Classical pianist performs under the stars in dark sky concert series no matter the weather

Colorado town named "Dark Sky Community"

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A nine-foot Steinway grand piano isn’t probably what most think of when it comes to a weather-hardy musical instrument, but Hunter Noack’s piano plays in negative 2 and in 100-degree temperatures, at the top of mountains and under a dark, stormy sky. 

"Every time the piano fires right up and delivers," Noack said.

Noack, an Oregon native and classical pianist, has played hundreds of concerts throughout his "In A Landscape" series at beautiful state and local parks, lumberyards, timberlands and private estates across the West, but his upcoming shows will be performed without light pollution, and the featured landscape will be the night sky.

Hunter Noack at Summer Lake, Oregon. 

(Stelth Ulvang / FOX Weather)

"In a Landscape Dark Sky" concerts are happening in September in Sunriver, Oregon, an International Dark Sky Place, and Summer Lake Hot Springs, an area in the Oregon Outback part of the largest International Dark Sky Sanctuary in the world.

When they arrive, each guest is given a pair of custom headphones that enable them to move about, in some locations, allowing them to take a small hike while Noack plays. 

Hunter Noack performs at the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington.

(In A Landscape/Hunter Noack / FOX Weather)

"You can kind of be in your own world. And even if there's like, somebody moving next to you, the music has this feeling of functioning more like a soundtrack," he said.

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For his concerts in the daylight, he even encourages attendees to wander depending on the piece he is playing.  Noack invites each guest to make it their own experience however they choose, something that would be hard to come by at an indoor concert hall. 

"I'll talk a little bit between each piece. There are certain pieces where I'll say, ‘This is a great one to get up and wander around,'" he said. "One that's like about water, if we're by water, I'll tell people to go stick their feet in the water. There are other pieces where I invite people onto the stage so they can listen to the music from right underneath the piano and put their hands on it."

Rain or shine, day or night

Noack's concerts are heavily influenced by the beauty of the landscape and the weather. If it begins to rain, a special canopy is brought out and the show goes on. If anything, the rain inspires the music Noack plays.

Hunter Noack plays at the Golden Gardens Park in Washington.

(Arthur Hitchcock / FOX Weather)

Of about 340 concerts, Noack said they’ve only postponed about 10 shows due to severe weather or wildfire smoke. 

For the Dark Sky concerts, guests will be asked to bring a redlight headlamp. Noack will also be in the dark. His keyboard will be lit using redlight to minimize the light pollution.

The production team partnered with astronomers who will offer some skygazing guidance and set up telescopes. 

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While the landscapes in the daylight are breathtaking, Noack hopes that looking up gives the concert attendees a deeper perspective. 

Hunter Noack performs at the Black Butte Ranch in Oregon.

(Arthur Hitchcock / FOX Weather)

"When we're in a forest around trees that are 100 or 200 or 300 years old gives you a certain kind of perspective on time, when you're in a river canyon and you can see the thousands of years or hundreds of thousands of year or the millions of years that it's taken for this river, this water to carve a canyon, that gives you like a little bit more zoomed out perspective," Noack said. "Then when are under the stars, it's like this even more zoomed-out perspective of our place and space and time … There are millions of people that don't see the night sky because of light pollution."

Ultimately, Noack said he hopes to continue to bring music into the wild because it has the potential to bring people to new places they might not normally explore either on Earth or in the cosmos.