Sigma Alpha Iota

Fall 2019 10 PAN PIPES D iane Sullivan was selected as the winner of the Women's Orchestra of Arizona's 2019 Composition Competition, and on April 14, 2019 her piece, Pas de Deux, was premiered and met with rave reviews. Diane, an initiate of the Gamma Mu Chapter at Arizona State University, is currently serving as Associate Concertmaster of the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster of the Arizona Repertory Orchestra, and Concertmaster of the Women's Orchestra of Arizona (WOA). e Women's Orchestra of Arizona's Composition Competition provides women composers the opportunity to have an original orchestral work performed by an all-female string orchestra. e goal of the competition is to support and encourage Arizonian women composers. e winner selected receives a premiere performance of her composition. e selection committee looks for creative imagination, stylistic originality, and a personal voice. Diane was happy to write a piece with WOA in mind. She wrote: "Having served as Concertmaster since the inception of this group in 2016, I know most of the musicians of the WOA personally, and have a good understanding for the type of music they enjoy. erefore, deciding on form and style for this particular composition was a relatively easy process. But attempting to write a piece in two movements, that would fit into a time frame of only six to eight minutes, presented me with quite a challenge. In the end it only made sense that a piece in binary form, written in two movements (Largo in E minor, Andante in G major), should be titled Pas de Deux (dance for two), and the second movement does, in fact, have a dance-like feel to it." Diane Sullivan joined the violin section of the Phoenix Symphony while completing a Bachelor of Music degree at Arizona State University. She has studied violin with renowned artists Sydney Harth, Eugene Lombardi, Esther Glaser, Raphael Bronstein, Eudice Shapiro, Joseph Silverstein, and has recently studied with Peter Winograd at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She also was coached by Mathias Tacke, David and Teresa Ehrlich, and Shmuel Ashkenazi at the Red Rocks Chamber Music Festival in January of this year. Diane appeared in performance as a Fellowship Member of the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood for the American premiere of Gunther Schuller's "DEAI", under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. She was also delighted to have the opportunity to meet and perform under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, at Tanglewood. Diane performed for violinist Itzhak Perlman at a Phoenix reception held in his honor. She also appeared as a soloist with the Flagstaff and North Valley Symphonies in Arizona, performing Beethoven's Romance in F to the delight of several audiences. In 2017, Diane was invited to perform the solo violin part of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the Women's Orchestra of Arizona, where she holds the position of concertmaster. Diane has played in the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts Orchestra under the direction of Izler Solomon, Dennis de Coteau and Irwin Hoffman. She has recorded and produced a CD of classical music with pianist Walter Cosand that includes some of her own compositions. To learn more about the Women's Orchestra of AZ, visit: womensorchestraarizona.com SAIS IN THE NEWS Gamma Mu initiate Diane Sullivan SAI Wins Composition Contest

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