[MUSIC] I was very lucky the very first time I came to Jackson Hole.

Lucky to be coming to Jackson Hole and lucky to be on the right side of the aircraft.

It was probably a little after sunset.

It was just so truly awesome and uh that was my very first and incredibly lasting impression.

I like to think every performance is a is a in its own way a highlight.

And therefore standout performances for me were the ones of course probably the obvious when when you do a Mahler 3 when you when you do a a big Brahms symphony those are all highlights but I would say the first concerts with those artists that have come to be be family here great great world-class artists uh who take time out of their very busy schedules to come here.

I'm thinking of the first performances with Augustin Hadelich James Ehnes now looking back retrospectively just the the relationships the bonds between them and the the orchestra clearly but also the bond between the audience and the community in them and just over the years that's just been something quite wonderful to behold and of course uh it's not too shabby to have established such a relationship with Yo-Yo Ma who I know loves loves to be This may surprise some some people uh when talking about favorite behind the scenes moments because this was quite a cliffhanger.

Susan Graham was down to sing Les nuits d'été by Berlioz and her first appearance here coincided with the cottonwood going crazy.

Uh, and she got such allergies such that she just in in the first rehearsal she was coughing.

Second rehearsal it was just clear.

I mean she she she sort of groaned at me to say Donald I can't do this.

So what do you do and you're in Jackson Hole, Wyoming?

Uh, and this is why I talk about behind the scenes.

Well, behind the scenes, we were, of course, thinking, well, who on earth could we bring in to substitute for for Susan, and we found out that Michelle DeYoung was on holiday, was camping up northwest of America.

We got in contact with her, and uh we found that she was willing uh willing to come.

Well, how do we get her there?

And uh I spoke with Alan Tesler, a cherished member of the the family and Ursil a board chair and Allan says a flyer.

He flew and and brought Michelle in.

What makes this also very uh and exciting behind the scenes was that these songs can be sung in many keys, high keys, low keys according to if you're a mezzo uh or soprano.

Well, of course, Michelle didn't sing in the same keys as Susan.

So, our glorious and indefatigable librarian Crow spent his night rewriting these songs so that the orchestra could actually perform them in the keys that Michelle uh could sing it in.

So, we thought this is I mean a a real effort on behalf of the entire, you know, the orchestra and the librarian.

Michelle turns up and comes out and there's such a an ovation for having she having saved the show and I think she got into the third or fourth song and midway through the song she stopped.

She looked round to me and said, "Donald, I am so sorry, but I I just I I can't sing anymore.

I I I I don't know."

And the audience spontaneously burst out into rapturous applause because this woman had saved saved the day and was succumbing to the same thing that Susan had succumbed.

And I I found something to say and uh that's that's a quite unique behind- the-scenes experience.

[MUSIC] When it comes to pre-concert rituals, um there are some things I can tell you, some things perhaps I I shouldn't.

Seriously though, I it's there's no real ritual.

I do know that very often on the day of a a Friday concert, we already have the rehearsal in the morning, which is quite intense.

I'll I'll have a some glorious salad uh in one of a number of of great restaurants here in Jackson Hole.

And I I will try and get an hour just a nap just just uh to be fresh and uh uh in the best possible state of mind for the the concert.

A day off in Jackson Hole uh is something rare to non-existent.

Uh it's very very rare that I I I really have a complete day off particularly during the festival.

Of course, there are always a variety of meetings or you're meeting audience members, you're you're spending time with the guest artists.

But if I do get some time off, uh, one of those days is invariably spent on the bike.

In the winter, it's spent on skis.

As for so many people here, the the sport, the sporty side of it, I I I just adore.

And it's such a an antidote to the utterly intangible world of performing music.

Sushi, wildflower trail.

There are no bad views of the Teton mountains, Gustav Mahler.

La Valse by Maurice Ravel.

Shirley Horn.

Ella Fitzgerald.

Enya.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi.

Paradise.

I often reflect on on where the festival has come since I first came in 2006 and where we find ourselves 20 years later.

in 2026.

