(2024 Black Butte concert. Photo by Arthur Hitchcock)
Hunter Noack, classical pianist and naturalist, will bring seven concerts to Central Oregon as part of IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild’s tenth anniversary 50-concert tour. The groundbreaking outdoor concert series began in 2016 with nine concerts in the Portland area. They have now produced 311 concerts from the Mojave Desert to Banff, Canada, Orcas Island to Jackson, Wyoming, traveling with a 1912 9-foot Steinway on a flatbed trailer that converts into a stage. The outdoor concert series is known for creating immersive experiences in nature, where America’s most stunning landscapes replace the traditional concert hall. Headphones allow audiences to wander, whether on a mountain top, in old growth forests, or in sunny meadows, the music as a soundtrack to their experience in the wild.
“Our mission as a nonprofit organization is aligned with that of our hosts and venues,” says Noack, “which has led to partnerships with the National Park System, state parks, botanical and historic gardens, museums, land trusts, and other groups who are also interested in providing new ways for the public to reconnect with nature.”
The series is branching out with a Dark Sky initiative this year, with two concerts in the Oregon Outback Dark Sky Sanctuary and in Sunriver’s first Dark Sky-designated community.
A total of eight concerts will be held in Central Oregon landscapes from June 1-September 17.
June 1: Kah-Nee-Ta Resort, Warm Springs
June 16, 17, 18: Black Butte Ranch, Sisters
June 19: Wine Down Ranch, Prineville
September 14: Dark Sky, Summer Lake Hot Springs, Paisley
September 15: Dark Sky, Sunriver Resort, Sunriver
September 17: Drake Park, Bend
Tickets are $45 and may be purchased on the IN A LANDSCAPE website. IN A LANDSCAPE offers free tickets through the Good Neighbor Program, providing access to those who might otherwise be unable to afford a ticket to this outdoor classical music experience.
Concert performance times vary for each concert. Please read the Frequently Asked Questions on each concert description page to learn about accessibility, food and beverage availability, and dog-friendly venues.
The 2025 IN A LANDSCAPE season sponsor is Jordan Schnitzer and The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation. Additional support for the Central Oregon concerts provided by Visit Central Oregon, Black Butte Ranch founders Mike & Sue Hollern, Trish Smith in memory of Bill Smith, and Bob & Janis Harrison, and by the Broughton and Mary Bishop Family.
Founded in 2016 by Noack, IN A LANDSCAPE operates with a mission to remove barriers to live classical music and to the outdoors. The series partners with national and state parks, land trusts, conservancies, historical societies, Native American reservations and schools to share live classical music experiences, most often in rural communities where such opportunities are scarce. The series has presented over 300 concerts featuring 110 guest artists for 75,000 attendees, many of whom experienced live classical music for the first time. Through the Good Neighbor Program and the mission to make the concerts accessible to all, IN A LANDSCAPE subsidizes ticket pricing at 95% of the concerts, and provides free tickets to locals directly and through partner organizations, distributing over $100,000 in free tickets last year alone. Through the benefit concert program, IN A LANDSCAPE grants money — $127,447 in 2024 — to school music classes, tribal initiatives, rural fire departments, land trusts, and other nonprofit community groups.
Beyond its innovative approach to classical music, IN A LANDSCAPE creates space for immersive storytelling by frequently featuring poets, Native American musicians, dancers, singers, and visual artists as guest performers. The concerts are designed to inspire a sense of quiet contemplation and free-spirited play, encouraging audience members to fully engage with the music and the landscape around them.
IN A LANDSCAPE cultivates a profound feeling of togetherness across ranchers,hikers, city dwellers, families, and classical music aficionados, proving that music and nature have the power to unite people across all walks of life. The award-winning series has been featured on CBS Mornings, in the Los Angeles Times, and as part of TEDxPortland.
Named after John Cage’s composition In a Landscape, Noack’s series embraces the avant-garde composer’s ethos of redefining how we listen to and experience music. “What surprises me every concert,” says Noack, “are the moments of serendipity—when the leaves blow or the birds dance perfectly in time with the music, as if choreographed by a divine hand. In those moments of magic, I feel such gratitude for classical music and the parks and wild lands in which we play.”