In April 2011, at nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, Peter Halstead, Co-Founder of Tippet Rise, donned a Yeti costume. He, a film crew, a Steinway grand piano, and its technician had been helicoptered to the snow and ice-encrusted edge of Marcus Baker Peak, the highest point in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains, to create a series of fantastical films.
It is our belief that values are shaped by great language and great thought. Our sister foundation, the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, aims to expand access to poetry and educational poetry materials, gathering outstanding poems from across places, eras, and traditions for audiences worldwide to enjoy.
Brocal is a musician of distinction whose imaginative, intelligent and cultivated piano-playing is at once seductive and authoritative.
John recomposes the planet. He has composed the ocean, the desert, the earth itself. He has done it in the Atacama Desert in Chile, in the interior of Alaska — and in Montana.
Schubert’s Notturno, written the year he died, was performed in 2017 on an iconic afternoon at the Domo by Jeffrey Kahane, Sasha Kazovsky, and Amit Even-Tov, a performance which can be found in three videos on our site.
In a way, it is a lost piece, forgotten over the years, but which brings together intangible emotions which to me evoke the scenes we encounter every day and night in Montana, so many years and so far away from the Vienna of 1828. I’d like to discuss that piece with you, and explore why it moves me so strongly.
In these videos, filmed by Matt McKee of The Red Panel, Mark di Suvero unearths the underlying phrases and philosophies which inform his sculptures and which slyly suggest answers without exactly providing them.
During these uncertain times, we have been deeply moved and inspired by the incredible displays of love, resilience, connection and spirit from our artist and musician friends from around the world. To see a few examples, as well as musings on each from our co-founder, Peter Halstead, please read on.
In “The Hive,” a dreamlike nine-minute film written and directed by Matthew McKee, black-clad figures approach the smoldering remains of a fire. There, they kneel, collecting handfuls of ashes and coals. Snow falls, the wind blows, cold practically radiates from the screen. The film’s monochromatic opening scene is interrupted by just one color: the amber glow of dying embers…
In early January, Tippet Rise received a great honor: LEED® Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for the Olivier Music Barn’s environmentally sustainable design and systems…
Almost by divine intervention, we had Charlie Hamlen as our friend and artistic advisor for two years, which turned out to be the two last years of his life.
This extraordinary pastoral by Franz Schubert takes one astonishing melody and repeats it in various ways which increase its revelations, similar to the Claude Lelouch film, Viva la Vie, where every time you think you understand the film, it starts again at a higher level.
Tippet Rise comprises 12,000 acres. We lease sections of it in the summer to Ben and Jamie Lehfeldt and their parents Marie and Bob, who bring in 1,200 head of Rambouillet sheep and 300 calf-cow pairs to graze the lush grasses that grow here. The sheep help eradicate the noxious weed, leafy spurge. And we have our own cattle program, which will eventually produce enough cattle to provide for our guests on the ranch, as well as help regenerate healthy native grasses and reduce wildfire hazards.
Steinway grand pianos are crafted by hand, which is why it takes 11 months or more and countless hours of fine-tuned labor to make one. The process—a feat of engineering, a magical alchemy, or both—involves hundreds of skilled cabinetmakers, craftspeople and gifted tuners. Tippet Rise is home to a treasure trove of Steinways: a dozen of them, each extraordinary and each with its own nuances and attributes. These essays, written by the Art Center’s co-founder, Peter Halstead, explore them.
This film, also named “Solstice,” was produced by Ensamble Studio, the architects behind three sculptural structures cast from the land at Tippet Rise, and dedicated to our founders, Peter and Cathy Halstead.
Filmmaker Djuna Zupancic captured Mark di Suvero’s sculpture, Beethoven’s Quartet, on film during a snowstorm at Tippet Rise. Inspired by the film, Tippet Rise co-founder Peter Halstead wrote the poem, “Storm.” It is here along with e-mail correspondences between filmmaker and poet.
The year 2016 marked the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, considered by most to be the greatest playwright in the English language. To commemorate the event, people around the world celebrated his life and legacy through performances, exhibitions and festivals. Tippet Rise celebrated too, thanks in part to our partnerships with two extraordinary organizations that work to share the Bard’s legacy far and wide.
Silhouetted against the Beartooth Mountains, the rusted exterior of the Olivier Barn comes into view as a pleasant surprise, like the ocher moss that covers the rocks in the region. Its monochromatic exterior composes with the uniform tone.
The lake at the end of East Rosebud is abruptly bordered by mountains with contours intertwined like the legs of tango dancers.
Tippet Rise evolved from the organic relationship humans have to the land, and the sights and sounds we encounter in the world.
Isabelle Johnson is intimately tied to the Tippet Rise spirit.
