Best of
art scene
Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
JH
A Flurry of Creativity
The Grand Teton Music Festival and the Center for the Arts co-present streamed performances of five The Met: Live in HD operas this winter, including Dvorák’s Rusalka.
Jackson Hole’s arts scene flourishes in the winter. BY RICHARD ANDERSON
Winter in Jackson Hole brings skiing. After all, we’ve got the No. 1 overall ski resort in all of North America, at least according to SKI Magazine’s readers. But over the last decade, winter has begun to bring so much more. We’re not just talking about the newish ice climbing park at Snow King, the growing popularity of snowshoeing, or ice skating. Creatively, this valley shines come winter. Sure, spend as much of your days skiing or ice climbing or snowmobiling as you want. Or don’t do any of these things. We’ve got plenty of culture to fill your free time: musical performances, art, dance, theater, gallery events, films, benefits, and lectures. Even opera. You can always check with the weekly Jackson Hole News&Guide for the full, current cultural calendar. But allow us to highlight a few organizations and events you don’t want to miss. 140
JACKSON HOLE MAGAZINE WINTER 2014
Grand Teton Music Festival Perhaps the biggest surprise for visitors to Jackson Hole is finding world-class classical music here. For fifty-two years, the Grand Teton Music Festival has welcomed orchestral players from the country’s finest ensembles for a seven-week summer season. Current GTMF Music Director, Maestro Donald Runnicles, calls GTMF the “best-kept secret” in classical music. In addition to seven weeks of chamber, crossover, and orchestral concerts—the season runs early July through mid-August—the festival also stages winter concerts and events at its Walk Festival Hall. The hall opened in Teton Village in 1974, long before most of the lifts and buildings were constructed around the base area of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR). GTMF’s founding preceded the opening of JHMR by three years. Walk Festival Hall was built decades before the resort’s Bridger Gondola, which today is its immediate neighbor. “If our concert hall hadn’t been built first, there’s no way that