Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

ASU Programming: From Mars to Morganton

Compiled by Kathleen McFadden

Whether your interest is outer space, the history of North Carolina, bilingual drama or music, music, music, programming at Appalachian has all those bases covered. Talk about eclectic!

Harvard Scientist Discusses Search for Life on Mars March 26

Andrew H. Knoll of Harvard University will present Meridiani, Opportunity and the Search for Life on Mars on Monday, March 26, at 8:00 p.m. in I.G. Greer Auditorium at ASU. Admission to the lecture is free and the public is welcome.

Knoll’s talk will include information on the rover mission to Mars and review current knowledge about the potential for life on Mars. Meridiani Planum was the 2004 landing site for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover named Opportunity.

Knoll’s studies of fossil evidence of primitive life forms led to his membership on the science team for NASA’s MER mission to Mars. He has studied the early evolution of life and changing environments during most of the Precambrian period (542 million to 3.8 billion years ago). His research includes the study of early multicellular animals (600 millions year old) from which the basic principles of paleoecology were developed for this time interval. He has reported on a group of exceptionally preserved 1.5 billion-year-old fossilized cells that provide the oldest evidence for life above the grade of bacteria.

Knoll is the 2007 guest of the Morgan Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences. The privately funded lecture series has brought renowned speakers from different fields of science to Appalachian since 1990.

For more info about the Morgan Lecture Series and Knoll’s visit, call the Department of Geology at 828-262-6609.

Piano and Trombone Recital March 27

The Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music at ASU will present guest artist Dr. Robert C. Smith and Appalachian faculty member Dr. Harold McKinney in a recital Tuesday, March 27, at 8:00 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Admission is free and the public is invited.

The program will include works by Sulek, Liszt and Brahms, as well as several arrangements of traditional spiritual songs and a theatre piece titled “Presidential Thoughts 2000-2007” featuring Department of Theatre and Dance faculty member Marianne Adams and Hayes School of Music students Chris Horgan and Jenna Williams.

Smith is professor of piano and chair of the piano department at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. A frequent performer of solo and ensemble literature, Smith’s performances have taken him across the United States, and to Germany and England.

McKinney, professor of music at Appalachian, teaches trombone, low brass and philosophy of music, and co-leads summer institutes in expressive arts. He is a member of the Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective and frequently performs as a soloist, chamber ensemble member and big band trombonist.

A former member of the Tactical Air Command Band and the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, McKinney spent the summer of 2003 as a visiting professor at The European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland. He will be an academic fellow there this summer.

Percussion Groups Play Music from Around the World March 28

The Steely Pan Steel Band, African Ensemble and Tabla Fusion Group will be featured in concert on Wednesday, March 28, during the Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music’s World Music Series at ASU. The performance begins at 8:00 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Admission is free.

The Tabla Fusion Group, directed by Rob Falvo, will perform “Lotus Feet” by John McLaughlin and “Aznabi” by Andy Page.

The African Ensemble, directed by Shawn Roberts, will perform works from Zimbabwe, Northern Ghana and Cuba.

The Steely Pan Steel Pan Band, directed by Scott Meister, will perform “Pan Earthquake" by Aldwyn Roberts and arranged by Jit Samaroo, the aria “Recitar” arranged by Jeff Jones from Tuggiero Leoncavallo’s opera “Pagliacci,” and “Pan in A Minor” by Aldwyn Roberts.

Bilingual Staged reading of The Physicists March 29 and 30

ASU’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and Department of Theatre and Dance will produce a bilingual staged reading of Die Physiker/The Physicists on Thursday and Friday, March 29 and 30, in I.G. Greer Studio Theatre at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $4 and can be purchased at the door or by calling the Valborg Theatre Box office at 262-3063.

