Sigma Alpha Iota

Fall 2018 14 PAN PIPES cast of emerging young artists in the intimate setting of the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, Massachusetts. Alisa was joined onstage by a strong ensemble cast of fellow singer/actors. e intelligent and impassioned singing, idiomatic Italian, and innate comic tim- ing exhibited by the entire cast made for a delightfully satisfying operatic experience. In the title role of Figaro, baritone Robert Balonek made his entrance in Largo al factotum with verve and confidence. He engaged the audience and sang with authority and humor. Tenor, eo Lebow as Count Almaviva, sang his lyric role with a limpid, romantic tone. His florid singing was masterful and exciting. Making his role debut as Almaviva, one predicts a bright future for this engaging young tenor. As Dr. Bartolo, buffo baritone Jason Budd sputtered and stewed as the blustering fellow should and was delightfully at home in Rossini style. is summertime turn as Rosina was just one of the firsts in Alisa's busy year, coming, as it did, on the heels of her triumph as Cunegonde in Candide with Palm Beach Opera, and making her Paris Opera debut as 1 st Knapper in Parsifal. In the coming season, Alisa will make her role and company debut with San Diego Opera, singing Gilda in Rigoletto. Becom- ing a professional singer is no easy feat, even if you are meant to do it, so it is grat- ifying to see Alisa being engaged by re- gional opera houses, prestigious festivals, and leading orchestras, since building her reputation in young artist programs, and winning competitions and scholarships. Alisa, an initiate of Xi Chapter at Lawrence Conservatory, earned her BM, MM, and DMA from e University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). While at CCM, she was President of the Eta-Iota Chapter. She now affiliates with the Cincinnati Alumnae Chapter. Alisa is a recipient of both the SAI Doctoral Grant and the SAI Career Performance Grant. When asked to describe how SAI has contributed to her success, Alisa responded "Not only has SAI supported me with grants for my performing and academic endeavors, but it has also provided a network – a sister- hood – of remarkable and nurturing mu- sicians who strive to li each other up and make the world a better place through music." I met Alisa in 2006 at CCM. I had gone back to school to pick up where I had le off when my singing career (and life) had interrupted my completion of a degree. We formed a bond over Hilde- gard von Bingen in Music History with Dr. Edward Nowacki (SAI National Arts Associate). Later that year I directed her in the undergraduate opera workshop. I affiliated with our SAI Chapter, and was named Member Laureate. Despite the 30-year difference in our ages (or maybe because of it!), Alisa and I became and have remained fast friends and colleagues, as well as SAI Sisters. Between her MM and her DMA, Alisa traveled to and lived in Oslo, Nor- way on a Fulbright Foundation Grant, studying and researching Scandinavian song and diction. She was voice faculty for three years at University of Wisconsin/ Milwaukee. At this professional juncture, she is preparing to move to New York to focus on her singing career. She was recently named one of the "40 Under 40" opera singers to watch by classical music radio station WQXR. How satisfying it is to see a deserv- ing singer bloom in her artistry, grow as a musician, gain worthy opportunities to ply her cra, and have her efforts recog- nized – all the while remaining a kind and generous friend, colleague, and human being. is is Alisa's time. Soprano Blythe Wal- ker, an SAI Member Laureate, is on the Voice Faculty at Salve Regina University and the Community College of Rhode Island. An active member of RINATS, she has an independent studio of local students and teaches internationally via Skype. SAIS IN THE NEWS An Operatic Advenre Cincinnati Alumnae Chapter member Alisa Jordheim as Cundegone in Candide with the Palm Beach Opera. W hat a pleasure it was to hear SAI sister, Alisa Jordheim, in perfor- mance in July! Alisa made her role and company debut as Rosina with the Boston Midsummer Opera Company in an effervescent production of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. And what a debut it was! Alisa im- bued Rosina's roulades and quicksilver recitatives with elegance, charm, and the requisite Rosina sass. ere are certainly more Rosinas - and so many other oper- atic heroines - in Alisa's bright singing future. e breezy production of Rossini's perennial com- edy beautifully showcased an accomplished ensemble

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