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Five-Week Concert Season: August 14 to September 13
Featuring Performances by More Than 30 Musicians, playing music ranging from
J. S. Bach and Franz Liszt to John Lennon, Fleet Foxes, and Allison Loggins-Hull, and the World Premiere of a Tippet Rise Commission by Composer Jessica Meyer
Concerts Take Place Indoors and Outside Among Works of Art on a
12,500-acre Ranch Nestled at the Foot of Montana’s Beartooth Mountains
Fishtail, Montana, March 17, 2026 — Tippet Rise Art Center, which celebrates the synergies between art, music, architecture, poetry, and nature on a 12,500-acre working ranch, opens for hiking, biking, and sculpture van tours on June 19. The art center’s 15-mile trail system reopens with two major site-specific additions to the landscape: Mark di Suvero’s Scythian (1979-1995) and Alicja Kwade’s new work, Causa Formalis (2025).
The art center also announces today the detailed program for its 11th annual concert season. Taking place from August 14 to September 13, the five-week season features more than 30 internationally acclaimed musicians, playing music ranging from J. S. Bach and Franz Liszt to John Lennon, Fleet Foxes, and Allison Loggins-Hull. Concert tickets are available through a randomized drawing, for which registration is required. The registration period opens on the Tippet Rise website today, March 17, and closes on April 6 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time.
“At Tippet Rise, musicians and audiences share large-scale art with the vast acres of land and sky that instill an almost primeval sense of how everything is connected to everything else,” as Tippet Rise Co-Founders Cathy and Peter Halstead have written. “We look forward to another increasingly transformative season where we try to match with music and land art the Stonehenge-like wonder we all feel where the barren grasslands of the Beartooth Mountains fit like puzzle pieces into the upside-down curves of the stormclouds.”
“Tippet Rise invites musicians and audiences alike to experience music indoors and out, in synergy with nature,” said Tippet Rise Artistic Advisor Pedja Mužijevic. “Our 2026 concert programs celebrate music without borders—bringing Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart into conversation with Sigur Rós, Cole Porter, Caroline Shaw, and Irving Berlin—without the need for genre labels. It’s all just great music.”
World Premieres and Commissions
On August 15, the world premiere of a Tippet Rise commission by award-winning composer and violist Jessica Meyer will be performed by violinist Yura Lee, bassoonist Eleni Katz, hornist David Byrd-Marrow, and bassist Nina Bernat, at a concert outdoors at the Domo. Meyers' new work is inspired by Ensamble Studio’s Beartooth Portal, and its relation to the earth and sky.
Michi Wiancko’s The World Wants Us to Love It for horn, violin, and piano—a co-commission by Tippet Rise and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music—had its world premiere at the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival on March 15. Titled after a line from Tracy K. Smith, a former U.S. Poet Laureate, Wiancko’s piece explores the unique sounds that come from instruments and how their different voices create changing worlds of color and texture. Her piece is an invitation and a call to love and connect during hard times.
2026 Concert Season Overview
Week One (August 14-16)
The season opens with a mini festival featuring Schubert’s Octet and Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959, with works by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova and American composer Marc Mellits. An outdoor performance at the Domo features Beethoven’s Septet, interspersed with pieces by Caroline Shaw and Swedish composer Svante Henryson, and the world premiere of a Tippet Rise commission by Jessica Meyer for violin, horn, bassoon, and bass. Featured musicians include violinists Alexi Kenney and Yura Lee, violist Natalie Loughran, cellist Oliver Herbert, bassist Nina Bernat, clarinetist Yasmina Spiegelberg, bassoonist Eleni Katz, hornist David Byrd-Marrow, and Tippet Rise Artistic Advisor and pianist Pedja Mužijevic.
Week Two (August 21-23)
The first concert celebrates the legacy of the American Songbook with music by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, among others, performed in a cabaret setting in the communal Will’s Shed by soprano Mireille Asselin, baritone Jesse Blumberg, and pianist Richard Pearson Thomas. Then, pianist Yekwon Sunwoo makes his Tippet Rise debut in the Olivier Music Barn with works by Respighi, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt. The quickly emerging Trio Azura performs two programs: Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 1 coupled with Jennifer Higdon’s Piano Trio at the Geode, the art center’s remote, open-air acoustical venue sited in a panorama of seven surrounding mountain ranges; and trios from John Harbison, Schubert, and Ravel in the Olivier Music Barn.
