LAUREN PELON, recipient of the 2001 "Artist of the Year" Award from Southeastern Minnesota
Arts Council (SEMAC), studied the history of music and instrumentation both in America and overseas. She has performed on
television specials, with Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," at the Russian Institute for the History of the Arts
(St. Petersburg, Russia), and in concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, England,
Kazakhstan, and China. Performing on over 25 ancient and modern instruments, and vocals, Pelon's compositions and arrangements
have been featured in her solo concerts, with the Philadelphia String Quartet, and with symphony orchestras.
The Living Roots of Music CONCERT REVIEWS
REVIEW
FROM CHINA
It's wonderful music that...transcends time and culture...and includes entertainment, education,
inspiration, and philosophical meaning. I think Lauren Pelon's work is very important for the future of music and culture
in many countries.
-- Guan Jianhua, China Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China
REVIEW
FROM KAZAKHSTAN
Your wonderful music brings gladness and inspiration.
-- Tamara Alibekieva,
Director, Alma-Ata Conservatory of Music, Kazakhstan
REVIEW FROM AUSTRALIA
Lauren
Pelon has devised a unique evening of entertainment by combining a wide variety of music from many centuries... Her versatility
with more than 25 instruments including voice is admirable...experience made all the more pleasant by Pelon's relaxed and
warm presentation of the rare and unusual.
-- Ditta Zizi, The Canberra Times, Canberra, Australian Capital
Territory, Australia
REVIEW FROM CANADA
She is such a gifted performer,
across such a wide range of musical instruments and vocal styles, and she draws on such an exceptionally rich array of traditions,
that it is hard to do full justice to the achievement of her program. I can think of no other presentation, in any field,
that so convincingly demonstrates the connections between diverse cultural heritages, and at the same time celebrates the
distinctive features of each...she achieves something...remarkable, a bringing together of musical and cultural expression
from Asian, African, European and Aboriginal traditions...
-- J. Edward Chamberlin, University of Toronto, Canada
REVIEW FROM UNITED STATES
From Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion to the steppes of
Russia and the hills of Kazakhstan, Lauren Pelon has entertained audiences with her story of music and instruments throughout
history. Her virtuosity on so many instruments and her rich voice remind us of the power of music to transcend time and culture.
-- Jill Timmons, Director, Lively Arts Series, Oregon, United States
MORE
CONCERT REVIEWS:
We were all transported to another plane.
Many thanks to you, Lauren, for revealing the power of music. I was spellbound with your versatility and accomplishment.
--Barry Chevannes, Professor of Social Anthropology & Former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of
the West Indies, Jamaica.
We enjoyed meeting you and learning about
your music. It is so inspirational.
--Neil Sterritt, Member of Fireweed Clan of Kispiox & Former President of Gitksan-We’suwet’en
Tribal Council, British Columbia, Canada
What an extraordinary gift
you offered us at the Symposium. I’m still hearing people talk about your concert and how much they enjoyed it. A
friend commented to us the other day that you struck her as someone who is truly fulfilling your life’s purpose. She
was deeply touched by that kind of clarity. We couldn’t agree more.
--Carolyn Servid, Co-director,
The Island Institute, Sitka, Alaska
Women in Music: Someone Will Remember Us CONCERT
REVIEWS
Lauren Pelon has combined her abilities in music and in teaching to
reach out to audiences of all ages. Her concert, Women in Music: Someone Will Remember Us, at Grand Valley State University
was a delight and enjoyed by all the students and community members that participated. It is readily apparent that Lauren's
commitment to music goes well beyond the traditional professional. I highly recommend her programs!
--JoAnn Wassenaar, Assistant
Director, Women’s Center, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan
The
program was terrific. Weaving together music from traditions as diverse as those of ancient Greece, American Plains Indian
cultures, central Europe, medieval France, and the contemporary United States, Pelon created a haunting tapestry of sound,
punctuated by informative commentary. Instruments ranged from the archlute, developed in the Renaissance, to the shawm, an
Arab wind instrument imported to Europe in the Middle Ages, to the modern electronic pedalboard, to Pelon’s supple and
beauitful voice, to name only a few of the sources of sound in the performance. Pelon’s ability to play multiple instruments
during a single number, and to incorporate winds, strings, keyboard and percussion, made for an impressively rich and full
performance. The audience...was clearly very much engaged by the experience. Pelon is an extremely engaging performer...
--Claudia Nelson, Program Director, Women’s Studies Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
What a wonderful evening you shared with us on Tuesday! The music and your voice were
evocative of ancient times and cultures (as well as more modern) and I was truly moved by your performance. Your historical
references and instrument explanations were full of life. I particularly appreciated the Triangle Shirtwaist song - I am
very connected to Yiddish culture and the social justice and labor struggles of those times. Thanks for a truly inspiring,
magical, and beautiful night.
