Sigma Alpha Iota

CELEBRATING ARTISTS The 2011 Kennedy Center Honorees, from left, Barbara Cook, Sonny Rollins, Neil Diamond, Meryl Streep, and Yo-Yo Ma. Sonny Rollins (Saxophonist, composer; born September 7, 1930, in Harlem, NY)  A colossus by any standard and a powerful presence in jazz, Sonny Rollins is a master of improvisation in an art form that is drenched in spontaneity. Yet his roots are as deep as they are deeply American, and he both celebrates tradition and makes jazz history whenever he plays his sax. He has shared the stage with such geniuses as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie. He won his first performance Grammy for This Is What I Do (2000) and his second for 2004's Without a Song (The 9/11 Concert), in the Best Jazz Instrumental Solo category (for "Why Was I Born"). In addition, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 2004. Rollins was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class, in November 2009. The award is one of Austria's highest honors, given to leading international figures for distinguished achievements. The only other American artists who have received this recognition are Frank Sinatra and SAI Member Laureate Jessye Norman. In August 2010, Rollins was named the Edward MacDowell Medalist, the first jazz composer to be so honored. Named for the founder of the MacDowell Colony, which receives support from SAI Philanthropies, Inc., the medal has been awarded annually since 1960 to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to his or her field. On March 2, 2011, Rollins received the Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. Meryl Streep (Actress, born June 22, 1949, in Summit, NJ) Streep, who has sung in films ranging from Mama Mia! to Postcards from the Edge and A Prairie Home Companion, studied opera as a child under the tutelage of SAI Honorary Member Estelle Liebling. Versatility and genius often go hand in hand, but seldom as exuberantly as in Meryl Streep's body of work. The sheer breadth and joy of her artistry counts as one of the most exhilarating cultural spectacles of our time. Going into her fourth decade of acting, she holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor (17), including this year, and winning three (Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, and The Iron lady). She has made more than 45 movies, earning 26 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight (including this year), more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, five New York Film Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award, and an Australian Film Institute Award. Yo-Yo Ma (Cellist, born October 7, 1955, in Paris) A joyous presence in the American cultural landscape for more than three decades, Yo-Yo Ma stands as our country's cellist-in-chief as well as the music world's most enthusiastic teacher. His tone is luminous, his reach ambitious, his passion for music infectious. As an appointed United Nations Messenger of Peace, he has organized teaching and mentoring programs, inspiring students across the world to love and honor music. Yo-Yo Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout the world, his recital and chamber music activities, and his work with the Silk Road Project, for which he serves as Artistic Director. He is also widely recognized for his strong commitment to educational programs that bring the world into the classroom and the classroom into the world. While touring, he takes time whenever possible to conduct master classes as well as more informal programs for students – musicians and non-musicians alike. He has also reached young audiences through appearances on Arthur, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Sesame Street. One of Mr. Ma's goals is the exploration of music as a means of communication and as a vehicle for the migrations of ideas across a range of cultures throughout the world. Expanding upon this interest, in 1998, Mr. Ma established the Silk Road Project to promote the study of the cultural, artistic and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade route that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. At the invitation of the New York City Department of Education, in 2009, the Silk Road Project began a multi-year partnership with cultural and educational organizations to pilot Silk Road Connect, a multidisciplinary middle school engagement program designed to spark a lifelong passion for learning. In Silk Road Connect, visual and aural elements are used alongside the experiences of creating and collaborating, making direct connections to classroom work in subjects such as Social Studies, English Language Arts, the sciences and the arts. Mr. Ma is an exclusive Sony Classical artist, and his discography of over 75 albums (including more than 15 Grammy Award-winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. In Fall 2009, Sony Classical released a box set of over 90 albums to commemorate Mr. Ma's 30 years as a Sony recording artist. Born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, he began to study the cello with his father at age four and soon came with his family to New York, where he spent most of his formative years. Later, his principal teacher was Leonard Rose at The Juilliard School. He sought out a traditional liberal arts education to expand upon his conservatory training, graduating from Harvard University in 1976. His awards include the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the Glenn Gould Prize (1999), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Dan David Prize (2006), the Sonning Prize (2006), the World Economic Forum's Crystal Award (2008), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010). Ma serves as a UN Messenger of Peace and as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities. He plays two instruments: a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius. sai-national.org WINTER 2012 PAN PIPES 13

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