Conservation and composition unite in event hosted by Montana State and Bozeman Symphony

BOZEMAN - From the brass fanfare of buffalo to a howling viola mimicking gray wolves, "Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals" provides a window into key species in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem - and their vulnerability - through music.

The world premiere of the piece, created by New York-based composer Stephanie Ann Boyd, will be held Oct. 11-12 in the Willson Auditorium at 404 W. Main St.

The event will follow a panel including Montana State University experts, who will discuss the composition and conservation on Oct. 9. The panel is free and open to the public and will take place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Museum of the Rockies' Hager Auditorium. It is collaboratively hosted by MSU's Institute on Ecosystems, which produces and shares environmental research, and the Bozeman Symphony.

"I want people to love science and music and see that we're not so separate. We can all work together to make change," said IoE Director Sarah Church, who is also a violinist in the symphony. "I'm thrilled that my worlds get to collide."

Moderated by Norman Huynh, the symphony's music director, the panel will feature Boyd and three experts with insights into the vital roles of buffalo, honeybees and gray wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The panelists include Michelle Flenniken, co-director of MSU's Pollinator Health Center and professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology; Mike Phillips, executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund; and Jill Falcon Ramaker, director of MSU's Buffalo Nations Food Systems Initiative and assistant professor of Indigenous food systems and land practices in the College of Education, Health and Human Development.

Flenniken has studied honeybees at MSU for 13 years, and her lab examines a variety of topics, including the effectiveness of compounds that stimulate honeybee immune response to reduce viral infections, with the long-term goal of mitigating virus-associated colony deaths.

With the help of beekeepers who are managing honeybee populations, the species is not extinct, Flenniken said, and there are about 2.7 million colonies in the U.S. However, about 1.6 million honeybee colonies died across the nation between June 2024 and March 2025, creating an economic impact of more than $600 million in lost honey production, replacement costs for colonies and more, according to Project Apis m. Colony losses impact Montana as well: The state is one of the top five producers of honey in the nation, and its commercial beekeepers often transport their hives to other states to pollinate their crops, Flenniken said.

"Scientists at MSU address global challenges, and we address the challenge of honeybee pollinators dying at a higher average animal loss than is sustainable over the long term," Flenniken said. "The more people know, I feel like the more that they can support this research and other research that is important for their lives."

Later in the week, the Bozeman Symphony will perform Boyd's piece, along with Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11 and 2:30 p.m. Oct.12. Tickets start at $33 for adults and $27 for students of all ages. The availability of student RUSH tickets, which can be purchased for $10 at the door, will be announced two days before the performances on the symphony's concert page.

"I can't tell you how lovely and serendipitous it feels to have this piece meet the air for the first time in a place on Earth that already cares so much about the land its community is stewarding and the well-being of the animals on that land," Boyd said.

Boyd's "Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals" responds to French composer Camille Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals," highlighting 13 species that face heavy population loss or extinction from human and natural causes. Each movement mimics a different creature with its instrumentation. The blue whale section, for example, follows the exact tempo of the mammal's heartbeat when it swims to the ocean's surface, where it is most likely to encounter humans.

Before each movement, local poet Jonathan Rudd will read a poem by Jessica Lynn Suchon, written to accompany "Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals."

Huynh said music has the power to amplify messages like conservation and spark change within communities. When audience members experience a piece collectively at the Bozeman Symphony, sitting in the dark and watching 70 musicians play live, it can elicit different emotions compared to other mediums.

"When we feel something, not only as individuals, but as a collective, sometimes that is enough of an impetus for us to either shift our perspective on things or discover another perspective that we didn't think about in the first place," Huynh said. "It breaks down the barriers of what we previously thought of something and causes us to be more empathetic to an issue."