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Zero To Travel Podcast

Classical Music in the Wild: 10 Years Connecting People and Nature Through Music and Travel with Hunter Noack

Zero To Travel Podcast

Jason Moore

Entrepreneurship, Places & Travel, Business, Society & Culture

4.5828 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when you take a grand piano into the wild and let nature lead the performance?  Hunter Noack is a classically trained pianist and the founder of IN A LANDSCAPE, a one-of-a-kind outdoor concert series that brings a 9-foot Steinway grand piano into the great outdoors. Instead of setting up traditional speakers at every show, audience members are given wireless headphones, allowing them to wander freely through the landscape while listening.  Since its launch, the project has reached over 75,000 people through more than 300 concerts in some of the country’s most awe-inspiring settings. By combining music, nature, and community, Hunter is redefining what a classical concert can be - and who it’s for.  Hunter shares the origin story of IN A LANDSCAPE, how it’s evolved over a decade, and how art can shape the way we connect with nature, place, and each other.  If you’ve ever dreamed of merging your creative passions with travel or building something that feels meaningful, this episode will hit home. You’ll learn about the challenges (and magic) of taking a concert piano off the grid and how he balances artistic integrity with logistics, grants, and the realities of funding a big idea. You'll also hear how nature shapes his music, his relationships with local communities, and his broader view of what it means to be human today.  There’s insight here for anyone creating something unconventional, trying to reconnect with nature, or simply curious about how a piano ends up in the middle of the desert.  If you were to reimagine something in your life, whether that’s travel, work, or relationships, what would it be? What would that look like? I'd love to hear more about it, and I hope you’ll share by sending me an audio message.  Premium Passport:  Get ad-free episodes, exclusive content, and access to all episodes for only $3/month. Subscribe now!  Tune In To Learn:  Why he left the traditional concert hall behind to perform in deserts, forests, and county parks  How a single grant launched an idea and insight on using grants to fund creative, unconventional work  How nature influences the way he plays, from wind gusts to bug cameos  What it takes to haul a 1,200-pound Steinway up a mountain (and why it’s worth it)  The story behind one surreal concert on tribal land that left everyone speechless  What performing across the American West has revealed about the country’s beauty, complexity, and common ground  Why artistic projects need real critique (not just applause) to evolve  Hunter’s favorite overlooked spots in the American West you should visit  And so much more  Resources:  Join Zero To Travel Premium Passport  Sign up for our FREE newsletter  Learn more about IN A LANDSCAPE  Watch Hunter’s TEDx  Follow Hunter on Instagram  Want More?  Following Inspiration Towards A Life Of Travel with Mark and Steffi (The World’s Only Chapman Stick Duo)  Passion Mashin´: Combining Travel With Your Other Interests, Embracing Limitations, Lessons From 13 Years of Travel With Adrian “Ady” Parzentny  How to Travel Using Artist Residencies (Even if You’re Not an “Artist”) + a Creative Approach to Life With Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz  Thanks To Our Sponsors  Visit Baltimore - Start planning your visit to Charm City today!  Harvest Hosts - Use code TRAVEL20 for 20% off your Harvest Hosts membership.  No Fixed Address - Listen to No Fixed Address, a travel podcast that’s your backstage pass to the world's hidden gems.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

How does it sound to wake up on an authentic blueberry farm in Oregon?

0:04.1

You can pair your coffee with a delicious piece of toast smothered and homemade blueberry jam,

0:09.5

or how about staying overnight at a donkey sanctuary in Arizona or a boutique brewery in America's heartland?

0:14.5

These are just a few examples of the unique places you can stay with Harvest hosts,

0:19.4

which is sponsoring this podcast.

0:21.4

If you own or even just rent an RV. Forget about sleeping at boring rest areas or overpriced locations for just

0:26.5

$79 a year. A Harvest Hosts membership will give you access to unlimited no-fee overnight stays

0:32.7

at over 9,400 locations across the U.S. and Canada, including local farms, wineries, breweries,

0:38.9

golf courses, even drive-in movie theaters, and loads more to see some of the amazing

0:43.8

overnight experiences waiting for you. Head to Harvesthosts.com and use the code Travel 20. That's

0:49.6

Travel the number 20 for 20% off a Harvesthost membership. Once again, that's Harvesthosts.com for 20%

0:56.6

off. Be sure to use that promo code Travel 20 so they know I sent you.

1:02.2

The music kind of automatically becomes a soundtrack to what we're experiencing in the wild.

1:09.6

If, you know, a storm, or say a big gust of wind comes in right as I'm like playing a swell

1:16.5

up the piano, I might stretch it out or, you know, I might change the way I'm playing it,

1:22.1

holding a note or going faster, slower, or louder, softer to kind of like react to what's happening in the landscape.

1:29.4

That is today's guest, Hunter Noak. He's a classical pianist, a naturalist, and the creator of this

1:34.8

unique traveling concert series called In a Landscape. It's celebrating its 10th year on the road,

1:40.2

and here's what makes it so unique. Hunter and his team bring classical music to the wild

1:45.7

by hauling a nine-foot Steinway Grand piano on a flatbed trailer into some of America's

1:53.0

most breathtaking natural settings, including everywhere from national parks to even small

1:58.0

community parks cherished by locals. And instead of setting up massive speakers and playing a typical concert,

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