Playwright John Crutchfield has translated Swiss playwright Fredrich Dürrenmatt’s comedy The Physicists into a bilingual German/English adaptation. The eccentric patients in a mental hospital seem to be relatively harmless until someone is murdered. Are they really mad, or are they playing a murderous game with the whole world at stake? Watch as a beleaguered inspector attempts to unravel the mystery while dealing with the likes of patients who believe they are Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

Appalachian faculty members Paulette Marty and Beverly Moser direct the madcap piece. The challenge of staging a reading of a play with theatre and German students is formidable, and the two have assembled a cast of 12 students playing multiple roles. The German-speaking students include Lisa Michelle Brower, Kevin Gamble, Emily Robe, Jill Cannizzo, Nathan Thomas, Alec Ullrich and Jesse Shane. Theatre students in the cast are Rachel Wright, James Houston, Crystal Frid, Holly Shuffler, Whit Emerson, Alysa Wooden and Nicholas Jimenez. Senior theatre performance major Hilary Edwards is stage manager.

Belk Library Hosts Encyclopedia of North Carolina Book Signing April 2

North Carolina scholar William S. Powell will sign copies of Encyclopedia of North Carolina on Monday, April 2, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Room 421 of Carol Grotnes Belk Library and Information Commons.

A Statesville native, Powell has lived in North Carolina his entire life. He is a former curator of the North Carolina Collection in UNC Chapel Hill’s library. In 1973, he became professor of history at UNC, teaching more than 6,000 students before he retired in 1986.

The 1,360-page encyclopedia, now in its second printing, has been dubbed the “people’s encyclopedia,” recognizing the number of contributors to the project. It is edited by Powell, the long-acknowledged “dean” of North Carolina history, and published by the University of North Carolina Press.

The publication has more than 2,000 entries written by 550 contributors, all of whom volunteered to contribute without compensation.

Entries cover almost every aspect of the state, including its discovery, exploration, and settlement; the national and ethnic origins of its people; politics and government; military history; the judiciary; religion; education; recreation and sports; business and industry; fine and folk art; customs and manners; agriculture; language and literature; transportation; geology; the natural environment; and legends and folklore.

The publication represents more than 15 years of Powell’s research and his longstanding desire to produce a broad reference work that will be useful to all North Carolinians and others exploring the rich history of the state.

It is the final installment of a series of three works edited by Powell that includes The North Carolina Gazetteer (1968) and the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (six volumes, 1979-96), all published by UNC Press.

For more information about the book, click to www.encyclopediaofnorthcarolina.org.

Appalachian’s University Bookstore will have copies of the book for purchase, or you can bring your own copy to be signed. The Encyclopedia of North Carolina costs $65. Refreshments will be served throughout the event.

Belk Library and Information Commons is sponsoring the event. Free parking will be available in the parking deck adjacent to the library to community members attending the event. Access to the deck is off College Street. Call Mike Murphy, director of development for the library, at 828-262-4973 for more information about the book signing.

Appalachian’s Jazz Faculty Performs Original Compositions April 3

Boone audiences are familiar with the musical talents of Todd Wright, Andy Page and Ron Brendle. On Tuesday, April 3, audiences will be introduced to the musicians’ talents as composers as they perform their original compositions at 8:00 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall at ASU. The performance is free.

Wright plays saxophone, Page plays guitar and Brendle plays bass. All teach jazz in Appalachian’s Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music. Drummer Rick Dilling, saxophonist Scott Kallestad and trombonist Harold McKinney, who also teach in the music school, will join them.

The program features Wright’s “Wisteria,” “San Rafael” and “Traneing Wheel.”

Page’s compositions on the program are “Swingmaster General,” “Tranquility” and “Sungrazer.” Brendle’s works on the program are “Passing By,” “Hypermobility” and “When I Was There.”

More Music!

All these performances, except for the SAI fundraiser on Sunday, are free. For more info, call 828-262-3020.

Thursday, March 22—Piano Trio, Jacob Dakon leads the trio, Recital Hall, 6:00 p.m.
Friday, March 23—Collegium Musicum, Rosen Concert Hall, 8:00 p.m.|
Saturday, March 24—Student Saxophone Recital, Leslie Turner and Evan Raines perform, Recital Hall, 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 24—Student Flute/Trombone Recital, Sarah Bost and Chris Cloud perform, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 25—Student Oboe Recital, Lauren Whisnant performs, Rosen Concert Hall, 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 25—SAI Fraternity Scholarship Fundraiser, Recital Hall, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 28—Student Tuba Recital, Keegan Watson performs, Recital Hall, 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 29—Student Cello Recital, Franklin Keel performs, Recital Hall, 6:00 p.m.