Week Three (August 28-30)
Tippet Rise welcomes back the internationally renowned pianist Yulianna Avdeeva for an all-Chopin recital in the Olivier Music Barn, including the Mazurkas, Op. 30; 12 Études, Op. 25; and his Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante. The brass quartet The Westerlies performs an outdoor program at the Domo, featuring selections from The Westerlies’ “Songbook” recording project, celebrating a century of American music and including interpretations of works by Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsom, Aoife O’Donovan, Anaïs Mitchell, and Samora Pinderhughes. To bring the weekend to an end, accordionist Radu Ratoi will lead a concert as part of Tippet Rise’s Wander series, in which musicians and audiences move among different works of art within the art center’s central Cottonwood Campus. The program includes arrangements of works ranging from Rameau, Couperin, and Bach, to Saint-Saëns and Liszt, and to Vladimir Vlasov, Paul Desmond, and Piazzolla.
Week Four (September 4-6)
Anderson & Roe, the Emmy-nominated piano duo, returns to Tippet Rise for two distinct programs, the first including their Blue Danube Fantasy and other arrangements of works from Brahms and Schubert, and the second offering arrangements of Radiohead, Sigur Rós, and The Beatles, coupled with classical works by Bach/Gounod, Ravel, Holst, and Brahms. The Grammy-winning Takács Quartet makes its Tippet Rise debut and performs Haydn's String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20 No. 2, and Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden.” The week concludes with renowned British pianist Danny Driver’s performance, juxtaposing works by Debussy and Ligeti in the Olivier Music Barn.
Week Five (September 11-13)
The final concert weekend begins with a performance by cellist Camille Thomas and pianist Julien Brocal at the Olivier Music Barn, featuring excerpts from their recently released album RENDEZ-VOUS, Chopin’s Introduction et Polonaise brillante, and Grieg’s Cello Sonata. The following program presents flutist Jessica Sindell, violinists Gabrielle Després and Nathan Meltzer, violists Laura Liu and Samuel Rosenthal, and cellists Arlen Hlusko and Sydney Lee in works by Mozart, Allison Loggins-Hull, Jesse Montgomery, and Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence at Will’s Shed. The last performance of the season is a recital by the internationally acclaimed pianist Jonathan Biss, offering works by Schumann, Kurtág, and Amy Beth Kirsten in the Olivier Music Barn.
Visitors attending Friday evening concerts are invited to pre-concert talks at the outdoor Tiara Acoustic Shell. The season also includes pop-up concerts and family concerts geared toward young children.
Recordings Projects
Recording initiatives are at the center of Tippet Rise’s mission to support artists in furthering their careers and widely sharing their interpretations of works by the world’s great composers as well as new works by living composers. In 2024, pianist Yulianna Avdeeva recorded her PENTATONE-released album Chopin: Voyage at Tippet Rise; this year, it was awarded the prestigious French classical music prize, the Diapason d'Or de l’Année.
This April marks the full release of the new digital album and accompanying films for RENDEZ-VOUS, by cellist Camille Thomas and pianist Julien Brocal. Recorded at Tippet Rise in 2024 and distributed by Decca Records/Universal Music, the album reimagines iconic classical works by pairing them with new compositions by the artists.
Concert in the 21st Century
For the second time, Pedja Mužijevic will lead “Concert in the 21st Century,” a week-long workshop designed for early-career musicians. This program examines the concert experience from various perspectives, emphasizing the development of marketing strategies, content refinement, and the diversification of concert formats. The workshop includes a public concert on May 21 at Tippet Rise’s Olivier Music Barn, along with a pop-up concert in the neighboring community of Red Lodge. This year’s “Concert in the 21st Century” workshop is in collaboration with the Verbier Festival Academy and participating musicians, all alumni of that prestigious program, include violinists Christina Nam and Claire Wells, violists Brian Isaacs and Matthew McDowell, and cellist John-Henry Crawford.
New Artworks Join the Landscape
This summer, visitors who come for hiking, biking, and sculpture van tours will encounter two significant installations that enhance the artistic landscape and foster a deeper connection to the environment. Located on the Cottonwood Campus, Scythian (1979-1995) by Mark di Suvero, is the fourth sculpture by the artist at Tippet Rise. Visitors will be able to approach it from both below and above, enjoying varied views of the kinetic spinner top fashioned of reclaimed steel.
Made of patinated bronze and powder-coated stainless steel, Causa Formalis (2025) is a new work by Polish-German artist Alicja Kwade. Juxtaposing organic and geometric shapes, the sculpture engages closely with its grassy surroundings and the sweeping views across Murphy Canyon, inviting reflection on questions of form and time.
Concert Tickets
Concerts begin on August 14 and run through September 13 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, are available through a randomized drawing. The drawing registration period opens on the Tippet Rise website on March 17 and closes on April 6 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time. For the latest information on ticketing, please sign up for the Tippet Rise e-newsletter.
Hiking, Biking, and Sculpture Van Tours
Tippet Rise reopens to the public on June 19 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-mile 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, opens on the art center’s website on Wednesday, April 8 at 10:00 AM Mountain Time.
