Stars n Moons 7/25/07

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

By PJH Staff

Much ado for nothing
For a moment I was transported back to 1614 to a Sunday matinee of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in the newly renovated Globe Theater. Peasants wandered the aisles, chickens squawked, babies cried, people ate and talked. I half expected someone to herd their goats between aisles G and H.

Yet on Sunday I was right here in present day Jackson Hole, at Walk Festival Hall, awaiting the start of a free performance of Carl Orff’s monolithic sensory overload, “Carmina Burana,” with Donald Runnicles leading the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra, the San Francisco Festival Choral and the San Francisco Boys Chorus.

This was one of those defining moments for the GTMF, a moment in which I felt the festival FINALLY made a connection to the Jackson Hole community at large. On Sunday, Walk Festival Hall burgeoned with, guess what, plain old folks. In fact, the standing-room-only crowd of freebies left worried looks on the usher’s faces.

Music in the Hole, GTMF’s free Fourth of July concert, has never been successful, in my opinion, at convincing new people to actually attend classical music concerts at Walk Festival Hall. The athletic field is too big and chaotic a venue, and the well-intended message is most certainly wasted on beer drinkers and partiers.

But on Sunday, before Runnicles led the monstrous team through Orff’s tour de force, long-time GTMF percussionist Richard Brown delivered a heart-felt message to the 700 silent and attentive faces: “You don’t have to be a muckety-muck to see this world-class orchestra. Really, we mean it. There are affordable tickets, $10 in fact, if you wait for local’s rush tickets. The Grand Teton Music Festival welcomes you, and here’s what we do.” And this time, people listened.

I know there were people at Sunday’s concert who experienced the festival for the first time. Many brought their children for the first time. Awestruck and moved, they WILL come back another day. I hope this experimental (or accidental) concert was a refreshing surprise for the festival staff and board of directors.
And do you know how lucky we were to see this free concert on Sunday? Remember those peasants of Shakespearean days? Even they had to pay a penny.
— Mary Grossman

Keep the skies clear
While hiking Snow King, riding my bike on Fall Creek Road and driving around town recently, I have had the unpleasant opportunity to see helicopters landing at St. John’s Medical Center or flying west over Teton Pass. Given the nature of our small community, you just don’t see helicopters unless something has gone wrong. For me, they’ve come to symbolize bad news.

With this week’s news of two deaths from car accidents and two more helicopter rescues of hikers in Grand Teton National Park, one can’t help but be reminded that a heck of a lot of accidents and tragedies have already befallen Jackson Hole this summer. Remember to drink lots of water, eat regularly, hike in groups and designate a driver so that we won’t have to see any more helicopters in our skies this summer.
— Melanie Stein
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Stars n Moons 7/25/07 | Planet JH News Article: Stars & Moons

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