Sigma Alpha Iota

DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS DISTINGUISHED continued from page 41 Principal Conductor of the Celebration Youth Orchestras. She recently completed a five-year tenure as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the West Hollywood Orchestra. She has also served as Music Director of Orchestra Sonoma, the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento, Principal Conductor of the Channel Islands Symphony, the Acalanes Chamber Orchestra, the American Jazz Theater, and Director of the San Francisco State University Symphony Orchestra. She made her opera conducting debut in Los Angeles with the full production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel with the El Dorado Opera Company. For her pioneering work, Washburn has been featured on National Public Radio, in Westways Magazine, Coastline Magazine, San Francisco Focus Magazine and the American Symphony Orchestra League's Symphony Magazine. She has worked with and performed works by many of the leading composers in the U.S. today, including Member Laureate Libby Larsen; Honorary Member Joan Tower; National Arts Associate Ned Rorem; Friend of the Arts Alvin Singleton; Beta Alpha initiate and Composers Bureau member Ellen Zwilich; Composers Bureau members John Corigliano, Lou Harrison, Jennifer Higdon, and Lowell Liebermann; Michael Daugherty, Harold Farberman, Alice Gomez, Tobias Picker, Mary Watkins, and Chen Yi. Born in Denver and raised in Southern California, Washburn has conducted throughout the United States, including the symphony orchestras of Richmond, Sacramento, Wyoming, Eugene, Berkeley, Marin, Cheyenne, Dubuque, Perrysburg, Stockton and Napa Valley. Other guest appearances have been with Oregon Mozart Players, Women's Philharmonic, Colorado and California All State Honor Orchestras, the University of Michigan Philharmonia and the Firelands Symphony in Sandusky, OH. Washburn first came to national attention as co-founder, Artistic Director, and Associate Conductor of the San Francisco-based Women's Philharmonic from 1980 to 1990, during which time she became one of the leading authorities on and advocates for orchestral works of women composers. She researched and reconstructed historical scores, commissioned new works, and programmed dozens of works by women. In 42 PAN PIPES WINTER 2011 sai-national.org addition, she created some of the orchestra's most successful projects, such as their educational concerts and the New Music Reading Sessions, and was also Musical Producer of their first CD. Washburn earned her Bachelor's of Music with highest honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara, receiving the Chancellor's Scholar Award, and earned her Master's Degree in Performance from New England Conservatory of Music. She received the Alan Marlowe Memorial Woodwind Award while attending the Music Academy of the West. A professional flutist for a number of years, Washburn began her studies in conducting in 1984 working with Denis de Coteau at CSU Hayward, and continued studies with Harold Farberman for three years at the Conductors Institute, and at the Aspen Music Festival as a scholarship student of Paul Vermel. During the summer of 2002, she was on the faculty at the Conductors Institute at Bard College in New York. Washburn has been honored with the Distinguished Service Award from New York Women Composers, the Sonoma County Independent Indy Award, the Girl Scout Role Model Award, Outstanding Local Hero Award from KQED, San Francisco and the Women's Foundation of California and has been recognized among "Women in Leadership" by the city of West Hollywood. Dr. Nicholas Enrico Williams Dr. Nicholas Enrico Williams was initiated by the Iota Theta Chapter at the University of North Texas in December 2010. Dr. Nicholas Enrico Williams is the assistant director of wind studies, conductor of the Concert Band and the director of athletic bands, including the North Texas Green Brigade Marching Band and the Basketball Pep Band at the University of North Texas. He is also the conductor for the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. Prior to this assignment at the University of North Texas, Dr. Williams, a multipleedition honoree of Who's Who Among America's Educators, was the director of bands at Clark High School in Plano, TX. In his last year of public school teaching, he was honored as the Clark High School Teacher of the Year, was a Finalist for the Plano Independent School District Teacher of the Year, and was named a "Ross Perot Excellence in Teaching Award" recipient — an award given to only four secondary teachers annually. During his tenure at Clark High School, the band program received consistent sweepstakes awards, and under his baton, the Honors Band was awarded best in class or best in contest in every festival in which the band performed. Dr. Williams is active in the Drum Corps International activity, where he is currently the Brass Caption Supervisor of the Madison Scouts, based in Madison, WI. He has also taught for Southwind (Lexington, KY), the Boston Crusaders (Boston, MA), and most recently the Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA), where he has served in various capacities ranging from brass instructor to brass caption head/staff coordinator. As an advocate of chamber music, Dr. Williams was the founder and conductor of the East Plano Brass and was the principal guest conductor for the "Harmoniemusik" chamber ensemble. In the wind band world, he has been a guest conductor with the Dallas Wind Symphony; Lone Star Wind Orchestra; at the annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago; the College Band Directors National Association regional conference; and the Texas Music Educators Association Annual Clinic in San Antonio, TX. Dr. Williams is active in the United States, Canada and Asia as a clinician, conductor, adjudicator, consultant and arranger; his arrangements for wind band, marching percussion ensembles, drum corps and marching band are performed by outstanding organizations throughout the world. Dr. Williams is a sought-after recording producer, associate producer, and editor, having been involved with numerous CDs and DVDs on the Klavier, Mark Records, GIA and UNT labels. In addition to his work in the recording arts, he has written several conductor study guides that are published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. His professional affiliations include Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In addition, Dr. Williams was recently honored with an invitation to membership into Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.

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