Tippet Rise Art Center Announces 2024 Season Of Art And Music

Tippet Rise Art Center, which celebrates the synergies among nature, art, architecture, and music on a 12,500-acre working ranch in Montana, will open for hiking, biking, and sculpture van tours on June 14, 2024.

The art center also announced today full program details for its annual concert season. Taking place from August 16 to September 15, 2024, the five-week season features three world premieres, performances by more than 30 musicians, and the inauguration of a new outdoor performance venue, the Geode. Sited in a panorama of seven surrounding mountain ranges, the Geode is comprised of four separate acoustical structures that create one cohesive sonic environment. In celebration of its debut, Tippet Rise commissioned Grammy-nominated world music composer Dawn Avery to create a new work for cello, which will be performed by Arlen Hlusko during the inaugural concert.

Concert tickets are available through a randomized drawing, for which registration is required. The registration period opens on the Tippet Rise website on March 19 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time and closes on April 8 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time.

“One of the great joys of founding Tippet Rise has been to create a space where experimentation flourishes—in music, in art, in architecture, in poetry, and in so many other ways.” said Co-founders Peter and Cathy Halstead. “This year another of these experiments will come to life—the creation of the Geode, which was inspired by a photograph by Robert Doisneau that we love. It shows cellist Maurice Baquet performing with a chair and music stand on a mountaintop in Chamonix, France. We wanted to find a way to create that experience—a musician playing in the natural world—while also creating an architecture with Arup that provides an indoor acoustic while outdoors, surrounded by meadows and mountains. We are looking forward to this season, welcoming visitors, and bringing back many wonderful musicians who are part of the Tippet Rise family, as well as sharing Tippet Rise for the first time with trailblazing artists.”

Premieres and Tippet Rise Commissions

This season, Tippet Rise is the site of three world premieres works by emerging and established composers. In addition to the performance of Dawn Avery's Àkweks Katyes (The Eagle Flies) (2024), a Tippet Rise Commission that inaugurates the Geode, Arlen Hlusko also performs the world premiere of Paul V. Cortez's Hyacinth Garnishes from Bouquet Suite (2024). Cortez wrote the work as part of his participation in Carnegie Hall's Musical Connections, a program of the Weill Music Institute at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which men who are incarcerated work alongside visiting artists to compose and perform original music through workshops and performances. That same weekend, mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska and pianist Kunal Lahiry perform the North American premiere of Nahre Sol's Apperceptive Algorithms (2022).

The following weekend, in an outdoor concert at Ensamble Studio's sculptural structure the Domo, the quartet collective Owls along with Claire Chase performs Terry Riley's Holy Lift Off for Flute, Strings, and Electronics (2024)—a co-commission by Tippet Rise, Stanford Live, and The Kitchen, which premieres at The Kitchen in NYC this May as part of Claire Chase's 24-year commissioning project Density 2036.

This season also sees the world premiere of the eighth of ten works commissioned by Tippet Rise in 2022 from Valentyn Silvestrov, Ukraine's leading living composer. Jennifer Frautschi and Evren Ozel perform Twelve Waltzes of the Moment and One Serenade for Violin and Piano (2020).

“Tippet Rise embraces music by diverse voices across the centuries and artists in all stages of their careers; from those who are just starting to get wider attention, such as Ema Nikolovska and Sterling Elliott, to Marc-André Hamelin and Camille Thomas, who regularly appear in the most important concert halls of the world,” said Artistic Advisor Pedja Mužijević. “Our commissions and premieres reflect the same passion; from new voices like Dawn Avery and Nahre Sol, to influential masters like Terry Riley and Valentyn Silvestrov. We look forward to welcoming musicians and guests alike to Tippet Rise, one of the most unique settings that unites a working cattle ranch, large-scale sculptures, poetry, musicians, and audiences into one harmonious community.”

