Tippet Rise Art Center Announces Highlights of Second Season

Tippet Rise Art Center, set beneath the big sky of Montana midway between Billings and the edge of Yellowstone National Park, has announced the dates and selected highlights of its next concert season, July 7 through September 17, 2017. The Art Center, which opened in June 2016, is located on a 10,260-acre working ranch and celebrates the union of land, art, architecture and music, presenting concerts by world-renowned musicians and large-scale contemporary sculpture. Building on a successful inaugural year, and responding to demand from both the local public and visitors from around the world, Tippet Rise has added another four weekends to the season and several Sunday performances.

A limited number of tickets for performances will go on sale beginning March 1, 2017, with additional tickets being released for purchase throughout the spring. The schedule will feature a mix of new and returning artists, including the Tippet Rise debut of pianist Natasha Paremski in a solo recital of Chopin's Mazurkas and Chopin's 4th Scherzo and more, later accompanied by the Escher String Quartet, also in their Tippet Rise debut. Returning artists include pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, performing Medtner's Sonata tragica, as well as Liszt's Harmonies du Soir, and violinist Caroline Goulding, who will play several concerts including a three-part performance featuring Enescu'sImpressions from Childhood, Dvorak's romantic pieces and Schumann's Sonata in D minor no. 2. The season will also include a new work byAaron Jay Kernis to be performed by Pedja Muzijevic, as the first premiere to result from a three-year commissioning program. (Subsequent Kernis premieres will be a work for the Borromeo Quartet, in 2018, and a piece for small chamber ensemble and voice, in 2019.)

Performances will take place both indoors and out. The 150-seat Olivier Music Barn, inspired by the powerful performance spaces where Haydn and Mozart expected their works would be performed, serves as Tippet Rise's primary concert venue. Pre-concert lectures will continue to take place at Tiara, a 100-seat acoustic shell without walls. Outdoor performances at sculptural structures and sculptures (Domo by Ensamble Studio and Satellite No. 5: Pioneer by Stephen Talasnik) will continue to provide audiences with an unparalleled opportunity to experience music among 360° views of the rolling hills.

To expand public access to its artistic program, Tippet Rise has now released several specially produced short films and concerts from its inaugural season on its website, with additional videos to be made available in the coming weeks. Videos include Tchaikovsky Piano Competition Laureate George Li performing Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2; an artist spotlight interview with pianist Jenny Chen; short documentary films of artists Patrick Dougherty and Stephen Talasnik, who created site-specific works for the center; and two videos highlighting the artwork at Tippet Rise, including one featuring the sculpture Stainless Stealer by Alexander Calder, on loan from the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, with an original score by the young French composer, Julien Brocal.

The film Pioneer, directed by Taylor Fraser, follows Stephen Talasnik through the process of creating Satellite No. 5: Pioneer, 2016 at Tippet Rise, from inspiration to problem solving and fabrication to installation. Named for the 1973 space-probe project, Pioneer serves as an expression of Tippet Rise's mission of exploration. The work sits in a natural amphitheater and was the site for a performance of John Luther Adams's monumental composition Inuksuit, played by more than 45 percussionists including members of the Billings Symphony, the Excelsis Percussion Quartet, and others, coordinated by Douglas Perkins, on Saturday, July 16, 2016. The film, which incorporates clips from this performance, premiered at opening night of the 2016 Architecture & Design Film Festival in New York. Upcoming videos will include George Li performing Horowitz's Carmen Fantasy; the Ariel String Quartet performing Musica Celestis; an artist spotlight video about Mark di Suvero; and more.

Tippet Rise Art Center is closed for the winter season, though it will play host to several community events and screenings, including a performance of Hamlet by Montana Shakespeare in the Schools on December 10. Tippet Rise will also continue to host workshops and artist residencies throughout the spring, with special cottages and artist housing available, in addition to student workshops with the University of Montana and Montana State University, Billings. The Adrian Brinkerhoff Foundation will sponsor poetry throughout next season, inserted in the everyday life of the Art Center, with specific readings by actors and poets to be announced in the spring.

Tippet Rise Art Center will reopen to the public in mid-June, before the start of the summer music series, for daily visits on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with prior registration. Visitors can explore the ranch via 3.5 miles of hiking and biking trails, with an additional 3.5 miles being added this winter and spring. Electric shuttles are also offered to guests on a regular schedule to each of the sculpture sites.

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 10,260-working sheep and cattle ranch, Tippet Rise hosts classical music performances and exhibits large-scale outdoor sculptures. Tippet Rise is anchored in the belief that art, music, architecture, and nature are inextricably linked in the human experience. Each makes the others more powerful. The Art Center features musical performance spaces indoors and out, with programs that seek to create memorable experiences for performers and audience members alike.

The inaugural season in 2016 included a piano recital series featuring Stephen Hough, Nikolai Demidenko, George Li, Konstantin Lifschitz, and Yevgeny Sudbin, as well as Lucas Debargue in his US Debut; a chamber music series featuring pianist Svetlana Smolina and violinist Caroline Goulding; the Ariel String Quartet; and trumpeter Elmer Churampi. The season also featured the world premiere of a Tippet Rise-commissioned vocal work by prominent Spanish composer Antón García Abril.

In addition to its classical music program, Tippet Rise Art Center has also curated a growing collection of large-scale sculptures and other works by some of the world's foremost artists and architects. Many are site-specific compositions, aiming to transcend the boundaries of art, nature, and architecture. Artworks set within the landscape include several sculptural structures by the innovativeEnsamble Studio, including the 25-foot-tall Beartooth Portal, composed of two vertical rocklike forms that stand approximately 25 feet apart at ground level and lean together at the top; the similarly designed 26-foot-tall Inverted Portal, and the 98-foot-long, 16-foot-tallDomo. Tippet Rise is also home to two monumental works by the internationally renowned sculptor Mark di Suvero: Beethoven's Quartet (2003, steel and stainless steel, 24 9/16 ft. x 30 ft. x 23 1/4 ft.) and Proverb (2002, painted Cor-ten steel, 60 ft x 17 11/16 ft. x 31 1/2 ft.); two site-specific works including Satellite No. 5: Pioneer, by Stephen Talasnik and Daydreams by Patrick Dougherty; and two works by Alexander Calder on loan from the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: Two Discs (1965) and Stainless Stealer (1966).

As an institution founded to serve its neighbors in Montana as much as visiting musicians, artists, and audiences, Tippet Rise develops and supports year-round education programs in schools at the K-12 level, local colleges and universities, and other organizations.

Getting to Tippet Rise Art Center

Located in Stillwater County, Tippet Rise is approximately one hour southwest of Billings, two hours southeast of Bozeman, and two-and-a-half hours north of Yellowstone National Park. It is served by two major airports - Billings Logan International Airport and Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.

Access and Tickets

Tippet Rise is open free to visitors from mid-June to mid-September on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 6pm with prior registration. Concerts are priced at $10, and are free for guests 18 and under. Tickets will go on sale on March 1, 2017.

For more information about Tippet Rise, please visit www.tippetrise.org

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