Sigma Alpha Iota

6 Summer 2022 • sai-national.org 2022 Natial Cvention Dr. Joyce Finch Johnson, SAI Member Laureate, is this year's National Convention Honoree, and will speak at the Welcome Luncheon on Friday, July 29th. Initiated into the Zeta Phi Collegiate Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota in 1978, Dr. Johnson has continued her lifetime commitment to SAI by serving as the Zeta Phi chapter advisor and being an active member of the Atlanta Alumnae Chapter. In recognition of her international distinction in the music profession, she was initiated as an SAI Member Laureate in 2011. At our 2012 National Convention in Atlanta, Dr. Johnson was our featured artist, performing the Organ Concert at Atlanta First United Methodist Church. In 2014 Dr. Johnson was nominated by Sigma Alpha Iota and presented with the Professional Fraternity Association Career Achievement Award. Dr. Johnson has enjoyed a long and successful academic career in addition to her performing career. An Associate of the American Guild of Organists, she is Professor Emerita of Music at Spelman College where she continues to serve as College Organist, having held the position since the retirement of the late Kemper Harreld in 1955. Hired in 1953 at Spelman College, Dr. Johnson has served in many capacities in the Department of Music. She has taught a variety of courses including piano, organ, music theory, keyboard literature, and African American music. Additional service to her institution includes serving as Chair of the Department of Music from 1989-1994 and 1995- 2001. She is also an adjunct piano teacher of piano at Morehouse College. A seasoned performer, Dr. Johnson plays piano and organ recitals, conducts master classes and workshops, plays with chamber music groups, and accompanies distinguished artists. In piano concerti of Liszt, Mozart, Beethoven, Franck, Rubinstein and John La Montaine, she has been a featured piano soloist with various symphony orchestras under conductors Robert Shaw, Louis Lane, Christian Badea, and others. She has concertized in Bermuda, Haiti, the West Indies, and Brazil, where she had a residency in Pernambuco and gave piano concerts in Sao Paulo as part of an international music festival (the Primeira Semana de Musica das Americas). In the summer of 1996 she performed in the Festival de Musique Baroque in Souvigny, France and in Lyon as part of a summer institute on French organ music. In the summer of 2005, she was a recitalist, workshop leader, and hymn festival organist at the AGO Region VIII Convention in Billings, MT. An organist for a number of national conventions and/or nationally televised church services, she served on the United Church of Christ (UCC) Hymnal Committee resulting in the 1995 publication of e New Century Hymnal. Her professional involvements include participation in the American Guild of Organists, the College Music Society, the Music Teachers National Association, and numerous board appointments and review panels. Dr. Johnson received a Bachelor's degree from Fisk University and Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Northwestern University. She received additional music study at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music. OUR CONVENTION HONOREE Member Laureate Dr. Joyce Johnson Member Laureate Dr. Joyce Johnson

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