--Arlene J. Frank, Womencenter Program Coordinator, Oakland Community College, Farmington
Hills, Michigan
What an intellectual, musical, and cultural
treat... Ms. Pelon’s knowledge of music and women’s history, her singing talent and ability to play such a diverse
range of musical instruments, and her sensitivity towards such an extensive range of cultural and ethnic traditions are a
rare combination to find in one person. Her program was relevant, educational, inspirational, and above all, enjoyable and
compelling. ...Her presentation is visually as well as aurally rich, with a remarkable, almost museum quality setting on
the stage, around which she moves effortlessly from one instrument to another. That movement provides the visual cue to accompany
her changes in musical style, another reflection of the artistic and performative traditions that she not only appreciates
but demonstrates to the audience.
--Kimberlyn Montford, Assistant Professor of Music History, Trinity University, San
Antonio, Texas
SCHOOL PERFORMANCE REVIEWS
Floyd Strandberg was smitten during a school assembly Tuesday. Strandberg, principal of
Lakeshore Public Academy in Hart, fell in love with Lauren Pelon’s music. She plays very well. She stole my heart
on the one she wrote (about the sinking of the sidewheel steamer “Alpena”) It was beautiful. I bought her CD
and I very seldom do that,” Strandberg said. He’d booked Pelon for her “Living Roots of Music” program,
in which she sings and plays 25 instruments while telling the history of music. ...During performances, Pelon delves into
her collection to help tell her musical stories. On Tuesday, one of the instruments she played was the gemshorn, an instrument
made from the horn of a chamois, goat or cow. Her’s is a cow horn. Strandberg was skeptical when he saw her reach
for it. “I went ‘no way, that’s not going to make a decent sound,” he said. “But it sounds
like maybe a tenor sax and flute and recorder mixed. It was a really pretty sound.”
--Peg McNichol, Staff
Writer, The Holland Sentinel, Michigan, October 13, 2005
Lauren Pelon brought her
special mix of music, culture and history to Zeeland's Creekside Middle School last week to the delight of students and teachers
alike. ...In front of her were spread about 25 instruments, some familiar but most unlike anything the students had seen
before. One-by-one Pelon picked up the instruments and took the students on a journey through musical history. Melding new
age technology with old world craftsmanship, the Holland native intrigued and entertained the seventh- and eight-grade students
by playing instruments such as a concertina, or squeezebox, made in about 1850, a hurdy gurdy used by troubadours in France
and Italy in the 12th century and eagle bone flute used by native North Americans to call the spirits. ...Pelon mixes her
collection of instruments with a synthesizer, an electronic wind instrument and other modern technologies to give a depth
and vibrancy to her shows. She has even sampled her own voice and sings harmonies on some of her own songs. "I thought it
was a real refreshing change. The whole variety of the different things to see and hear...," said Creekside music teacher
Jeff Costello.
--Gary Brower, Special to the Zeeland Sentinel, Michigan, October 16, 2005
Holding the attention of students on a rainy, end-of-the-year school day can be challenging
at best, but it appeared to be so easy at the recent PTO sponsored assembly, "The Living Roots of Music." Musicologist Lauren
Pelon, had Country Meadows students and staff in the palm of her hand as she took us on a musical journey through history.
Using a variety of instruments, as well as her voice, Ms. Pelon demonstrated the sound and historic place of more than 20
ancient and modern wind, string, and free-reed instruments. We traveled with her from ancient Greece, through medieval and
renaissance times to the present. Thank you PTO, for bringing Ms. Pelon to Country Meadows!
--Brad Harford, Principal,
Country Meadows Elementary School, Wisconsin
The students AND staff have
all been sharing their impressions with me each day and ALL enjoyed your presentation so very much! Many of the children remark
on your wonderful singing voice and, of course, the many unusual sounds that you shared with us. Thank you so much for enriching
our lives here in McFarland.
--DeAnn Larson, Music Specialist, Waubesa Intermediate School, Wisconsin
STUDENT REVIEW OF PROGRAM
We really enjoyed having
you come and share your wonderful voice and your exciting music. We were really interested in the many instruments you shared
with our school. We were impressed with your knowledge in the different languages like Greek, Japanese, and African. Some
of our favorite instruments are the goat horn, the many sizes and pitched recorders, the ankle shakers, and the 17th century
archlute. ...We all learned a great amount about the different types of music. Our school thought your performance was awesome!
--Jessica Whalen & Cheyenne Gordon, N. Freedom Elementary School Students, Wisconsin
