Sigma Alpha Iota

Spring 2020 12 PAN PIPES NATIONAL ARTS ASSOCIATE a man or woman who is nationally recognized for distinguished contribution to the arts M A R K L I N C O L N B R A U N Mark Lincoln Braun was initiated as a National Arts Associate by the Pontchartrain Alumnae Chapter in February. Also known as "Mr. B", Braun has become one of the premiere purveyors of a vanishing art. Having learned his cra first-hand from the early masters, he is a rare living link to the first generation of blues and boogie pianists. Steeped in the rich legacy of this tremendously exciting music, Braun learned directly from blues and boogie legends like Little Brother Montgomery, Boogie Woogie Red, and Blind John Davis. In demand for both educational programs and concert performances, he has performed coast to coast and throughout Europe, Canada, Mexico, and South America. In 2002 and 2016, he was a guest artist at the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. He is also the organizer of the annual Mr. B's Blues and Boogie Piano Celebration that attracts major figures in the blues and jazz piano world to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for collaborative performances. Mr. Braun was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. He gravitated to Ann Arbor in the 70s where the Blind Pig was an important venue for boogie and blues piano. While absorbing the tradition and developing his own approach, he was also listening to a variety of jazz pianists, especially those with strong blues roots, such as Ray Bryant and Horace Silver. is broad range of interests enables him to feel equally at home playing boogie-woogie classics with authentic fervor, and expanding the tradition into lively new settings, including jazz orchestra. With legendary jazz and blues musicians, Mark's critically acclaimed recordings include, 9-Pianists - Our Town, Our Time, Partners in Time, My Sunday Best, and Hallelujah Train. Today there are not many devoted to playing boogie-woogie and blues piano. Fortunately, Mr. B's passion for showcasing and extending the tradition makes him a major exponent of an essential form of American music. As noted by Jazz News International, "the future of blues piano is in good hands with Mr. B." D R . D O N A L D S I M O N S O N Dr. Donald Simonson was initiated as a National Arts Associate by the Sigma Lambda Chapter at Iowa State University in February. Dr. Simonson is Morrill Professor of Music and eatre at Iowa State University where he chairs the Department of Music & eatre and teaches voice, voice pedagogy, vocal literature, and conducts musical theatre. His principal teachers include Marion Hall, Otto Edelmann, Norman Gulbrandsen, and Berton Coffin. He regularly performed leading roles and appeared as a soloist with opera companies, symphony orchestras, and chamber ensembles throughout Europe, America, Australia, and the Far East, including concert performances with ensembles such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Wiener Philharmoniker Solisten, the Austrian National Radio Symphony, and the Clemencic Consort. His performances have been featured on Austrian, German, and Italian national radio and television broadcasts and on NPR. His students may be heard in roles with opera companies both here and abroad, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric, Houston Grand, Los Angeles, Barcelona, and Leipzig to name a few. His students may also be heard on Broadway, and in national touring productions of musical theatre. Numerous former students hold faculty positions in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. In 2006 Simonson was named a Master Teacher for the NATS Summer Intern Program at the University of Missouri- Kansas City Conservatory. From 2010-2012 Simonson served a two-year term as President of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). An active member of NATS for over 35 years, Simonson served the organization in a variety of capacities. He served two terms as the Iowa District Governor, and two terms as Governor of the Central Region and member of the National Board of Directors. More recently, Simonson was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Teachers of Singing, a select group of not more than 40 voice teachers from around the country, centered in the New York area. Alexandra Enyart Alexandra Enyart was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the LaGrange Alumnae Chapter in February. Alexandra Enyart is a rising orchestra and opera conductor praised for her musical finesse and technical grace. She is the Music Director of ompson Street Opera Company in Chicago and has served as a guest conductor for Chicago Fringe Opera, ird Eye eatre Ensemble, Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium, and Another Voice Collaborative. Enyart made her international debut in 2016 in Tomsk Russia with the Tomsk Philharmonic Orchestra while finishing her Master's in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Louisville. In 2017 she won the CODA conducting competition, and in 2018 she won the CCM Mozart Overture Competition. As a transgender conductor, Enyart strives to create a more equitable and diverse musical world. As such she has successfully chartered "Faulty Systems", an annual program in which activists and artists come together to share stories of underrepresented communities or ideas through music, speech, poetry, dance and DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS FRIEND OF THE ARTS a man or woman who is supportive of and actively involved in the arts at a local or regional level Enyart

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