Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES Summer 2019 15 MUSIC NOTES 1983 Ellen T. Zwilich (Beta Alpha initiate) for Three Movements for Orchestra 1991 Shulamit Ran (SAI Composers Bureau member) for Symphony 1999 Melinda Wagner for Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion 2010 Jennifer Higdon (SAI Honorary Member) for Violin Concerto 2013 Caroline Shaw for Partita for 8 Voices 2015 Julia Wolfe for Anthracite Fields 2017 Du Yun for Angel's Bone 2019 Ellen Reid for p r i s m WOMEN WHO HAVE WON THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR MUSIC A retha Franklin, who died in August at age 76, received a posthumous special citation from the Pulitzer Prize committee, citing her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades. Special citations have been awarded 45 times since the Pulitzers began in 1918, with Franklin's award coming as the 15th presented to a musician. Previous honorees included Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Hank Williams, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Bob Dylan. PAN PIPES Summer 2019 15 Matthew Daniel Page Photo C olumbia University announced the winners of the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes in April. Receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Music was the opera "p r i s m" by composer Ellen Reid, presented by LA Opera Off Grand and Beth Morrison Projects earlier this season. e opera premiered in Los Angeles on November 29, 2018 at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/ CalArts eater), with a libretto by Roxie Perkins. is haunting new opera explores an issue that fills today's headlines: sexual assault and violence against women. Creative Producer Beth Morrison described the opera as "a psychological drama between a mother and daughter that deals with the aermath of trauma. e complex female characters drawn by Roxie Perkins and the vivid, sensory musical world by Ellen Reid paint a timely portrait of the desperate lengths one is capable of going to in order to survive." e work tells the story of a young girl, Bibi, and her mother, Lumee, who live locked away in a colorless Sanctuary where they devote all their time to trying to heal Bibi's legs from a mysterious sickness that has le her immobile. It explores the theme of repressed memories aer trauma, and the lengths people go to to protect someone they love from the truth, no matter the price. Ellen Reid is a composer and sound artist whose work "brims with canny invention" (LA Weekly). She received her BFA from Columbia University and her MA from California Institute of the Arts. Her work is largely collaborative and takes the form of opera, chamber music, electronic pop songs, scores for film and theater, and immersive interactive media. Upcoming and recent projects include a 45-minute commission for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, an orchestral work for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, two commissions from the LA Philharmonic in one season, music for the feature film Buster's Mal Heart starring Rami Malek, and a sound installation for HBO. Notably, she is the only composer to have received commissions from all four of the major musical organizations in Los Angeles: LA Opera, the LA Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, and LA Chamber Orchestra. Ellen was listed as one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2016 for her work with Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship program for young self- identified female, non- binary, and gender non-conforming composers that she co-founded with composer Missy Mazzoli. Ellen splits her time between her two favorite cities — Los Angeles and New York. p r i s m wins Pulitzer Ellen Reid received the 2019 Pulitzer for Music.

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