About the Show

In the summer of 2022, the Grand Teton Music Festival presented its 61st season under the leadership of Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles. Highlights from two performances in August were captured for an hour-long program that features pianist Ingrid Fliter and six world-renowned opera soloists. The program includes music by Schumann, Brahms and selections from Puccini’s La Bohème. Grand Teton Music Festival 61st Season Highlights can be watched live on Wyoming PBS on Friday, November 18 at 8pm and Saturday, November 19 at 3pm. It's also available to stream anytime from the PBS app. Click on the link below for instructions.

Friday, November 18 at 8pm; Saturday, November 19 at 6:30pm

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In the summer of 2022, the Grand Teton Music Festival returned for its 61st season under the leadership of Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles. Highlights from performances in August were captured for this special program with music by Schumann, Brahms and Puccini.

GTMF 61st Season Highlights Program:

Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra

Sir Donald Runnicles, conductor

R. Schumann: Concerto for Piano in A minor, Movement 1

Ingrid Fliter, piano

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Movement 4

Puccini’s LaBohème – Act IV with:

Nicole Cabell, Mimi

Jose Simerilla Romero, Rodolfo

Meechot Marrero, Musetta

Ryan Speedo Green, Colline

Thomas Lehman, Marcello

Carlton Ford, Schaunard

David Lefkowich, director

Under the leadership of Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles, the Festival’s 61st season kicked off with pianist Garrick Ohlsson and a Beethoven Piano Extravaganza—all five concerti performed over two evenings. Other highlights included Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony with soloists and the GTMF Chorus, plus guest appearances by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, pianist Ingrid Fliter, violinist Augustin Hadelich, cellist Johannes Moser and GTMF/LA Phil Principal Trumpet Thomas Hooten. Markus Stenz returned as guest conductor and Dalia Stasevska made her debut. The Festival Orchestra series culminated in a blockbuster weekend with Puccini’s La Bohème, semi-staged in concert, featuring six renowned opera soloists and directed by David Lefkowich.

Crowd-favorite Capathia Jenkins joined GTMF again as vocalist for the Patriotic Pops concert at the Center for the Arts Park. A free Family Concert was also presented outdoors.

The Gateway Series returned with four diverse artists and ensembles: jazz trumpeter Byron Stripling with vocalist Carmen Bradford, singer/songwriter Aoife O’Donovan, vocal ensemble VOCES8 and a Broadway evening with Andy Einhorn and friends. The world-class talents of the Festival Orchestra musicians were featured as part of a seven-concert chamber music series. A new Sunday matinee piano recital series showcased virtuosic pianists: Joyce Yang, Inon Barnatan and the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Silver Medalist, Anna Geniushene.

Ingrid Filter, piano

Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter has won the admiration and hearts of audiences around the world for her passionate yet thoughtful and sensitive music making played with an effortless technique. Winner of the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award, one of only a handful of pianists and the only woman to have received this honor, Fliter divides her time between North America and Europe. She made her debut at the Grand Teton Music Festival in the summer of 2022.

Nicole Cabell, soprano

Nicole Cabell, the 2005 Winner of the BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff and Decca recording artist, is one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos of today. Her solo debut album, Soprano, was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone and has received an incredible amount of critical acclaim and several prestigious awards, including the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique.

Meechot Marrero, soprano

Soprano Meechot Marrero has been called, “a revelation…a young Puerto Rican star with a great career ahead” (El Nuevo Día). A member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble, the 2021-22 season brought three debuts: Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Woglinde in Götterdämmerung and Musetta in La Bohème. Additional season engagements included Marrero’s debuts in Spain and Portugal as Gretel in a concert version of Hänsel und Gretel with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain.

Jose Simerilla Romero, tenor

Praised for his "power, passion, and lyrical finesse" (Opera Magazine), in the 2022-23 season rising young Argentinian-Spanish-American tenor Jose Simerilla Romero joins the Nederlandse Reisopera as Rodolfo in La bohéme, makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as Jaquino in Fidelio under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, and makes his San Francisco Symphony debut singing the role of the Shepherd in Oedipus Rex led by Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone

GRAMMY Award winning bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green has quickly established himself as an artist of international demand at the world’s leading opera houses. The 2022-23 season sees Green’s first leading role at the Metropolitan Opera starring as Emile Griffith in Terrence Blanchard’s Champion, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Green also makes his house debut at Opéra national de Paris singing Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

Thomas Lehman, baritone

American baritone Thomas Lehman is a member of the ensemble at Deutsche Oper Berlin and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Lehman’s future guest engagements include his debut for English National Opera as Hector in a new production of King Priam and Renato in Un ballo in maschera in Klagenfurt. For the Deutsche Oper, upcoming highlights include Gunther in a new production of Götterdämmerung, directed by Stefan Herheim.

Carlton Ford, baritone

Carlton Ford is renowned for the dramatic vigor, precision and natural beauty of his singing. Acclaimed by The New York Times as a “robust baritone with a vibrant stage presence,” Ford is a graduate of both The Juilliard School and Rice University and has performed with Le Théâtre du Châtelet, New York Philharmonic, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, the Aspen Music and Glimmerglass Festivals, and at Carnegie Hall.

About Sir Donald Runnicles, Music Director 

Sir Donald Runnicles is the Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In 2019 Runnicles also took up post as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s first ever Principal Guest Conductor. He additionally holds the title of Conductor Emeritus of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, having served as Chief Conductor from 2009-16.

In the 2022-23 season, Maestro Runnicles will lead performances of Arabella, Elektra, Fidelio, Tosca and Tristan und Isolde at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Die Frau ohne Schatten at the San Francisco Opera; concerts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, including Mahler’s Fifth Symphony; and performances with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Maestro Runnicles enjoys close and enduring relationships with many of the most significant opera companies and symphony orchestras. His previous posts include Music Director of the San Francisco Opera (1992–2008), Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (2001–07), and General Music Director of the Theater Freiburg and Orchestra (1989–93).

Sir Donald Runnicles was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was appointed OBE in 2004 and was made a Knight Bachelor in 2020. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.