Megan Karls performs as Co-Concertmaster of the Great Falls Symphony, Associate Concertmaster of the Billings Symphony, and violinist with the Cascade String Quartet.
Karls was one of seven artists across the state to receive the Artist Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council in 2021. She lives in Great Falls, where she works as a professional musician. Karls received the award in part because of her debut video album entitled "Decommissioned: Solo Violin in Cold War Relics," a project showcasing unaccompanied Bach and contemporary composers recorded in decommissioned military structures across northern Montana.
Karls' new album, currently in the works, will feature commissions by Montana composers Phil Aaberg, Grant Harville, Nick Davies, Charles Nichols, and herself, to be video recorded in Montana's first mission churches.
“It is an ambitious and personal project to use music to cultivate wider awareness and a space for dialogue surrounding these historical places and our present-day relationships to them,” described Karls.
An established performer across the state, Megan has also been guest Concertmaster for the Bozeman and Butte Symphonies, Intermountain Opera Company, and with the conductorless String Orchestra of the Rockies. She has previously held orchestral positions across the US, with the Boise, Wichita, Green Bay, Des Moines and Fox Valley Symphony orchestras, among others. She’s an alumna of Lawrence University and the University of Iowa, where she completed degrees with honors in Violin Performance and Political Science.
