Thursday, June 10, 2010

LOCALS WILL SING, PUBLIC CHOOSES PROGRAM FOR GRAND TETON MUSIC FESTIVAL 4th of JULY CONCERT

Jackson Hole residents and Music In The Hole supporters were asked to “Vote for Music” this spring by choosing the piece of patriotic music they’d most like to hear the Festival Orchestra perform on the 4th. Then, at the end of May, locals were invited to audition to sing the National anthem, which opens the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra’s performance at the event.

Twenty people sang and the results were so inspiring that the program was redesigned to feature more than one local singer in other patriotic songs. Several candidates were called back for a second round of auditions and were heard again, this time by Festival Music Director Donald Runnicles during an unplanned visit to Jackson Hole over Memorial Day weekend. Runnicles, who will conduct Music In The Hole this year and is also the General Director of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and frequent conductor at the San Francisco Opera, was impressed, “I’m looking forward to welcoming these community members to our stage this summer.”

The chosen singers are: Molly Thorn, of local salsa band Calle Mambo, who will sing “The Star Spangled Banner”; Jackson’s favorite thespian, Jeff Bratz, newcomer Melina Laroza, and Pete Simpson, an employee at The Liquor Store, who together will lead audience sing along renditions of winning song “This Land is Your Land,” the traditional Armed Forces Salute, and a medley of George M Cohan songs, including “Yankee Doodle Dandy;” and Amanda Kinley, a frequent performer with Off Square Theatre, who will sing “America the Beautiful.”

All Music In The Hole performances and festivities are free to the public and
take place at Alpine Field in Jackson on the 4th of July. Information at 307-733-1128 or
www.gtmf.org