Pianist Combines Music With Nature in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Pianist Hunter Noack performs in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens on May 25, 2023. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Pianist Hunter Noack brings music to the outdoors. His nonprofit, IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild, unites the general public with both nature and classical music.

Instead of playing in a concert hall, Noack brings his nine-foot Steinway grand piano to an outdoor landscape. Attendees listen to his performance through wireless headphones that provide acoustics similar to those of a concert hall venue. The headphones allow listeners to meander through the natural setting as they listen to his music.

A Botanical Gardens Concert

On May 25, Noack brought his style of music to the Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. A crew helped him convert his custom-made piano trailer into a stage. After the piano was tuned, Noack began the concert.

While attendees wandered through the gardens or lay underneath the piano to feel the vibrations, Noack performed. His choice of pieces ranged from Bach to Chopin to Ludovic Lamothe, a contemporary Haitian composer.

Noack allows attendees to feel the vibrations beneath his piano. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)

After listening to Noack’s music while she explored the Botanical Gardens, audience member Madelyn Hofele told The Epoch Times: “I think it’s a really great way to unwind and just reconnect with nature, especially living in the city and not being around a lot of nature. I think it’s super relaxing, and you can kind of just take a second to breathe and just reflect.”

Her sister, Kate Hofele, agreed.

“I feel very relaxed and at peace,” she told The Epoch Times. “My job is very high stress, so this is just a great way to unwind and reflect on my day and how I’m feeling, and be in touch with my emotions.”

In A Landscape

Noack, who grew up in Central Oregon, loves being outdoors as much as he loves classical music. He founded “In a Landscape” in 2016 with a goal of bringing music to listeners that “becomes the soundtrack to their experience in each place.”

“I hope that people find moments of magic by witnessing nature,” Noack told The Epoch Times. “There is so much beauty in the outdoors and so much beauty in this music. I think the music can give us space to witness all the magic that’s around us in nature.”

Visitors enjoy the grounds of the San Francisco Botanical Gardens while listening to a concert by Hunter Noack. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Audience members in San Francisco said they found the experience to be peaceful and relaxing. Concert-goer Peter Volz appreciated how Noack brought his music to a broader audience and made it a “venue that’s accessible to everybody and that really incorporates nature,” he told The Epoch Times.

In some cases, Noack’s music mirrors the natural elements that surround him. For instance, if he’s performing near a river or a lake, he might play Claude Debussy’s impressionistic “Reflections in the Water.”

Noack said, “Seeing how the light dances on the water, that changes how I play the music, and maybe opens it up in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to think of, if I was just in a practice room.”

Hunter Noack’s choice of music reflects the nature around him. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)

Playing Outside

Playing outside does have its challenges. Ambient noise is solved by having audience members wear wireless headphones. And of course, there is the weather. The day Noack played in San Francisco, it was slightly cold, so he wore a knit hat and fingerless gloves with heaters in them.

Noack said: “We are all out in these elements together, so if there’s a flock of birds that flies over, or a gust of wind that comes up, we all experience that moment together. I feel it changes the way I play and adds a layer and a feeling of connection between me and the audience.”

Families find joy in an outdoor classical music concert at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)

The 1930s Federal Music Project

Noack’s idea of bringing music to outdoor audiences was inspired by his awareness of the 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Music Project. During the Great Depression, the WPA brought thousands of free concerts to people in rural areas. In a Landscape also allows people to attend for free if they can’t afford tickets.

Upcoming Concerts

Noack has hauled the custom-made trailer carrying his piano to remote places, including old-growth forests and mountaintops. This summer, he has 45 upcoming concerts around the West, including in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Washington.

Many of his concerts include guest artists such as poets, dancers, and other musicians. To find out more, visit his website at inalandscape.org.

Hunter Noack, founder of IN A LANDSCAPE: Classical Music in the Wild. (Lear Zhou/The Epoch Times)