On May 5th & 7th, Intermountain Opera concludes their 2022-23 season with a performance of Verdi’s opera, Rigoletto. We spoke with Intermountain Opera’s Artistic Director, Michael Sakir, about the opera and his work with Intermountain Opera.
You can find Olivia Weitz’s segment on Yellowstone Public Radio about Intermountain Opera’s Wheels of Harmony Tour:
Born in Bozeman soon after his parents moved here to take a position at the then Montana State College, Michael Reynolds, has stayed true to the family tradition. His father, Creech Reynolds was the co-founder of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and the InterMountain Opera. His mother, Patricia Reynolds, founded the orchestra program at Bozeman High School. Mike co-founded the internationally renowned and Grammy Award winning Muir Quartet at the age of 23!
He has taught cello at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts since 1983, as well as having served on the faculties of The New England Conservatory, Rutgers University, the University of Utah, and UC Santa Cruz. He received an honorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995.
On October 27, 2022, attorneys for two environmental organizations, WildEarth Guardians and Project Coyote, a project of Earth Island Institute, filed a lawsuit against The State of Montana, by and through the MT Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the MT Fish & Wildlife Commission. The suit was filed in MT First Judicial District Court in Lewis & Clark County.
The case named, WildEarth Guardians v. FWP, Cause No. DDV-25-2022 DK, alleges that the state’s wolf hunting and trapping policies violate the Montana Constitution, Montana Administrative Procedure Act, Public Trust Doctrine, and several federal laws meant to protect wildlife on federally-managed lands.
On November 10, 2022, a motion was filed asking The Court to prohibit the start of the state’s wolf-trapping season, as well as immediately halt the on-going wolf-hunting season, while the merits of the lawsuit are being considered. The conservation groups filed the time-sensitive motion with the wolf trapping and snaring season set to begin on November 28, 2022. The hunting season began in September. This motion asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order, followed by a preliminary injunction, to stop all recreational killing of wolves in the state pending resolution of the lawsuit.
On November 15, 2022, District Court Judge Christopher D. Abbott, granted a partial Temporary Restraining Order, with a hearing set for November 28, 2022. It’s set to expire November 29, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. The partial TRO requires MFWP to return to 2020 regulations with respect to wolf hunting and trapping quotas and “bag limits”, prohibits the use of snares, and limits quotas in former WMUs 110 (bordering Glacier NP), 313, and 316 (bordering Yellowstone NP).
In the 2021-2022 season, 273 wolves were killed by hunters and trappers—including 19 Yellowstone wolves—with nearly 70 percent of the wolves killed, after the trapping season began. As of November 15, 2022, hunters had already killed 56 wolves, while regulations permit hunters and trappers to kill an additional 395 wolves before the season ends in March 2023. The motion alleges that the conservation groups’ interests will be harmed beyond repair, if the court allows the hunting and trapping season to proceed while they fully litigate their case.
The motion—and the underlying lawsuit—claim that there are significant flaws in the population model used to estimate the total number of wolves in the state, and that since the quota of 456 wolves for this season relies upon a flawed population model, reaching the quota could have devastating consequences on the state’s wolf population. The motion states, “Montana does not have an accurate picture of how many wolves are living in Montana, and cannot sustainably and legally manage the species through another wolf hunt this winter.”
A listener asked us to investigate, and we share interviews with four people knowledgeable about the issues, Lizzy Pennock, an attorney with WildEarth Guardians;
Greg Lemon, Administrator of MFWP’s Communication and Education Division;
Pat Byorth, MT Fish & Wildlife Commissioner for Region 3, below
Michael Waasegijig Price, of The GREAT LAKES INDIAN FISH & WILDLIFE COMMISSION, which joined six tribes, who sued the state of Wisconsin in September of 2021 to prevent further wolf slaughter there.
Documents, articles and links pertinent to this episode of Ecotones:
A year ago we interviewed Kay Roseen, president of Future Forward for Haiti, about the 2021 Gallatin Valley Packathon for Haiti. Over 400 local volunteers gathered at Hope Lutheran Church and packed 8 tons of food into packets to be prepared and served to the school children of the small village of Bois Negresse near the southeastern border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. That provided over 75,000 meals – one meal every week day to those children for a full year.
This year, Future Forward for Haiti is again organizing a Gallatin Valley Packathon for Haiti at Hope Lutheran Church on October 15, and they are looking for 500 volunteers to pack 10 tons of food, which will yield 100,000 meals!
We spoke with Kay Roseen to find out more about the packathon, as well as the challenges in getting food and other assistance to the children of Haiti under increasingly difficult and dangerous circumstances. She tells us that Miraculously, Future Forward For Haiti and their partner, Feed the Hunger, with their local partners in Haiti, are succeeding – where larger, international organizations are less successful.
David Andes’ ancestry goes back farther than most of European descent here in the Gallatin Valley. David shared his family’s stories with us on September 13, 2022. And what stories they are…
John E. Reese Gallatin History Museum Photograph Archives. P5318N.
