Dixie Forum Presents Lauren Pelon "The Living Roots of Music" for Special Thursday Event

Dixie State College's weekly "Dixie Forum: A Window on the World" convocation series is switching from its regular format to present a special Thursday evening concert engagement on Feb. 4, featuring a special program by the Lauren Pelon Musique Company in the Eccles Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. The special Forum concert will begin at 7:30 pm, and admission is free for all community members, DSC students, and faculty and staff.

Ms. Pelon's visit to Dixie State is made possible by funding from the Utah Humanities Council. The Utah Humanities Council promotes understanding of diverse traditions, values and ideas through informed public discussion.

Under the title "The Living Roots of Music," Pelon traces the story of music and instruments throughout history with performances on a multitude of instruments, including archlute, guitar, lute-guitar, lyre, recorders, and MIDI-pedalboard, among others. Her program features music from ancient Greece, medieval and renaissance Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.

"I am fascinated by the interesting ways people of other cultures and different times have found to make music," says Pelon. "I especially enjoy doing these programs because they differ from ordinary concert performances. They offer not only an opportunity to listen to music, but also a way to think about how music has affected the lives of people all over the world -- from ancient times to our own modern day."

Pelon, recipient of the 2001 "Artist of the Year" Award from Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC), has studied the history of music and instrumentation both in America and overseas. She has performed in concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and China. Recent tours took her to Australia, to perform at Australian National University, Canberra, ACT; to the Russian Institute for the History of the Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia; and to the Conservatory of Music in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Pelon has also performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras, on television specials and with Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion."

The Dixie Forum will continue each Tuesday at 12 noon through the rest of the spring semester. Upcoming guest speakers include DSC faculty member Marius van der Merwe, who will discuss his activities in the Antarctic with his presentation “Sub-Antarctic Marion Island: A Natural History and My Experiences There” on Feb. 9. The following week on Feb. 16, DSC faculty member Dr. Shirley Davis and her husband, Elwin, will share their experiences on sabbatical in China with “A Year of Teaching in China, or Waiguorens’ Glimpses of the Middle Kingdom.”

For further information on DSC’s Dixie Forum series, please contact Terre Burton at 435-652-7812 or at Burton@dixie.edu.

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The remainder of the 2010 Spring Dixie Forum schedule will be as follows. All forums will be Tuesdays at noon in the Dunford Auditorium, unless otherwise specified:
 
Feb. 9            Marius van der Merwe – “Sub-Antarctic Marion Island: A Natural History and My Experiences There”
Feb. 16          Dr. Shirley Davis and Elwin Davis – “A Year of Teaching in China, or Waiguorens’ Glimpses of the Middle Kingdom”
Feb. 23          Former Ms. Utah Jill Stevens – “Miss Utah’s Experiences in Afghanistan”
March 2         Dr. Andy Christensen – “Water on the Moon: NASA Science and Politics”
March 9         No Forum – Spring Break
March 16       Former NFL Quarterback Jay Schroeder – “Experiences in NFL and Preparing for Life”
March 23       Louise Excell and David Pettit – “Grand Staircase Controversy”
March 30       Calvin & Ann Durfey – “Humanitarian Missions & How Different Denominations Work Together”
April 6           DSC Undergraduate Research Projects
April 13         TBA
April 20         DSC’s Ragin’ Red Show Choir, directed by Merilee Webb
April 27         Mark Matheson – “Shakespeare”