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 films and high-resolution recordings. From June into October, 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, Ensamble Studio, Francis Kéré, Alicja Kwade, Isabelle Johnson, Alexander Liberman, Louise Nevelson, Wendy Red Star, Ursula von Rydingsvard, 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.
2026 SEASON ELEVEN CONCERT PROGRAM
WEEK I
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 5:30 PM
The Olivier Music Barn
Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet
Eleni Katz, bassoon
Alexi Kenney, violin
Yura Lee, violin
Natalie Loughran, viola
Oliver Herbert, cello
Nina Bernat, bass
Pedja Mužijevic, piano
DOBRINKA TABAKOVA: Moreni for clarinet, string quartet, and piano
MARC MELLITS: Black for bassoon and double bass
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 11:00 AM
The Domo
Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet
Eleni Katz, bassoon
David Byrd-Marrow, horn
Yura Lee, violin
Natalie Loughran, viola
Oliver Herbert, cello
Nina Bernat, bass
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
CAROLINE SHAW: Limestone & Felt for viola and cello
BEETHOVEN: Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
SVANTE HENRYSON: “Powder Ballad” from Suite Off Pist for clarinet and cello
BEETHOVEN: Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
JESSICA MEYER: New Work for violin, horn, bassoon, and bass (2026) – Tippet Rise Commission and World Premiere
BEETHOVEN: Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace
Andante con moto alla marcia – Presto
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 11:00 AM
The Olivier Music Barn
Yasmina Spiegelberg, clarinet
Eleni Katz, bassoon
David Byrd-Marrow, horn
Alexi Kenney, violin
Yura Lee, violin
Natalie Loughran, viola
Oliver Herbert, cello
Nina Bernat, bass
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Octet in F Major, D. 803
WEEK II
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 5:30 PM
Will’s Shed
Mireille Asselin, soprano
Jesse Blumberg, baritone
Richard Pearson Thomas, piano
AMERICAN SONGBOOK
Songs by Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Marc Blitzstein, Kurt Weill, and more.
Good Evening, Montana
Blue Skies Irving Berlin
Don’t Fence Me In Cole Porter
A Gershwin Affair
Someone to Watch Over Me George & Ira Gershwin
But Not For Me
I’ve Got a Crush on You
Fascinating Rhythm
I’ve Got Rhythm *
Our Love is Here to Stay
It’s Complicated
In the Still of the Night Cole Porter
I Wish it So Marc Blitzstein
I Didn’t Know What Time it Was Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off George & Ira Gershwin
Fatal Attractions
Mack the Knife theme * Kurt Weill
The Ballad of the Shape of Things Sheldon Harnick
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park Tom Lehrer
In Summer-y
I Love a Piano Irving Berlin
Some Other Time Leonard Bernstein & Betty Comden / Adolph Green
Damaged (built-in encore) Richard Pearson Thomas
* short piano interlude
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 11:00 AM
The Olivier Music Barn
Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Six Pieces
Caressing waltz
Canon
Nocturne
Minuet
Study
Intermezzo – Serenata
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Six moments musicaux, Op. 16
FRANZ LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (Cadenza by Rachmaninoff)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2:00 PM
The Geode
Trio Azura
Duncan McDougall, violin
Yejin Hong, cello
Yanfeng (Tony) Bai, piano
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G Minor
JENNIFER HIGDON: Piano Trio
I. Pale Yellow
II. Fiery Red
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 11:00 AM
The Olivier Music Barn
Trio Azura
Duncan McDougall, violin
Yejin Hong, cello
Yanfeng (Tony) Bai, piano
JOHN HARBISON: Trio No. 2 (“Short Stories”)
Tale
Ballad
Rumors and Reports
Enigma
FRANZ SCHUBERT: Notturno in E-flat Major, Op. 148, D. 897
MAURICE RAVEL: Piano Trio in A Minor, M. 67
WEEK III
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 5:30 PM
The Olivier Music Barn
Yulianna Avdeeva, piano
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN: Four Mazurkas, Op. 30
CHOPIN: 12 Études, Op. 25
CHOPIN: Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 11:00 AM
The Domo
The Westerlies
Riley Mulherkar, trumpet
Chloe Rowlands, trumpet
Andy Clausen, trombone
Addison Maye-Saxon, trombone
The program includes selections from The Westerlies’ "Songbook" recording project of American music over the past century, including Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsom, Aoife O’Donovan, Anaïs Mitchell, Samora Pinderhughes, and more.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 11:00 AM - Wander Concert
Cottonwood Campus
Radu Ratoi, accordion
