Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Spring 2026 11 Wen In Music that celebrates women leaders in classical music and connected fields. This series features winners of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, a global platform for identifying and empowering extraordinary women conductors. This fellowship provides intensive coaching, mentorship, and financial support throughout the conductors' careers, conductors who now hold over thirty music director or chief conductor positions around the world. Its members include such composers as Laura Jackson and Mei-Ann Chen. FUTURE Laura Jackson, a 2004 Taki Fellow, SAI National Arts Associate, and Music Director and Conductor of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009, conducted CSO's "Tchaikovsky Spectacular" that ends with the "1812 Overture." Mei-Ann Chen, a 2007 Taki Fellow, has been Music Director of the Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, which was recipient of the 2016 MacArthur Award and called "the hippest orchestra" by the Chicago Tribune. Both maestras promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in their programming and promote local student education programs, as well as commissioning new musical works. These works include those from composer Michelle Isaac, former Waukegan elementary student. Issac's orchestral commission, Moshe's Dream, was previewed at Chicago Sinfonietta's 2021 Ball, received its public premiere in May 2022, and was performed at the Chicago Auditorium Theater in 2025. It is inspired by a dream her ninety-nine-year-old grandfather had about her starting a klezmer band and includes many Jewish folk idioms. Karen Griffin is also commissioned often and was a participant in the District's Young Composers Contest from elementary through high school. Highlights of Laura Jackson's 2025–26 season with the Reno Philharmonic will be a newly commissioned work by Isaac, written to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Pressing Truths, for orchestra and soprano, honors the only woman whose name is printed on the Declaration of Independence—Mary Katharine Goddard, who was the printer of the document. "So near, so dear is SAI! Nearer and dearer as days go by" is a sentiment that continues to ring true for past, present, and future SAI friendships. Our commitment to the love of music and the connections we make ensure the future of music, at Ravinia and beyond. Wendy Wiegers is a graduate of Millikin University and has been active in both the Decatur and Evanston Alumnae Chapters. She is a retired choral general music teacher, directs the Lake Forest St. James Lutheran's Children Choir, is a Graduate Thesis Advisor for VanderCook College of Music, and is a member and on the Board of the Chicago Musicians Club of Women. Evanston Alumnae Chapter Evanston Alumnae Chapter members with Honorary members with Honorary Member Marin Alsop: Member Marin Alsop: Tammy Hsu-Hartenstine, Tammy Hsu-Hartenstine, Lynd Corley, Nancy Lynd Corley, Nancy Thorner, Wendy Wiegers, Thorner, Wendy Wiegers, Alsop, Patsy Bell, Jackie Alsop, Patsy Bell, Jackie Tilles, and Cathy Horan Tilles, and Cathy Horan (seated). (seated).

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