Summer 2026 updates and announcements
August 12, 2026
The 2026 concert season is upon us! Over the next five weeks, more than 30 musicians will make their way to Fishtail – some for the first time and others returning – to perform and celebrate a diverse range of music in harmony with the vast Montana landscape.
For anyone still hoping to secure a concert ticket, please note that tickets returned to the box office are available on a first come, first served basis, and placed for sale on our website the week of each concert.
We are also fortunate to have two incredible artists leading upcoming programs.
On Friday, August 28 at 4:15 PM, Martha Tuttle will present a talk on her new temporary installation at Tippet Rise, Calder’s Woods. A multidisciplinary artist based in Montana, Martha Tuttle has spent several weeks in residence at Tippet Rise over the past two years and she created Calder’s Woods during her residency at Alexander Calder’s studio in Sache, France. Comprised of several aluminum casts of natural objects found in the surrounding woods, the work examines Tuttle’s interest in varying scales and concepts of motion – both active and propelled. Guests of this event will have the opportunity to hear from Martha directly and ask questions.
Then on Friday, September 11 at 4:30 PM, as part of his weeklong residency at Tippet Rise, poet Sean Hill will lead a reading from his recent collection, The Negroes Send Their Love. Hill is also the author of Dangerous Goods and Blood Ties & Brown Liquor. His poems have appeared in Callaloo, Harvard Review, The Oxford American, Poetry, Tin House, and numerous other journals, and in dozens of anthologies including Black Nature and Villanelles. Hill lives in southwestern Montana with his family and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Montana.
Reservations for both programs are available starting today on the Events page and tickets are free of charge. Guests who are already ticketed for hiking, biking, or the Friday evening concerts on these dates are also welcome to attend.
Tippet Rise’s first self-released album
Acclaimed cellist Arlen Hlusko’s album komorebi is set to be released on September 25.
Inspired by the search for light in the dark and the commitment to hope amidst devastation, komorebi features Bach’s deeply moving Suite No. 5 as its foundation, juxtaposed with compositions by a myriad of new American voices, whose influences draw from music of all kinds, including Bluegrass, Indian Raags, Indigenous roots, Argentinian tango, and more. It is the first album produced and released by Tippet Rise, the art center’s new label.
The album’s first single, Sandhiprakash (The Joining of Light), is now available, along with a full-length music video. Composed by Reena Esmail and commissioned by Tippet Rise, Sandhiprakash is based on a Hindustani Raag sung at morning twilight, with notes that reach toward the emerging sunlight and the receding darkness, finding the liminal space between them.
Co-founders Cathy and Peter Halstead shared, “At Tippet Rise Art Center we’re launching our new music label, Tippet Rise, to help artists share new meanings in music, utilizing immersive high-resolution sound, filmed and recorded in the breathtaking Montana landscape.
With the support of our new partner Virgin Music Group / Integral, we look forward to our first album release by cellist Arlen Hlusko, called komorebi, or dapple. The album contrasts the groundswell of J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 5 dappled with the chiaroscuro of contemporary American voices (and vice versa), and features videos filmed on the rolling hills of Tippet Rise. We look forward to our next release—Bach Family Album—from the witty and metaphysical pianist Pedja Mužijević, Tippet Rise’s Artistic Advisor, celebrating works by J.S. Bach and his sons, W.F. and C. P. E. Bach.”
Hiking and Biking through October 5
With sincere thanks to the seasonal tour guides who led engaging explorations of Tippet Rise, sculpture van tours have concluded for the season.
Hiking and biking at the art center continues through Sunday, October 4. Reservations are required and can be made here, with new spots added weekly. Tippet Rise’s team of Interpretive Rangers also continue to operate the “hiker-assist shuttle,” offering hiker transportation to trails in the art center’s southwest region. This shuttle is available upon request at the Visitor Center on a first come, first served basis.
