. I have raised my children gift to her. She still uses these skills because it was shared with
professionally, and we are grateful Festival friends.
from infancy here, every summer,
for what now feels like forever. It for Kevin’s positive influence. After 25 summers, choosing one
Another daughter has developed
has also been a place of deep musical experience as a favorite
personal growth and connection. a strong love for the outdoors; is a nearly impossible task, as so
We have felt the influences of hiking and mountain views continue many times my eyes blurred with
music, mountains and community to be a mainstay of her life for tears, wishing time would slow
meditation, comfort and inspiration.
here that have touched all of our during a moving performance.
lives in meaningful ways. Mary Corbett But Madame Butterfly under

Every time I return, I gasp at the Violin the masterful baton of Maestro
Runnicles was truly extraordinary,
view. Every single time. The poet,
Wendell Berry, speaks of “the As the last chords of the Festival and after decades of making music
Orchestra’s final performance ebb,
at the highest level, Butterfly was a
peace of wild things,” and some
of what I feel connects to that idea. the clock resets and the countdown transcendent experience.
to the next season begins.
I also feel inspired and invigorated I leave a piece of my heart here
by the tremendous energy of After making my home at sea each summer in this, the most
these mountains. level, the beauty and contrast of magical of places.
the Teton Range is as fresh and
When I play with the orchestra in Erik Gronfor
Walk Festival Hall, it marks me awe-inspiring as my first glimpse Double Bass
so many years ago. I am blessed
similarly. I have had some of the
beyond measure to have the
most exciting orchestral experiences opportunity to experience Maestro There is so much that I love about
of my life here. I have been pierced participating in the Grand Teton
by solos of my colleagues and Ling Tung’s vision and the Music Festival. I feel incredibly
guest artists, and poured my heart realization of that vision—the fortunate to be able to spend a few
and emotion into expressing what Grand Teton Music Festival as an weeks every summer in the most
oasis of solace, restoration and
the maestro and the music has strikingly beautiful location in our
renewal for classical musicians. It is country, and over the years I have
asked of me. I have taken deep a magical mixture of both symphonic taken every opportunity to spend as
dives into understanding the
language of music. I have loved and chamber music amidst the much time hiking the trails, biking
the maestro’s interpretations of splendor of the mountains. and just soaking up the beauty as
Mahler and Beethoven in particular. Mere hours after performing I can. Every year my sense of awe
It’s poured into me a wealth of Strauss’ tone poem An Alpine for the Tetons is undiminished.
musical language, memory, color Symphony, I found myself on a Now combine this experience with
and power. It has made me a sub-alpine trail in the midst of performing with one of the greatest
better musician and teacher. jaw-dropping vistas, stepping into festival orchestras in the world
the very landscape that Strauss (especially when Sir Donald is at
This place became a second home had created for the listener, a the podium) and you’re as close to
for my kids. My son cemented his heaven as it gets! It is, without a
love for biking here, propelled setting that could only amplify the doubt, the time I most look forward
onward by treasured views, musical experience! to in my year.
strengthened by the energy he Forged and honed through the
felt from the mountain ranges. He mutual love of music and the Having said this, what I truly love
eventually found ways to return outdoors, the lifelong connections most about the Festival is the
often, to race in Lotoja many times, made with both Festival musicians people. Last summer I was seriously
even winning once in his class, as and local Teton Valley residents are injured in a biking accident while
an adult. One of my daughters a part of the beautiful tapestry of I was at the Festival, and I spent
GTMF. Experiencing the total solar over a week in the hospital. During

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