CEDAR CITY — The Satellite Salon Concert Series is starting the year off with an exciting evening of xylophone and piano music. “Rags to Riches: Golden Age of Xylophone” will take place on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Thorley Recital Hall, featuring the return of the former director of percussion at Southern Utah University, Patrick Roulet, and his wife, Rachel Roulet.
The program will highlight ragtime, novelty and jazz music from the golden age of the xylophone. Songs will include “The Belle of the Cakewalk” written in 1897, “Maple Leaf Rag” and “Bethena” by Scott Joplin and the “Calliope Rag,” which was performed daily on the Island Queen Steamboat as it transported passengers to the Coney Island amusement park in Cincinnati in 1911.
“This program of music is going to be so much fun,” Lynn Vartan, director of percussion at Southern Utah University, said. “The nostalgia of the Roaring ‘20s and the sound of ragtime music is so contagious to the happy energy that it embodies! And it also brings to life the birth of jazz harmonies! It is a chance to hear this special music – a chance that won’t come around often if ever!”
Patrick Roulet is the percussion area coordinator at Western Washington University. He teaches percussion and world music and directs the WWU Percussion Ensemble. His previous teaching appointments have included full-time tenured positions at Towson University and Southern Utah University and eight seasons as the percussion instructor at the New England Music Camp in Maine.
“It is really exciting to have Patrick Roulet in town again,” Vartan said. “He was the percussion director before I came to SUU, and this program will be a rare treat to see him perform again in Utah.”
Rachel Roulet is also at Western Washington University. She is the head collaborative pianist. She accompanies and coaches students in lessons and recitals and performs with the concert choir. She previously held accompanying positions at Towson University, Southern Utah University and the New England Conservatory.
A native of Seattle, Rachel has been affiliated with many arts and educational institutions in the Northwest in a variety of musical and nonmusical roles. She has performed as the keyboardist with the “Bellingham Festival of Music” and was a member of the board of directors for the “Seattle Young Artists Music Festival.”
Don’t miss this wistful evening with music from the Roaring ‘20s. For more information about the concert, please visit the Southern Utah University Department of Music website.
About Southern Utah University College of Performing and Visual Arts
According to a press release from Southern Utah University, the College of Performing and Visual Arts is composed of nationally accredited departments of art and design, music, theatre arts and dance, as well as graduate programs in arts administration and music and a center for Shakespeare studies.
More than 60 full- and part-time faculty and staff are engaged in teaching and mentoring over 550 majors in the College of Performing and Visual Arts. Over 1,100 students enroll each year in over 195 arts classes on the SUU campus. The college presents over 100 performances, lectures, presentations and exhibitions each year. Affiliate organizations include the Southern Utah Museum of Art, Utah Shakespeare Festival and SUU’s Ballroom Dance Company. For more information, go to the College of Performing and Visual Arts website.
Event details
- What: The Satellite Salon Concert Series “Rags to Riches: Golden Age of Xylophone” with Patrick Roulet and Rachel Roulet
- When: Friday, Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m.
- Where: Thorley Recital Hall,
- Admission: Free to the public.
- For more information, go to the College of Performing and Visual Arts website.
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