The Geode

The Geode is Tippet Rise's newest outdoor performance venue, joining the Tiara Acoustic Shell and the Domo. Designed by Arup and shepherded by project leader Willem Boning, the Geode consists of four triangular structures, one for performers and three for audience members. The structures both project and contain sound, and protect visitors from the sun and wind while exposing them to the feeling of the surrounding environment. The weathering steel structure was precisely crafted by metal artisans at TrueNorth Steel and the cladding is being assembled by longtime Tippet Rise collaborators Gunnstock Timber Frames, who have burned and brushed each individual plank of vertical grain, Douglas Fir wood using a traditional Japanese yakisugi technique. Together, the steel structure and furrowed wood grain scatter sound waves, creating a warm and enveloping sonic environment.

Embodying Tippet Rise's commitment to sustainability and the reduction of its environmental impact on the land, the Geode was sited at a location that did not require new excavation or road construction. The design minimally disturbs the site to preserve the native grasses and rather than pouring a continuous foundation for each structure, Arup designed 26 individual micropiles—thin tubes inserted into the ground and filled with a small volume of cement—to support the structure.

2024 Concert Season Overview

Tippet Rise's 2024 concert season opens on August 16 with a debut recital by esteemed pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet performing works by Ravel including two sets of waltzes and Miroirs. August 17 features the return of leading pianist Yevgeny Sudbin with a program of masterpieces from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries by composers including Liszt, Chopin, Debussy, Scriabin, and Saint-Saëns. Grammy-winning cellist Arlen Hlusko is welcomed back for the inaugural performance at the Geode on August 17 to perform the world premiere and Tippet Rise commission of Àkweks Katyes (The Eagle Flies) by Grammy-nominated world music artist Dawn Avery. On August 18, Canadian-Macedonian mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska and Indian American pianist Kunal Lahiry—a current BBC New Generation Artist—make their Tippet Rise debut with the North American premiere of Korean American composer, pianist, and YouTuber Nahre Sol's Apperceptive Algorithms (2022).

Week Two begins on August 23 with the return of renowned pianist Marc-André Hamelin presenting a program exploring music across time, with works by Frank Zappa, Stefan Wolpe, John Oswald, and sonatas by Haydn and Rachmaninoff. On August 24, the quartet collective Owls make their Tippet Rise debut alongside Tippet Rise Artistic Advisor and pianist Pedja Mužijević to perform works by Paul Wiancko, François Couperin, Terry Riley, and Robert Schumann. The Owls also join the flutist and interdisciplinary artist Claire Chase in her Tippet Rise debut on August 25 for a performance at the Domo to perform Terry Riley's new work Holy Lift Off for flute, strings, and electronics—a co-commission by Tippet Rise, Stanford Live, and The Kitchen. In addition, the Owls perform Paul Wiancko's When the Night, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh's Rəqs, which was commissioned for Kronos' Fifty for the Future project.

Week Three starts on August 30 with an ensemble of seven virtuoso artists, including violinist Jennifer Frautschi, pianist Sterling Elliott, violinist Abigél Králik, violists Natalie Loughran and Cara Pogossian, cellist Nina Lee, and pianist Evren Ozel, performing in the Olivier Music Barn. The program includes a solo piano work by Chopin, a cello and piano work by George Walker, and Dvořák's exuberant tribute to Native-American and African American music. On August 31, Sterling Elliott, Abigél Králik, Cara Pogossian, Evren Ozel, and Nina Lee return to perform works by Schubert, Kevin Day, and Schumann. The week concludes on September 1 with a concert featuring a selection from Bartók's violin duos from 1931 and the eighth of ten works commissioned by Tippet Rise in 2022 and the world premiere of Valentyn Silvestrov's Twelve Waltzes of the Moment and One Serenade for Violin and Piano.

Week Four begins on September 6 with the return of the celebrated pianist Anne-Marie McDermott leading an all-Beethoven program with St. Lawrence String Quartet cellist Christopher Costanza and rising star violinist Chad Hoopes in his Tippet Rise debut. The September 7 performance marks the Tippet Rise debut of Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark and classical and jazz harpist Charles Overton performing their own works alongside music by Saint-Saëns, Ysaÿe, and Cras. Baroque violinist Carrie Krause, dulcian player Nate Helgeson, and theorbo player John Lenti of the chamber group Baroque Music Montana close the weekend with 17th century Italian, German, and Spanish music.

