Megan Karls commissions new work centered on complex history of Montana’s mission churches

This week on the Montana Free Press, catch my interview with violinist Megan Karls on her intensely beautiful project centered on four Catholic Mission churches in Montana. I had little knowledge of the early reach of these missionaries and their strategic targeting of Indigenous territory.

There’s a lot to unpack here, and I nearly got lost in the story. Nick Ehli pulled me off the edge a few times as I wrote, and it is an immense gift to have a talented editor at the helm of the Free Press local news Initiative.

“Working on this album, and driving out for the first live premiere performance, I knew this was the most meaningful work I have ever been part of as a violinist,” wrote Karls after the article published. “The Montana Free Press has done a beautiful job of sharing about Alisa Herodes’ family story, and the important history of the Métis people in Central Montana.”

I am grateful to the Free Press for offering a publishing platform for statewide journalists. Below are a few photos I took of the grounds of St. Peter’s Mission near Cascade. Catch the story at Montana Free Press.