His Great-Great Grandfather, John Reese, moved his family from Wales, after having been converted to Mormonism by Brigham Young, himself. The Reese family narrowly escaped being executed in the new Salt Lake City… after refusing to give their young daughter over to be a 3rd or 4th wife for a Mormon bishop, trying to leave, being captured by the Dannites, Brigham Young’s quasi-military police force, returned to Salt Lake City and scheduled for execution, but they were rescued by the US Cavalry, & moved to Montana, where they eventually settled north of Bozeman, along what is now known as Reese Creek.
Tintype of John E. Reese and Mary Davis Reese View of Reese Creek taken from Cemetery Hill, looking East. (Gallatin History Museum Photograph Archives, Frank Norman, donor. P7608N)
There the family history continued: A run-away bride, a posse chasing the groom with intent to kill, and more.
Mary Jane Reece Wells and John Harvey Wells
Andes House in Andes, MT (c.1913). The sod kitchen is on the right behind the house. The room to the left was a bedroom added for David’s grandparents. 6 of the eventual 10 children are shown. The photo’s frame was made from wood from the barn his grandfather built in 1911, salvaged and chosen to feature a bullet (lodged in the lower left) likely shot by one of his uncles, who were known for often shooting guns around the house.
His grandson, young Reese, is the seventh generation to live here in Gallatin Valley. You can read more in his article, Stories My Mother Told Me, in the Gallatin History quarterly, Volume 43, No. 4, from 2020. You can also find his photo next to that of Alan Turing at the American Computer & Robotics Museum.
When we read Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s Managing Editor, Michael Wright’s article headlined, “New book examines major disasters of Montana’s past,” on the very first day of 2022, we just had to find out more.
The piece was about Butch Larcombe and his book, MONTANA DISASTERS: TRUE STORIES OF TREASURE STATE TRAGEDIES AND TRIUMPHS, published in December 2021 by Farcountry Press in Helena.
Butch Larcombe is a fourth-generation Montanan who grew up in Malta. He worked for more than thirty years as a reporter and editor for Montana newspapers and at Montana Magazine.
We spoke with him from his home near Bigfork on January 12, 2022.
The Methodist church in Three Forks sustained heavy damage from the 1925 Clarkston Valley earthquake. U.S. Geological Survey
Angella Ahn is the virtuoso violinist in the Ahn Trio, MSU Bozeman School of Music Faculty member, Artistic Director of Montana Chamber Music Society, Member of the Montana Arts Council and much more.
We spoke with her on October 21, 2021 about her life, her career, her many contributions to Bozeman and Montana culture – and for that matter the world’s. She has performed in all 50 states and at least 30 countries.
From appearing on the cover of Time magazine as a child in 1987, or performing at the White House in 2011, she graces us with her joie de vivre, love of music and embodiment of how to live in a state of gratitude and giving.
You can hear this very first edition of Ecotones with Sada Schumann and view her award winning History Day documentary, “Defining Korea: How Conflict and Compromise Shaped a Nation” here: http://kgvm.org/show/sada-schumann/
Kay Roseen is the guiding light behind Gallatin Valley Packathon for Haiti., which is a free, inter-generational, fun work event to relieve hunger for Haitian children. She explains how listeners can help pack 6 tons – yes, tons – of rice, beans, dehydrated vegetables and vitamins into 7,500 school lunches for children whose families cannot afford to feed them every day.
If you want to join other Gallatin Valley volunteers you can find out more, or register, at GallatinValleyPackathon.org and sign up. There are 2 hour time slots on Friday evening October 15 from 6 to 8, and then on Saturday, October 16 beginning at 9a.m., noon, 3 or 6pm at Hope Lutheran Church.
Carrie Krause is the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra’s Concert Master, as well as the Founder/Director of Baroque Music Montana.
She founded The Second String Orchestra in 2010 for amateur musicians.
She teaches young people in her studio of about 25 students.
We spoke with Carrie on September 30, 2021 about Baroque Music Montana’s historic performance at Gallatin High School’s Auditorium on October 9, 2021, which is the first public performance there. This event, “Amadeus: The Concert,” also features our wonderful high school chamber ensemble, Kamarata.
After an hiatus due to the Sars CoV2 pandemic in the Spring of 2021, next Saturday on September 25, 2021, the Bozeman Symphony resumes its concerts with a live performance in The Wilson Auditorium, featuring the world premiere of the piece they commissioned by composer in residence, Scott Lee, THE LAST BEST PLACE. In addition, internationally acclaimed Cellist Julian Schwarz, will be the soloist performing Samuel Barber’sConcerto for Cello and Orchestra.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 provides a profound and portentous finale for this first concert of the new season, and provides a perfect platform for new music director, Norman Huynh, to share his gifts as an interpreter of music ranging here from the 19th to 21st centuries.
We spoke with Norman Huynh, music director, and Emily Paris-Martin, Executive Director, of the Bozeman Symphony on September 14, 2021 about the current realities of the symphony, as well as their visions for its future.
Forthright Radio 