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Aaberg Project Commemorates 1917 Speculator Mine Fire In Butte

Philip Aaberg kicks off the 2016 St. Timothy's Summer Music Festival, June 26.
Josh Burnham
Philip Aaberg kicks off the 2016 St. Timothy's Summer Music Festival, June 26.

Celebrated Montana musician Philip Aaberg talks about his new project "Heart of the Great Divide," a commemorative musical piece about the 1917 Speculator Mine fire in Butte, MT. Aaber also opens the 2016 St. Timothy's Summer Music Festival on June 26, and gives a preview of that show.

"One hundred sixty three to, 168 miners were killed," Aaberg says. "It was the biggest mine disaster in the United States. And that era was a particularly poignant watershed era in American history.

"We're doing the piece in 2017, the 100th anniversary of it, so we're doing a preview of it in Butte at the Mountain View concert hall."

Listen to the full interview above to hear more from Philip Aaberg.

Michael Marsolek is the program director of Montana Public Radio. He also hosts Tuesday Freeforms and Thursday Morning Classics.
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