Sigma Alpha Iota

4 Spring 2022 • sai-national.org S usan Fancher usan Fancher earned undergraduate degrees in both saxophone performance and mathematics, as well as her Doctor of Music, from Northwestern University, where she was a student of Dr. Frederick Hemke. She was awarded the Médaille d'Or (Gold Medal) from the conservatory in Bordeaux, France, where she studied with Monsieur Jean-Marie Londeix. She has performed in many of the world's leading venues including Sala São Paulo, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Vienna's Konzerthaus, Filharmonia Hall in Warsaw, and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and has appeared in concert in Albania, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, ailand, and throughout the US. Fancher teaches saxophone and coaches chamber music at Duke University, and is an artist clinician for the Vandoren/DANSR and Selmer companies. She is an internationally recognized classical saxophonist known for her expressive tone and poetic musical interpretations. She has inspired and premiered over 100 new compositions and continues to collaborate with composers both young and more established to create new, vibrant repertoire for the saxophone. Fancher performs in many settings: concerto soloist, performances for saxophone with electronics, recitals together with pianist Ināra Zandmane, soprano saxophonist with the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, performances of music for saxophone and chorus, member of the Women's Wind Ensemble, and as vocalist and soprano saxophonist with the band e Difficulties. She is the former soprano saxophonist of the Amherst, Vienna, and Rollin' Phones saxophone quartets. Learn more at: susanfancher.com 2022 Natial Cvention S axophonist Susan Fancher, an SAI initiate of Beta Chapter at Northwestern University, and pianist Suzanne Polak are excited to present three world premiere performances of new music by women composers on the July 30th SAI Philanthropies, Inc. Benefit Concert at the SAI National Convention in Greensboro, NC. Polak is also a composer and will be writing a new piece for the SAI Convention, as a world premier. e program will include Of the Earth, Sea, and Air (2022) for soprano saxophone and piano, a work by SAI Shar Joyner that was written for Fancher and Polak to premiere at the National Convention. e piece is inspired by Ancient Celtic Culture. e composer writes, "As we spend time experiencing the Earth, enjoying the sea, and feeling the air around us, the Celtic mythology had the interpretation that these elements in turn were witness to the human experiences that we have gone through for centuries. is portrayal of the elements as continuously linked and connected brings forth a beauty in the nature that we experience around us, that ancient civilizations experienced before us, and it begs the question of what we will leave behind for those aer us." Wing It (2020) for soprano saxophone and piano by Indiria Everett, to be premiered on the recital, is a clever three-movement work that was written while the composer was pursuing her undergraduate degree in music composition at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG). It's inspired by the process of creating under time pressure caused by procrastination. Mark Engebretson's Groove from Concerto (2012) for soprano saxophone will also be performed. Mark Engebretson is Professor of Music Composition and Electronic Music at UNCG and Susan Fancher's husband. ey are both members of the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet and e Difficulties. e program will include two more pieces. e first is Lessons of the Sky (1990) for soprano saxophone and piano by Rodney Rogers. e composer writes that, "By observing the sky — open, alive, seemingly infinite — we may gain knowledge." e piece is in three sections, the first and the last of which are very energetic, with a slow, lyrical section in the middle. e last song on the program will be Gabriel's Oboe by Ennio Morricone, with its gorgeous and famous melody written for the movie e Mission. The SAI Philanthropies, Inc. Benefit Concert S uzanne U. Polak uzanne U. Polak is a versatile musician with a passion for ensemble and collaborative works in both performance and composition. She is currently on adjunct faculty at Elon University and also working at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She has worked as a substitute keyboardist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO), as Acting Principal with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and Virginia Symphony Orchestra, as substitute with the North Carolina Symphony and the West Virginia Symphony, and also with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra on both keyboard and dulcimer. She has appeared with the PSO as a soloist on Carnival of the Animals, playing organ for a performance of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, and playing the theremin for their performance of David Del Tredici's Final Alice. As a composer, she has fulfilled numerous music commissions and was a recent participant at the 2021 Charlotte New Music Festival, where her work Fugue and Romance was premiered by the Beo String Quartet. She is currently residing in North Carolina, where she just completed her Doctoral Degree at the University of North Carolina- Greensboro.

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