Tippet Rise Art Center today announced highlights of its 2021 season, which will include two three-day virtual festivals. From April 16 through 18, Tippet Rise on Tour: Spring Festival will offer the premieres of 10 short films featuring musical performances, readings of poetry, and conversations.
On May 20, the art center will present the online premiere of the feature-length documentary Land & Sky - The Inspiration of Tippet Rise, directed by Hamid Shams. Tippet Rise on Tour: Summer Festival will take place in August. The art center will be open this summer for hiking and biking, allowing guests to explore the Tippet Rise landscape, its monumental sculptures, and its sculptural structures on foot and by bicycle; Tippet Rise will not offer live concerts or van tours.
"We established Tippet Rise out of our enthusiasm for the endless possibilities that arise when music, sculpture, architecture, and landscape are brought together," said Peter and Cathy Halstead, co-founders of Tippet Rise Art Center. "We're looking forward to bringing the creativity of extraordinary musicians, poets, and filmmakers to our audiences this spring and summer in ways that are innovative and virtual, although the feeling is completely real."
Tippet Rise on Tour is a virtual three-day festival of 10 short films created in collaboration with videographers Adam Abeshouse, Jean Coleman, and Tristan Cook, and audio engineer Noriko Okabe, recorded at sculptor Joel Shapiro's studio and the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City. In addition to classical musical performances, the films include poetry readings as well as pre- and post- concert discussions featuring some of the musicians.
Each day of the festival will begin with a 7:30PM ET live "backstage" gathering via Zoom, giving artists the opportunity to discuss their performances, followed by the release of the films at 8PM ET. Tippet Rise Artistic Advisor, Pedja Mužijević, along with the art center's co-founders, Cathy and Peter Halstead, will host the informal conversations, which will include a Q&A component.
The festival will launch on
tippetrise.org on Friday, April 16 and run through Sunday, April 18. Admission to the online festival is free and is open to everyone.
On Friday, April 16, Tippet Rise will present two films captured at the DiMenna Center. The first features violinist Katie Hyun-founding member of the award winning Amphion String Quartet and founder and director of the Quodlibet Ensemble-performing Vytautas Barkauskas' Partita for violin solo. For the second film, Tippet Rise's Artistic Advisor, Pedja Mužijević performs in a program titled Is It Real (A Loving Homage to Surrealism), which includes music and spoken word by Satie, Schwitters, and Antheil.
The evening of Saturday, April 17 will highlight pianist
Richard Goode, one of today's most revered American recitalists, performing works by Debussy, Brahms, and Mozart and reciting poems by Charles Tomlinson and Wallace Stevens. MacArthur Fellow Claire Chase will perform the world premiere of The Haunted Orchard, composed by Bora Yoon; the work for flute and electronics is a co-commission by Tippet Rise and the Pnea Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of contemporary flute music. The evening continues with Canadian baritone Tyler Duncan, co-founder of Sparks & Wiry Cries, and pianist Erika Switzer presenting art songs and concludes with GRAMMY-nominated violinist Tessa Lark performing Corigliano's Stomp. These performances were also filmed at the DiMenna Center.
The last day of the festival, Sunday, April 18, will feature programs filmed in the Long Island City studio of sculptor Joe Shapiro. The streams begin with the presentation of works commissioned and performed by cellist Arlen Hlusko and composed by Matthias McIntire, Giancarlo Latta, India Gailey, and Ryan Wilmot. American violinist Benjamin Beilman joins cellist virtuoso Gabriel Cabezas in Montgomery's Duo for Violin and Cello. Beilman closes the festival with a solo performance of Rogerson's Partita for Violin.
"It has been a year since the performing arts were exiled into virtual presentations and we decided to make the tastiest lemonade from the proverbial lemons that the pandemic has served us," said Tippet Rise's Artistic Advisor, Pedja Mužijević. "We invited filmmakers to offer their artistic interpretation of each program. We are grateful to sculptor Joel Shapiro for hosting us in his workspace and giving us a chance to experience music with his magnificent sculptures."
Following their premieres, the films will remain available on Tippet Rise's website for free, on-demand streaming until April 25 upon which they will be uploaded individually to
Tippet Rise's YouTube channel. Complete details and links to excerpts of the performances are available in the detailed schedule section below.
In partnership with the Colburn School in Los Angeles, Tippet Rise has commissioned a 90-minute film by Hamid Shams that illustrates Tippet Rise's union of music, land, art, and architecture. Sweeping and dynamic new footage of the 12,000-acre ranch is combined with interviews of the artists whose works are featured at the art center and musicians who have performed there. Performances by the Calidore String Quartet, alums of the Colburn School and previous performers at Tippet Rise, punctuate the film. The film's trailer can be viewed
here. Details on the public premiere, scheduled for May 20, will be announced in the weeks to come on
tippetrise.org.
Tippet Rise on Tour will continue in August with exciting new films that will include performances by pianists Anne-Marie McDermott,
Michael Brown, and Jenny Chen, violinist Geneva Lewis, and world premieres by cellist Arlen Hlusko, and others. These performances will be recorded at locations in New York City and elsewhere; additional details will be announced at a later date.
The art center's monthly online concert series Tippet Rise & Friends at Home will continue through the spring and summer, presenting previously unreleased video streams of some of its most beloved concerts from past seasons. Streaming on March 11, a performance by pianist Jenny Chen includes works by Debussy, Liszt, Bach, and Stravinsky. On April 8, pianist
George Li performs works by Haydn, Chopin, Rachmaninov, and Liszt; and on May 6, the JACK Quartet plays a program of works by John Luther Adams, including the Tippet Rise commission Lines Made by Walking.
Made possible by the art center's cutting-edge in-house audio-video recording capabilities, each concert can be streamed for free beginning at 6pm MT on their respective date and will remain available on the Tippet Rise website. Some will feature special intermission content, including conversations with musicians and segments showcasing Tippet Rise's outdoor sculptures and architectural structures and other scenes from the 12,000-acre art center. The streaming series is available on the Tippet Rise website at
tippetrise.org/virtual-events and complete details on the three upcoming concerts are available below.
This summer, Tippet Rise will be open to tour the art center's outdoor sculptures and landscape on foot and by bicycle. "Experiencing art outdoors has become especially meaningful this past year," said Pete Hinmon, the art center's co-director, "Tippet Rise is especially unique in how it pairs an active outdoor experience with a cultural experience. Exploring the works of art at Tippet Rise by foot or bike is a true adventure and takes real physical exertion. We are delighted to be able to offer this option to our guests this year."
Details on COVID-19 safety protocols and instructions for registration, which is required for all visitors, will be available this spring. Hiking and biking at the art center are always free. Tippet Rise looks forward to resuming sculpture tours by van and live, in-person concerts, and to welcoming musicians and audiences back to the art center, as soon as it is safe to do so.
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