International Voices with Udo Fluck

Join Udo and his guest, Christian Moya, a Peruvian music and culture educator for the last podcast of this year. Moya has lived for many years in New York City, surrounded by a large Latino population. When he moved to Missoula with his wife, he was not sure he would find the same sense of community. But he was pleasantly surprised that, while Missoula's Latino community is fairly small, it is thriving. To Moya, building community, listening to music, dancing, speaking Spanish, while playing percussion instruments, is not only important, but it also creates community. Learn more about Peru, and how important it is to celebrate culture, traditions and customs, especially when one is outside of one’s country of origin.

In 2023, the International Voices podcast reached a new record in its listenership around the world, with audiences listening in over 30 countries. I started the International Voices podcast series in February of 2020 and over 40 episodes were recorded so far, featuring many international and multicultural voices from within the United States, as well as individuals, who have studied, worked, researched, or lived in locations around the globe, giving them an international perspective as well.

For the November podcast episode of International Voices, Udo is joined by Major General (ret.) Donald Loranger, who was appointed in 2012 to the National Security Education Board by President Obama. The board oversees the National Security Education Program, which increases the United States’ capacity to deal effectively with foreign cultures and languages. Major General Loranger served in the United States Air Force from 1966 until 1996 as an operational pilot and specialist in US national security policy. He started his career graduating from the University of Montana as an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet. 

Mr. Loranger has extensive international leadership experience, serving as the Commander of the Joint Task Force in Southwest Asia, Commander of the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing at Rhein Main Air Base in Germany, and operational Commander of the Peacekeeping Forces Operation Provide Promise, the aerial resupply of Sarajevo and Eastern Bosnia, the longest running humanitarian airlift in history. In addition, Mr. Loranger has served as a Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and has been a member of that group for over 30-years. Furthermore, for the past 15 years, Mr. Loranger has been the Director of the Defense Critical Language and Culture Program (DCLCP) at the University of Montana. Join both gentlemen for their conversation about the importance of cultural immersion experiences, what it means to be “language and culture smart”, why that skill is more crucial today, than ever before, the affiliation of the DCLCP with UM, what makes the DCLCP one of the most unique language and culture programs in the country and why and how all of this is critical for U.S. foreign relations.

Udo talks to Julia Tai, the Music Director of the Missoula Symphony Orchestra & Chorale. Maestro Tai is also the Music Director of Philharmonia Northwest, and the Co-Artistic Director of the Seattle Modern Orchestra. Her career has led to acclaimed performances and rehearsals with the American Youth Symphony, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Czech Republic), Boise Philharmonic, Brandenburger Symphoniker (Germany), Estonian National Youth Symphony (Estonia), to name but a few. 

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Julia Tai began her violin studies at age four and piano at eight. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where she was awarded “Outstanding Graduate.” She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Washington. She has studied conducting with some of the finest conductors in the world, including Peter Erös and Jorge Mester, and has participated in masterclasses with Marin Alsop, JoAnn Falletta, Neeme Järvi, Daniel Lewis, Gustav Meier, Otto-Werner Müller, Jorma Panula, and Larry Rachleff. She is recognized as a prominent innovator of the contemporary music world and has established a reputation for her creative programming, community engagement, and innovative education programs. While Julia Tai is becoming one of today’s most dynamic and engaging conductors on the international stage, she is also the first female conductor in the history of the Missoula Symphony. Words cannot describe Maestro Tai, one needs to see her conducting live, on stage, feeling the music!

With the start of every fall, students are returning to the University of Montana, in Missoula. Among them are international students from around the world, either returning to campus, or as new students starting their undergraduate or graduate studies at UM. Join Udo as he is talking to Andrei Dinu, a graduate student from Romania, Lina Spaes an undergraduate student from France and the 2023-2024 President of the International Student Association (ISA) at UM, Shinichi Taniwaki, an undergraduate student from Japan and Ikuko Valgenti “Koko”, the International Student Advisor at the Global Engagement Office at UM about what attracted them to Missoula, what they love about campus and the community, how they adjusted to a different culture and language, what they are hoping to accomplish, academically and professionally, and what advice they have for others, who might be interested in coming to UM. Learn about their excitement, and how their international voice contributes to the diversity in our community.

In August 2022 beloved Missoula major John Engen passed away at the age of 57. This August episode is dedicated to Mayor Engen, who was known for his wit, his kindness, thoughtfulness and his vision for the future of a progressive Missoula.