Week Five begins on September 13 with pianist and composer Julien Brocal's return in a special program featuring his own compositions and works by John Luther Adams. Tippet Rise's popular Wander concert series takes place on September 14. Performers and audience members will travel between Iron Tree by Ai Weiwei and Daydreams and Cursive Takes a Holiday by Patrick Dougherty. Returning flutist Jessica Sindell is joined by debuting oboist Tamer Edlebi, clarinetist Afendi Yusuf, bassoonist Jake Thonis, and horn player Nathaniel Silberschlag. The group performs works by György Ligeti, Endre Szervánszky, Astor Piazzolla, and Samuel Barber. The season closes on September 15 with the Tippet Rise debut of cellist Camille Thomas performing a program of works by Chopin and Franchomme with pianist Julien Brocal.

Detailed programs for Tippet Rise's 2024 concert season are included below.

New Artwork Joins The Landscape

This summer visitors will encounter two newly acquired sculptures installed among the other large-scale and site-specific works throughout Tippet Rise's campus. Crossroads II (1990) by Richard Serra consists of four solid, 8” thick plates made of weatherproof steel, each 57' tall, with the two shorter plates measuring 2' 8”, and the longer plates measuring 20'. Arranged at 90-degree angles and separated by distances ranging from 8” to 85”, visitors will be able to walk among the plates, which sit on a prow of volcanic rock overlooking the dramatic Murphy Canyon. The work is a gift from Leonard I. Korman in memory of Jane F. Korman.

Wendy Red Star's The Soil You See… (2023), recently displayed on the National Mall as part of Monument Lab's exhibition Beyond Granite: Pulling Together, now comes to reside permanently at Tippet Rise. Red Star was born in Billings, Montana and raised on the nearby Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation. This new work stands 8” tall and features a large piece of glass depicting a red thumbprint. Inscribed in the ridges are the names of 50 Apsáalooke nation chiefs and tribal representatives who signed land treaties with the U.S. government between 1825 and 1880, oftentimes using their thumbprint or an X rather than their names. At Tippet Rise, which sits within the traditional sacred land of the Apsáalooke, The Soil You See… will be in significant dialogue with the land and will be one of the first works guests encounter as they approach the main Cottonwood Campus.

Concert Tickets

Concerts will begin on August 16 and run through September 15 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Concert tickets are priced at $10 and are free for those 21 and under. Pre-purchased tickets, which are required for concert admission, will be available through a randomized drawing. The drawing registration period opens on the Tippet Rise website on March 19 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time and closes on April 8 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time.

Hiking, Biking, and Sculpture Van Tours

Tippet Rise will reopen to the public on June 14 for hiking, biking, and sculpture van tours of its monumental outdoor sculptures on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Self-guided hiking and biking on the art center's 15 miles trail system are free for everyone. Van tours are priced at $10; free to those under 21. Pre-registration, which is required of all guests, will open on the art center's website in spring 2024. For the latest information on ticketing, please sign up for the Tippet Rise

About Tippet Rise Art Center

Tippet Rise Art Center is located in Fishtail, Montana against the backdrop of the Beartooth Mountains, roughly midway between Billings and Bozeman and just north of Yellowstone National Park. Set on a 12,500-acre working sheep and cattle ranch, Tippet Rise presents performances by internationally acclaimed musicians during its annual summer concert season and through virtual performances and other online events. From June through September, visitors can experience large-scale outdoor sculptures and artworks by some of the world's foremost artists and architects including Ai Weiwei, Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero, Patrick Dougherty, Ensemble Studio, Francis Kéré, Isabelle Johnson, Alexander Liberman, Louise Nevelson, Wendy Red Star, Richard Serra, Stephen Talasnik, and Marie Watt. Tippet Rise is anchored in the belief that art, music, architecture, and nature are intrinsic to the human experience, each making the others more powerful.

 

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