Podcasts

The Tippet Rise Podcast

Tippet Rise celebrates the synergy of art, architecture, music, and nature, out of which we weave our identities. Through interviews and conversations and by sharing extraordinary musical moments from the art center, the Tippet Rise Podcast explores these connections.

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The Gryphon Trio and Calidore String Quartet at Tippet Rise: Talking about Perfect Halls and Great Chamber Music

18 min

Tippet Rise Art Center has a jewel box of a concert hall: the Olivier Music Barn. Audiences love it, and so do all the world-class musicians who come to Tippet Rise each year. Two great chamber music ensembles – the Gryphon Trio and the Calidore String Quartet – performed Tippet Rise the same weekend in September 2022, and sat for interviews in front of their audiences. As the name suggests, “chamber music” was created for intimate performance spaces – in Baroque palaces. You may not think that sounds intimate, but Joseph Haydn composed his music for the room in a European palace that the engineering and design firm Arup used as the model for the Olivier Music Barn.

Sharing Emotion Through Technology

34 min

This month’s podcast episode explores the inner workings of what some of us would say is the heart of the Olivier Music Barn: the recording studio, which sits high above the audience at the concert hall’s stern. From there, our audio engineers attend every performance, attuned to every note as they work to capture the music that is made beneath them. In the process, they transform beautiful performances into similarly beautiful high-resolution recordings, which are available to everyone, everywhere to stream and to download for free.

Refreshing the Spirit

28 min

Designed by Craig White, the program books from each season of classical music at Tippet Rise capture the profundity and intimacy of a visit to the art center. With lush photographs and essays about the music, musicians, and artists, the ecosystems, geology, sustainability and ranching, the books are given as a gift to every guest as a way to continue their experience even after they leave Tippet Rise.

My Life Told in Machines

19

To many people, a note is a note, is a note. But there are footnotes. There are overtones and undertones, the heaven and hell of music, the music of the spheres which isn’t heard but which ties the universe together with frequencies.

Preserving a Moment

40

When Jim Ruberto is in the recording studio at Tippet Rise, his overarching mission is to preserve the performers’ intentions and the music’s profound emotional impact. To accomplish this, he must work to remove hundreds of noises from every live performance our audio team records—it’s exacting work and a labor of love for our Assistant Audio Engineer.

Aaron Jay Kernis

20

Hosted by the award-winning classical music radio announcer, Naomi Lewin, this episode features Aaron Jay Kernis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, and explores two pieces he wrote for Tippet Rise: First CLUB Date, for piano and cello, and String Quartet No. 4 (“Oasis"), for string quartet. We hear musicians, audience members and the art center’s cofounders reflect on Kernis’ work, and we hear the composer discuss a major inspiration for String Quartet No. 4 (“Oasis"): the rugged Montana landscape, which he calls “a heavenly place.”

Julien Brocal: Music Finds a Way

30

Behind every great piece of music there’s a fascinating story about its creation. Sometimes our most beloved music emerges out of life’s serendipitous twists, difficult circumstances, and unforeseen pitfalls.

Renewing the Gift

52

Music, like the stillness and solitude of a Montana winter, is a special kind of gift. John Luther Adams and the JACK Quartet share their thoughts and hopes for the music of our time.

Music of Landscape and Sculpture

28 min

In August of 2019, composer John Luther Adams and the New York based JACK Quartet delivered an inspired performance at Tippet Rise, which included the composer’s first string quartet, The Wind In High Places, and the fifth string quartet, Lines Made By Walking. The latter is a Tippet Rise commission, written for the JACK Quartet, and as the composer says, “This music evolved slowly at three miles an hour over this beautiful terrain.”

Attuned to the Land

30

Photographer James Florio traverses this beautiful land for days at a time, in all weather conditions, listening, learning, and becoming a part of the land. Through his images, we are able to walk alongside him.

A Love of the Land

32 minutes

Tippet Rise was created in the spirit of celebrating life on the land. It welcomes the people who cultivate the soil, the good stewards, the people who love the land.

Encores

12 min

Like a dessert at the end of a satisfying meal, the encore can be a delightful finish to the close of a spectacular concert. In this episode, we hear a selection of encores from Tippet Rise’s summer 2017 concert season.

The Synergies of Tippet Rise

21

Music is not about notes. Sculpture is not about shapes. Land is not only about dirt. They’re metaphors that operate just over the horizon, just out of sight, on the tips of our tongues, not entirely visible.