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU: Overture from the ballet Pygmalion, RTC52 (arr. R. Ratoi)
FRANÇOIS COUPERIN: Les Roseaux (arr. R. Ratoi)
J. S. BACH: English Suite No. 3: Prelude, Sarabande, and Gigue, BWV808 (arr. R. Ratoi)
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre, Op. 40 (arr. R. Ratoi)
FRANZ LISZT: Transcendental Études: 10. Appassionata, S. 139 (arr. R. Ratoi)
VLADIMIR VLASOV: Phantasy on Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5
PAUL DESMOND: “Take Five” (arr. R. Ratoi)
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA: “Libertango”
WEEK IV
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 5:30 PM
The Olivier Music Barn
Anderson & Roe
Greg Anderson, piano
Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano
FRANZ SCHUBERT / ANDERSON & ROE: Ave Maria, D. 839
SCHUBERT: Allegro in A Minor (Lebensstürme) (Storms of Life), D. 947
JOHANNES BRAHMS: Liebeslieder Waltzes (Love Song Waltzes), Op. 52b
JOHANN STRAUSS, JR. / ANDERSON & ROE: Blue Danube Fantasy
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 11:00 AM
The Olivier Music Barn
Takács Quartet
Edward Dusinberre, violin
Harumi Rhodes, violin
Richard O’Neill, viola
Mihai Marica, cello
JOSEPH HAYDN: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20 No. 2
FRANZ SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden"
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 3:00 PM
Will’s Shed
Anderson & Roe
Greg Anderson, piano
Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH / CHARLES GOUNOD / ANDERSON & ROE: “Ave Maria” (based on Prelude No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846)
MAURICE RAVEL / VYACHESLAV GRYAZNOV: “Daybreak” from Daphnis et Chloé
GUSTAV HOLST / ANDERSON & ROE: Nocturne on Neptune (based on “Neptune” from The Planets)
ANDERSON & ROE: Hallelujah Variations (Variations on a Theme by Leonard Cohen)
RADIOHEAD / ANDERSON & ROE: “Pyramid Song” from Amnesiac
JOHANNES BRAHMS / ANDERSON & ROE: “Lerchengesang” (The Lark’s Song), Op. 70, No. 2
SIGUR RÓS / ANDERSON & ROE: “Glósóli” (“Glowing Sun”) from Takk…
JOHN LENNON & PAUL MCCARTNEY / ANDERSON & ROE: “Let It Be” from Let It Be
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 11:00 AM
The Olivier Music Barn
Danny Driver, piano
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: “Reflets dans l’eau” (Reflections in the water) from Images
GYÖRGY LIGETI: “Galamb Borong”, “Fém”, “Der Zauberlehrling” (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) from Études
DEBUSSY: “Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fût” (And the Moon Descends on the Temple that Was) from Images
LIGETI: “Automne à Varsovie” (Autumn in Warsaw), “Entrelacs” from Études
DEBUSSY: “Mouvement” from Images
LIGETI: “Arc-en-ciel” (Rainbow), “Fanfares” from Études
DEBUSSY: “Cloches à travers les feuilles” (Bells Through the Leaves) from Images
LIGETI: “Cordes-à-Vide” (Open Strings), “L’éscalier du Diable” (The Devil's Staircase) from Études
WEEK V
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 5:30 PM
The Olivier Music Barn
Camille Thomas, cello
Julien Brocal, piano
GRACE
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH / CHARLES GOUNOD: Ave Maria, CG 89
JULIEN BROCAL / CAMILLE THOMAS: Reflection No. 1 (Paix – Shanti)
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN: Introduction et Polonaise brillante, Op. 3
CHIMERA
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS: The Swan
SATIE: Gymnopédie No. 1
BROCAL / THOMAS: Reflection No. 2
EDVARD GRIEG: Cello Sonata, Op. 36
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 11:00 AM
Will’s Shed
Jessica Sindell, flute
Gabrielle Després, violin
Nathan Meltzer, violin
Laura Liu, viola
Samuel Rosenthal, viola
Arlen Hlusko, cello
Sydney Lee, cello
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Quartet for flute, violin, viola, and cello in D Major, K. 285
ALLISON LOGGINS-HULL: Homeland for flute
JESSE MONTGOMERY: Selections from Musings for two violins
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY: Souvenir de Florence for two violins, two violas, and two cellos, Op. 70
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 11:00 AM
The Olivier Music Barn
Jonathan Biss, piano
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations), WoO 24
GYÖRGY KURTÁG: “Silence” and “Quiet Talk with the Devil” from Játékok (Games)
AMY BETH KIRSTEN: (speak to me)
ROBERT SCHUMANN: Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17
Image Caption: Tippet Rise Visitors Attend a Concert at Domo (2016) by Ensamble Studio. Image by Erik Petersen. Courtesy of Tippet Rise Art Center.
Press Contacts:
Polskin Arts
Sara Ory / Pascal Nadon
sara.ory@finnpartners.com / pascal.nadon@finnpartners.com
212-593-5815 / 646-234-7088
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