Nebraska Public Media will air a recording featuring the UNO Flute Studio during a segment entitled, “The Conductor House Call” on Monday, May 13 during the 11:00am hour.

In April 2021 (amidst the pandemic, socially distanced and wearing masks), the UNO flute studio recorded James Barnes’ epic tone poem, “Ghostdancers: Threnody for Wounded Knee,” an original composition scored for flute choir, conducted by UNO Professor of Flute, Dr. Christine Beard. “Ghostdancers” is based on the tragic story of the Piaute Medicine Man named Wovoka and his development of the “Ghost Dance,” which many Plains Indians adopted in the late 19th Century in a desperate effort to call their ancestors back from the dead to help them repel the massive immigration of white settlers to the Great Plains, whose rapid influx disrupted the Plains Indians food sources. The tragic history of the “Ghost Dance” culminated during the Wounded Knee Massacre, which has become infamous as the last hostile act between Native Americans and the United States Government.

The 2021 recording features Michaela Blaney, Catherine Boese, Sofia Cormack, Deanna Estrada, Lily Gimse, Sam Howdle, Lydia Kirkland, Paul Loja Prado, Dakota Valle, and Erica Wilkins; with Paige Michaud, tarka soloist and UNO’s Assistant Professor of Percussion, Dr. Hannah Weaver.

The UNO Flute Studio’s video of “Ghostdancers” can be found on YouTube, or tune in to NPM’s broadcast on Monday by visiting https://nebraskapublicmedia.org