Concert celebrates women in music

Playing 25 ancient and modern instruments, Lauren Pelon will trace the story of women in music from the 1st to the 21st century at a concert at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus on March 28.

Ms Pelon will be visiting the university as part of the Women in Music Program, a feature of the Bachelor of Contemporary Music.

The concert, titled ‘Women in Music: Someone Will Remember Us’, celebrates
music written by, or for, women.

Ms Pelon lives in Minneapolis, United States, where she has established a museum with her collection of musical instruments from around the world. She sings and plays approximately 25 ancient and modern instruments - some of which were traditionally played by women, some forbidden to women.

The instruments include the lute, lyre, hurdy-gurdy, recorders, gemshorn, pennywhistles, ocarina, Kiowa courting flute, eagle bone flute, cornamuse, krummhorn, schreierpfeife, shawm, rackett, concertina, electric wind instrument and MIDI-pedalboard.

Ms Pelon studied the history of music and instrumentation in America and has performed in St Petersburg, Russia at the Russian Institute for the History of the Arts; the Conservatory of Music in Almaty, Kazakhstan; and in concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and China.

‘Women in Music: Someone Will Remember Us’ melds Ms Pelon’s original
compositions with her arrangements of music from ancient Greece, medieval
Europe, and contemporary Africa, America and Estonia.

Ms Leigh Carriage, lecturer in vocal studies in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, said the Women in Music Program was designed to provide access to female role models for the students.

“This will be a wonderful opportunity to listen to an extraordinary range of instruments and get some insight into the fascinating role women have played in music,” Ms Carriage said.

The performance is on Wednesday, March 28, at 4pm, in D129, at the Lismore campus.

Photo: Musician Lauren Pelon will trace the story of women in music from the 1st to the 21st century at a concert at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus on March 28.