I came in at a time when the orchestra was already just quite extraordinary.

I sensed very much from those the search committee and the orchestra itself uh that that there was a in some level they wanted to go to the next level and that involved my my approach to making music, my connections that the the artists with whom I work that I would be eager to bring here and who might come because of me.

And I I think that for all the the enthusiasm and the support I received when I first came here, I think there was a watch what you wish for in terms of taking the festival to the next level, which I'm very proud of the fact that 20 years on, I feel that not only have we got over this gotten over this initial uh uh reluctance to perhaps let this grow too quickly to a why can't we move more quickly?

These musicians are all musicians in phenomenal orchestras or institutions back home.

And they wanted the world to see why do they spend their summers here when they could be hiking somewhere else or having proper vacations.

No, they wanted to be here.

They I've used this term quite often that they renew their vows here.

And we're now in a position where uh the word is out, the genie is out of the bottle.

the fact that we are recording uh the fact that there's such uh uh support for more recording so that you will talk about the Grand Teton Music Festival not in just in a local sense or a national sense but really quite internationally and nothing could make me more proud.

I I'm very fortunate to travel the world and work with great musicians, great opera companies, great symphony orchestras.

There are so many great experiences that I I cherish.

I will however always know what the highlight of my year is.

It's this uh two month festival for a variety of reasons.

Of course, because of the music, because of the the the level of excellence.

I cherish as well the the depth of the relationship between myself and hundreds hundreds of musicians who return not just faithfully but enthusiastically.

Many many athletes come from all over the world specifically to Jackson Hole to the Grand Tetons uh to work on their endurance, to work on their strength, to work on all the things that they know gives them even more chance to be competitive.

And I I I think that also in some ways is a little like what happens with the musicians and happens to me when I leave at the end of the festival.

I know that I'm healthier.

I know that there are more red blood cells in my body.

I know that having spent the summer here, just on a physical level, I go somewhere else and I feel superhuman.

That is also a metaphor for the music making at this level, both literal, geographical, and and figurative.

what we achieve here, what guest artists, guest conductors achieve here, the energy is so palpable and with that we are then let loose again on on the world and we return to other organizations and the players return to their orchestras.

I just think stronger, more even more idealistic, uh even more inspired to take what they have felt here and what they have learned here and let it just let it inform what they're doing in their respective organizations.

It it's uh it's such a tonic.

It's it's the it's the best.

My fervent hope for the next 50 years is that as we have been given this privilege and pleasure to protect and nourish and nurture this incredible festival that through our efforts we have secured the future of the next 50 years that there are people who have not yet been born who will hear about the Grand Teton Music Festival.

whether it's audience members, whether it's orchestral players, whether it's whether it's young people just learning their instruments that the Grand Teton Music Festival will be this beacon of of excellence uh a beacon in in the community and that with that we have vouchsafed the future of this extraordinary organization.

I would say first and foremost, thank you.

A deep, deep, deeply felt thank you.

Thank you for your trust.

More than anything, of course, thank you for your enthusiasm.

Thank you for turning up.

There are many, many other things you might want to be doing in Jackson Hole during the summer.

Thank you for turning up, but thank you for trusting the Grand Teton Music Festival and its vision.

We fill our concerts with the familiar, but also with the unfamiliar.

The fact that our audience still turns out even though they may not have heard of composers on a on a specific program.

It's the feeling of well, if it's good enough for Runnicles and these incredible musicians, then it's good enough for me.

So it it's it's also thank you for you reaching out quite literally to many of these extraordinary musicians with that you have given all these musicians the feeling of a second home that is just something quite extraordinary and something very moving and thank you for spreading the word.

Thank thank you for supporting us not through your presence but also encouraging others to to attend through your extraordinary financial generosity bringing us to the point where we can transform this miracle of a hall the Walk Festival Hall without you the audience we would still be a festival of aspirations I think the fact that so many dreams have come true has so much to do with our remarkable audience.