Words of Solace and Joy

25

Read by members of the Tippet Rise team, this is the second episode of the Tippet Rise Podcast dedicated to exploring poetry and prose as sources of solace during difficult times.

A Healthy Forest

23

Wildfires can be devastating and are a major concern for Montanans. Listen to how this community is working and thinking together in order to reduce this risk. Collaboration not only yields a healthy forest, but also a healthy community.

Francis Kéré

14 min

Hosted by the award-winning classical music radio announcer, Naomi Lewin, this episode of the Tippet Rise Podcast features a conversation with Francis Kéré, the world-renowned architect behind the art center’s latest installation, Xylem.

Julien Brocal: Shared Beauty

28 min

What is it about landscape and nature that brings us back to center? In his artist residency at Tippet Rise, pianist and composer, Julien Brocal, composes and shares two new piano pieces inspired by this uniquely personal, yet universal, experience.

Peter at the Piano: Overtones - The Unseen and Unheard

20 min

Music can be more than music and our relationship to our surroundings is shaped by things we can’t see or hear, but which nevertheless control the world we live in. Tippet Rise cofounder, Peter Halstead, examines how music composition can illustrate social theories, the evolution of humans, and falling in love.

Making Xylem: Circles, Senses, and Community

23

World-renowned architect Francis Kéré has designed Tippet Rise’s new 2,100-square-foot pavilion, Xylem. Ten teams of highly skilled and passionate people worked together to build the natural gathering space where communities can meet, share, and listen. Nestled in a grove of aspen and cottonwood trees beside Grove Creek and the art center’s central campus, Xylem was completed in July of 2019.

From Far-Reaching Places

24 min

In the summer of 2018, Yevgeny Sudbin, Johannes Moser, and Vadim Gluzman traveled to Tippet Rise, crossing land and sea to share their passion for the intimate dialogue of chamber music and the characters and inspirations behind it. They inspired us: not only through their extraordinary performances, but also through the stories they shared (one with a beautifully serendipitous twist).

Two Pianos in One

25

Like every pianist, pianos have their own unique characteristics. Choosing the perfect pairing of musician and instrument can be a challenge, but it can also be a lot of fun. In this podcast, Michael Brown, Adam Golka, and Roman Rabinovich seek the perfect piano on which to record three solo albums of music by Haydn, Beethoven, Medtner, and Ravel.

Paris in a piano

26 min

Whether it‘s nature, culture, the freedom of improvisation, or the metallic sound of bells, inspiration comes in many forms. Like Paris in the 1920’s, Tippet Rise Art Center strives to serve as an intersection of art, music, land, and sky, to provide an environment where conversations and exchanges can take place to inspire new ideas and creative forms of expression.

Winter Rise

21 min

As we move from winter to spring, we take a moment to reflect on the beauty and severity of the region we inhabit. Narrative and poems extracted from Peter Halstead’s book A Winter Ride describe the unique environment of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and the humility we experience from being immersed in its majesty.

Peter at the Piano: Robert Schumann's "Clara" Theme

18 min

The gifted pianist and composer, Clara Wieck, also served as muse: first to Robert Schumann, whom she eventually married, and then to Johannes Brahms. Four descending notes, known as Schumann’s “Clara” theme, run through many of his beloved works for piano, including his Romance. Years later, Brahms used these four notes in intermezzi he wrote for Clara as apology for the devastating heartbreak he had caused her. In this fascinating episode, we hear Tippet Rise’s co-founder, Peter Halstead, explore and explain these four gorgeous notes that repeat, and repeat again, through time.

National Identities

15 min

Our identities are shaped by the cultures that surround us. In this episode, we journey around the world to hear how the national identities of three composers influenced their music. Featuring music by Frédéric Chopin, Isang Yun, and Francisco Mignone.

Storytelling

15 min

Passed down through centuries, storytelling is a distinctively human tradition that doesn’t always rely on spoken language. In this episode, we explore narratives that tell stories using just musical sound. Featuring music by Maurice Ravel, Modest Mussorgsky, and George Enescu.

Photo: Erik Petersen

Love Songs

14 min

Love can completely transform us – for better or for worse. In this episode, we listen to musical songs (with and without words) that convey this transformative power of love. Featuring music by Gabriel Kahane, Richard Wagner, and Arnold Schoenberg.

Photo: Kathy Kasic