Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES Fall 2019 11 C heng Jin Koh is the winner of the 2019 Margaret Blackburn Biennial Composition Competition. Born in Singapore, she graduated from the School of the Arts Singapore in 2014 with the International Baccalaureate Diploma where she studied composition with Dr. Kelly Tang. She is now an undergraduate student at the Julliard School studying with Dr. Robert Beaser. In addition to composition she also performs playing the Yang Qin (Chinese dulcimer) and the violin. Her works have been performed in Singapore, the United States, and Australia. She has written works for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (37 th anniversary concert), the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the T'ang Quartet, and other organizations. She was the winner of the Boston 2018 New Music Initiative 4 th Annual Young Composer Competition and the 2019 Gena Raps Chamber Music Competition from Julliard. She has attended summer composition programs at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, the Yale-Norfolk New Music Workshop where her work was commissioned, and the Bowdoin Festival of Music. She is also the recipient of 2018-2019 Julliard's Gluck Community Fellowship, providing for performances in New York, and the recipient of the Julliard-National Sawdust Blueprint Fellowship as a 2019-2020 Composer-in- Residence. Her winning composition is Kuda Kepang, a work for Flute/Piccolo, Bb Clarinet/Bb Bass Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano with 2 muted Tom-toms, and percussion. The award is $1,000. The judge for the competition was Nancy Galbraith, composer, and Vira I. Heinz, Professor of Music and Chair of Composition at the School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. The Competition is a project of the Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter of SAI in honor and memory of Margaret Blackburn, member and composer of the SAI Chorale. It is open to female composers enrolled in an accredited university or college undergraduate or graduate degree program. — J. Barbara McKelway, Chair, Margaret Blackburn Committee, Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter MUSIC NOTES S AI Patroness Member, Janet Barton Speer, Ph.D., founder and artistic director of the Lees-McRae Summer eatre in Banner Elk, NC, was awarded the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine in July 2019. e honor is among the highest civilian awards in the state, given to the likes of poet Maya Angelou, historian John Hope Franklin, actor Andy Griffith, and Coretta Scott King. In his recommendation letter, Lees-McRae College President Lee King noted Speer's long career in theatre in the High Country of North Carolina. In her 55 years in professional and educational theatre, Speer directed more than 500 productions – writing and choreographing many of them as well. From 1978-2013 she was the Division Chair for Lees-McRae Performing Arts. In 1985 she founded the Lees-McRae Summer eatre, which produces three major musicals each summer with professional and local actors. Shows like Newsies, In the Heights, and Ragtime are visited by thousands of patrons each summer. One play during the season includes local children, addressing a need for youngsters who do not have theatre and music programs in their schools "Janet Speer's impact, not only on Lees- McRae, but the entire High Country of North Carolina cannot be underestimated," wrote college president Lee King in his letter recommending her for the award. "In fact, it would be hard to put a true value on her significant contributions to the cultural environment, tourism, education, and economic development of Avery County and its surrounding neighbors." Of particular interest with the Long Leaf Pine award were two recent musicals showcasing local history that Speer wrote and directed. In July 2019 she directed From the Mountaintop: e Edgar Tus Story as part of the Lees-McRae Summer eatre. First sent to Banner Elk in 1895 as a student preacher, Tus ended up founding Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk Presbyterian Church, the Grandfather Home for Children orphanage, the first local hospital, and scores of smaller churches around the region. is was the second full-length musical about local history written by Speer. In 2015 she directed and authored the musical Denim King: e Moses Cone Story about the Greensboro industrialist who introduced denim to America. For both musicals, Speer collaborated with father-and-son duo John omas Oaks and Tommy Oaks, composers and lyricists. "By including these regional stories, Janet helps bring to life the stories and traditions of the High Country," King wrote. Speer is famous for the large network of children and young people she has influenced through theatre. Grown children, once in her large regional Blue Ridge Community eatre musicals, have gone onto be music and theatre teachers, professional actors, and arts managers. e casts of her summer plays are also sprinkled with children who grow up acting in her productions. Speer is also active in Banner Elk Presbyterian Church, where she is an elder, teaches Sunday School, heads an arts ministry team, and leads two ministries that address those in trauma or living with mental illness. She teaches daily community exercise classes on campus, as well as a community exercise class in Elk Park, NC twice a week. She was named the 2015 Woman of the Year by the Avery Chamber of Commerce (the second time she received the honor), and she has also received the Governor's Volunteer Award and the North Carolina eatre Conference Service Award, among many others. Speer earned her B.A. and M.A. in music, drama and dance from Texas State University, and her Ph.D. at Louisiana State University. Patroness Recognized by North Carolina 2019 Margaret Blackburn Biennial Composition Competition Winner Patroness Janet Barton Cheng Jin Koh

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