Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES WintER 2014 sai-natiOnal.ORg 2 editor's notes Dear readers, g reetings and salutations from the polar vortex that is New England! This has been one of the coldest winters on record, and many musicians I know have been looking for new musical pieces to perform inside as they try to stay warm. Might I suggest performing a new piece by one of the members of the SAI Composers Bureau? These composers have enjoyed continued activity as a composer of concert music, and their works have either been published by a recognized publisher or performed by professionals in a professional concert venue, on national radio, or TV. You may have noticed that our annual composers issue looks different this year than it has in the past. This year's Composers Update begins an exciting new era of distribution, as it is now a digital exclusive from the SAI website. We believe that this will make the Composers Update a more usable, searchable tool, and hope you enjoy the change! In this issue, SAI Composers Bureau member Hollis Thoms introduces us to Richard Simpson, a composer with whom you may not be familiar. Simpson wrote a well- known analysis of Shakespeare's sonnets, and, while doing so, set all 154 of them to music. Thoms walks us through the journey he took to discover Simpson's music, and how you can hear these compositions for the first time. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra honors eight different composers for the 2013 – 2014 season, and four of them have ties to SAI. Nancy Galbraith, Bomi Jang, David Stock, and Reza Vali have all been honored by the Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter, and Jang took first prize in the Margaret Blackburn Competition. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra created the Composer of the Year program so that audiences can hear new music, and get to know the composers through pre-concert talks. I hope that the music composed by the members of our SAI Composers Bureau provides you with endless hours of new music and entertainment this winter season. Do you know a composer who would be a good candidate for membership in the Composers Bureau? If so, invite them to submit a membership application to the Composers Bureau Director, Dr. Susan Cohn Lackman at slackman@rollins.edu. Information about submission requirements can be found on the SAI national website at sai-national.org. Happy reading, and stay warm! Sincerely, Heather Lam, Editor Even if you've never written a piece of music, you can still compose an article. PAN PIPES Music education. Philanthropy. Writing. Performing. Production. Tell your story. Tell the world. Contact Editor Heather Lam panpipeseditor@gmail.com A s p a r t o f P A N P I P E S ' e f f o r t t o p r o v i d e e x c i t i n g c o n t e n t i n a v a r i e t y o f m e d i a , t h e 6 5 t h A n n u a l C o m p o s e r s B u r e a u U p d a t e i s n o w e x c l u s i v e l y a v a i l a b l e a s a d i g i t a l d o w n l o a d a t s a i - n a t i o n a l . o r g .

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