DECOMMISSIONED - Solo Violin in Cold War Relics
Donation protected
While performing artists have struggled, finding ourselves suddenly out of commission due to COVID-19's effects on orchestras, venues and live music, I saw an opportunity to bring together my community and my musical passions in a new, unconventional way.
Life in Northern Montana is remote. Vast miles of forbidding prairie separate small, isolated towns. It is a beautiful and inspiring landscape to live in for an artist.
The location also suited the US military well during the Cold War era. Strategic northern location, dry climate and low population density all led to the creation of a number of Air Force installations along the Montana-Canada border. Our home, Great Falls, MT, is surrounded by nuclear missile silos still in operation today, and the region is dotted with abandoned installations for hundreds of miles.
These socially distanced times gave me the perfect opportunity to travel and record in these historic structures. Extreme temperatures, varied acoustics, and the fierce prairie wind, all made this project a special challenge - adversity training for the artist in quarantine.
We will all be grateful when orchestral and live music can safely resume. Until then, thank you for supporting this online, video album to hear some great music, and to learn more about these relics of the Cold War Era.
Consider one of these support levels:
-any amount: private links to bi-weekly videos in various locations
-$20 full video album access
-$35 video album plus information and directions to these remote locations
-$40 video album, information and directions, and a mailed Instax print taken on location
-$275 a private house concert of the album at your home (Montana only - please have space for social distancing requirements) plus the full video album, information and directions
-$500+ a private house concert in US locations outside Montana, plus full video album, information and directions
Your support for this project goes directly to travel and equipment expenses, and makes it possible for this music to be shared in a new way.
Life in Northern Montana is remote. Vast miles of forbidding prairie separate small, isolated towns. It is a beautiful and inspiring landscape to live in for an artist.
The location also suited the US military well during the Cold War era. Strategic northern location, dry climate and low population density all led to the creation of a number of Air Force installations along the Montana-Canada border. Our home, Great Falls, MT, is surrounded by nuclear missile silos still in operation today, and the region is dotted with abandoned installations for hundreds of miles.
These socially distanced times gave me the perfect opportunity to travel and record in these historic structures. Extreme temperatures, varied acoustics, and the fierce prairie wind, all made this project a special challenge - adversity training for the artist in quarantine.
We will all be grateful when orchestral and live music can safely resume. Until then, thank you for supporting this online, video album to hear some great music, and to learn more about these relics of the Cold War Era.
Consider one of these support levels:
-any amount: private links to bi-weekly videos in various locations
-$20 full video album access
-$35 video album plus information and directions to these remote locations
-$40 video album, information and directions, and a mailed Instax print taken on location
-$275 a private house concert of the album at your home (Montana only - please have space for social distancing requirements) plus the full video album, information and directions
-$500+ a private house concert in US locations outside Montana, plus full video album, information and directions
Your support for this project goes directly to travel and equipment expenses, and makes it possible for this music to be shared in a new way.
Organizer
Megan Karls
Organizer
Great Falls, MT