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The Arts Intel Report

Hunter Noack: In a Landscape

Hunter Noack with “Maude,” his 1912 Steinway, at off-the-radar Summer Lake, Oregon, a favorite spot now lost to wildfires.

May 10–19, 2025

The pianist Hunter Noack, 36, is taking the road less traveled by, and that makes all the difference. As the founder and star attraction of “In a Landscape: Classical Music in the Wild,” inaugurated in 2016, Noack will be concertizing from May to September in Pacific Northwest and West Coast wildernesses, where weather can whiplash in a heartbeat. “I’ve been in places where it’s been 110,” Noack said recently over Zoom from his home in Portland, “and the day after, the same place has snow.” Noack honed his craft at conservatories such as the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Conservatory, and London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. With the help of family, the staff of 10 he has built, and philanthropists of an independent stripe, he has chalked up more than 300 events in nine seasons, serving sellout crowds totaling 75,000 and counting. —Matthew Gurewitsch