IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild

For the 10th season, IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild tours the American West. Mountain tops, old-growth forests, and sunny meadows replace the traditional concert hall in the series featuring pianist Hunter Noack on a 9-foot Steinway concert grand piano. Listen through wireless headphones and wander afield with the music as a soundtrack to your experience in the wild. Alvord Hot Springs, owned and operated by local ranchers Paul and Toni Davis, sits at the edge of the dry lakebed known as the Alvord Desert. Perched among the sage brush in the foothills of Steens Mountain overlooking the Hot Springs and the vast horizon, this concert experience is a true bucket list adventure! Add on a Hamburger Dinner made with local Alvord Ranch beef, plus sides and a drink for a communal dinner after the concert. This is a very remote concert site. We recommend all-wheel-drive vehicles for the long stretch of unpaved road, whether approaching the Hot Springs from the north or south. It’s important to note that the nearest gas station is 23 miles south in the tiny community of Fields, or 106 miles north in Burns (106 miles north). The terrain is rough in the Alvord Desert. Audience members must hike either a steep quarter-mile uphill dirt trail or ride the shuttle bus from the parking lot to reach the concert site. The path is unpaved and not suitable for wheelchairs or those with mobility issues. These are the ancestral homelands of the Northern Paiute people. Indigenous groups in the area today include those from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Burns Paiute, the Klamath Tribes, the Fort McDermitt Paiute, and the Shoshone. Photo by Arthur Hitchcock