This podcast is a re-broadcast of the original podcast from March 2020, in which Udo and John talked about the importance of cultural programming in the Garden City. Engen, the 50th mayor elected in Missoula and the longest-serving mayor, led a tenure of growth, a push for equality, municipal independence, greater housing opportunities and efforts to reform local government.

During their visit in June, Udo invited five members of the delegation from Missoula’s sister city Palmerston North (Palmy), New Zealand, to The Trail studio, to talk about how sister cities do not only benefit their city governments, but bring many advantages to the academic, economic, and tourism sectors as well.
The Palmy delegation visit to Missoula commemorates the 40th anniversary celebration. Mayor Grant Smith, Mr. Jerry Shearman, Chief Executive Officer of the Central Economic Development Agency, Mr. Roly Fitzgerald, Māori Ward Councilor and Rangitāne representative, Mrs. Gabrielle Logo, the International Relations Manager, and Ms. Kate Harridge, International Relations and Education Advisor for the Palmerston North City Council. Hear from each one of the delegation members, about their interactions during their stay in the Garden City, how they benefited from their experience and what they are taking back to their community, half-way around the globe. 

This podcast also set a record for the most studio guests in one podcast recording! 

Udo talks with Dr. Callaway, an internationally renowned plant and community ecologist, who was one of three Montanans on a prestigious short-list of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”. Callaway has focused his international research of the past three decades on the interactions within plant communities and ecosystems. Research from his UM laboratory indicates that when humans introduce some plant species to new regions they force together species with different evolutionary trajectories from different continents, disrupting communities but also providing opportunities to test long held ecological paradigms. The conversation provides insight into how plants have moved across the globe, resulting in direct and indirect interactions between plants and with other organisms, including resource competition, and interactions with invasive species, as well as soil microbe, herbivore and competitor-mediated interactions. Callaway shares how other countries deal with invasive plant species and why it is important for a community to have an ecological knowledge base and talks about how his laboratory at UM developed ideas that have been a game changer in plant ecology and ending with some mysteries that remain in the field of global ecology.

After exactly a year, Mike Smith and Udo Fluck are doing it again for the May podcast! Turning the Tables and Switching the Microphones. Mike is talking to Udo in this special episode, about the GROW - Global Respect of Others in the World Outreach Program in K-12 schools. GROW has expanded consistently, over the years, and nearly doubled its seminar delivery in four local school districts in the 2022-2023 academic year, teaching 580 seminars in the 3rd, 7th and 11th grade curriculum. GROW’s unique pedagogical approach, age-appropriateness, and engaging content, creates a fun learning atmosphere, and, to our knowledge, makes it the only educational K-12 outreach program, of its kind, in the United States. GROW offers very unique learning opportunities that can transform students to not only be “global-ready” but to be “future-ready”. This is part two of a two-part series.

Learn more about Global Arts Missoula at artsmissoula.org

This is the third and final episode in a three-part series, on organizations, services and products that have aided Missoula in becoming a more diverse community. In this episode, Udo is joined in the studio by Latisha Buck Elk Thunder and Dacia Griego, Co-Founders of Indigenous Made Missoula (IMM). They visit with Udo about turning their dream into reality in 2022, when they founded IMM, in response to a lack of resources and economic opportunities for Indigenous artists in Missoula. Indigenous art is an untapped viable industry and that this deficit creates a barrier to economic success for Indigenous community members as well as a lack of representation at community events and in public spaces. The IMM is changing that! Today, IMM is a central point of communication for artists and those seeking art and talent produced by Indigenous people. Latisha, Dacia and their team support their community directly through the Indigenous Art & Talent Network, hosting First Peoples’ Markets, promotion, and providing a communication center with entrepreneurial resources and professional development.

This is the second episode in a three-part series, on organizations, services and products that have aided Missoula in becoming a more diverse community. Listen to Udo talking to several leaders in our community that have done exactly that. In this second episode of 2023, his guest is Susan Hay Patrick, Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Missoula County. Susan talks to Udo about the 90-year history of the United Way, which is the nation’s largest privately supported nonprofit organization, its mission, how it has changed and adjusted over time, the importance of fostering diversity in our community and our society as a whole, the Missoula Nonprofit Center, the United Way Day of Action, and what she is most proud of at United Way.

We hope you join us again for the April episode, featuring Latisha Buck Elk Thunder and Dacia Griego, co-founders of Indigenous Made Missoula.