Sigma Alpha Iota

Philanthropies Awar 2 0 2 3 S I G M A A L P H A I O T A Fall 2023 46 By Chastine Hofmeister E ach year, SAI Philanthropies, Inc. offers its alumnae and affiliated patronesses the opportunity to apply for Professional Development Grants. ese grants are intended to support music-related professional development and continuing education opportunities for its members, and I was honored to receive one of these awards this year. I was able to use the funding from my grant to travel to the International Clarinet Association's annual conference, ClarinetFest, held in Denver, CO. is was a special event for me because we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the International Clarinet Association and I had been invited to perform a solo recital at the conference. My recital was held on Saturday, July 8th at 1:15 in the aernoon at the Windsor Ballroom in the Westin Westminster hotel. is recital was a project dear to my heart because it promoted two new pieces for bass clarinet by female composers. e first work on the program was a brand-new work for unaccompanied bass clarinet by Elise Winkler entitled e Serpent. is piece was written in 2020 and was a wonderful, technically challenging work. Elise is a talented young composer who is currently studying at e Julliard School, and I look forward to seeing more of her wonderful work in the future! Aerwards, my accompanist Ekaterina Tangarova joined me in performing Amy Beach's ree Compositions, Op. 40. While this work was originally composed in 1898 for violin and piano, this version was newly arranged by David Cook in 2022 for bass clarinet and piano. I knew I had to add it to my repertoire aer hearing it. I was thrilled that the recital was well attended, and the room was filled to capacity. Several Sigma Alpha Iota sisters were in attendance, including Anne Asbury Kleve, Sarah Todenho Demy, and Taylor Stirm. I know that I can always count on my sisters to show up and support important projects. It was wonderful to get the chance to visit with everyone and it made the occasion even more special to be surrounded by my sisters. Attending ClarinetFest also afforded me the opportunity to attend numerous recitals, master classes, and presentations. Watching the clarinet professor from e University of Southern California, Yehuda Gilad, coach four students in his master class was inspirational. is was a beautiful masterclass with so much wisdom to be gleaned from it. One of the most important things that I noticed in this class was ClarinetFest 2023 Supporting Professional Development Through Sisterhood Hofmeister performing a bass clarinet solo recital at ClarinetFest in Denver, CO Hofmeister performing a bass clarinet solo recital at ClarinetFest in Denver, CO

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