Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES FALL 2014 sAI-NATIONAL.ORg 8 s AI Honorary Member Marina Arsenijević was one of 100 recipients honored with the e Ellis Island Medal of Honor in May by the National Eth nic Coali tion of Orga ni za- tions (NECO). She was cho sen for her out stand- ing achieve ments and human i tar ian efforts in build ing bridges among diverse cul tures and nations through her music. is year's 100 hon orees were cho- sen from over 7,000 nominees. e Ellis Island Medal of Honor ranks among the nation's most pres ti gious awards and is offi cially rec og nized by both the United States Sen ate and the House of Rep re sen ta tives. Six Pres i dents of the United States — Ronald Rea gan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clin ton, Jimmy Carter, Ger ald Ford, and Richard Nixon — have received this award, as well as Nobel Prize win ners, lead ers of indus try, the arts, sports and government. Notable recip i ents of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor include for mer pres i dents Gen. Colin Pow ell, Frank Sina tra, Lee Iacocca , Bar bara Wal- ters and SAI Honorary Member Renee Fleming. Marina Arsenijević is an inter na tional award-winning pianist and com poser, star of the Emmy-nominated Pub lic Tele vi sion pro gram, Marina at West Point: Unity through Diver sity which has been broad cast to more than 180 Mil- lion view ers with over 400 air ings by PBS Sta- tions all across the coun try. Marina cre ated the pro gram and per formed with the 120-mem ber joint ensem ble of the West Point Band and West Point Cadet Glee Club. e con cert was recorded live at West Point's his toric Eisen hower Hall and will con tinue to be broad cast all across the coun- try through 2016.e con cert blends patri otic themes with the rhythms and melodies of many cul tures and reli gions rep re sented in the United States. Born and raised in Ser bia, she has a super- star rep u ta tion in her home land as well as in Europe. She has focused on trans form ing dif- fer ent musi cal gen res and styles by seam lessly blend ing diverse cul tural and eth nic rhythms with tra di tional clas si cal themes and tech niques. She became enam ored with the piano at the age of 4 when she first saw one being played by the accom pa nist in her bal let class. She was 9 years old when she made her debut solo con- cert in Bel grade in front of an audi ence of 2,000, per form ing com po si tions by Chopin, Beethoven and Brahms. She stud ied with some of the world's great piano mas ters from Yugoslavia, Aus tria, Hun gary, Italy, Ger many, and Rus sia. Arsenijević devel oped a pow er ful piano tech nique by ele vat ing her body off the piano bench and trans fer ring the strength this gen er ated into her arms. Marina's leg endary fin ger strength gave her an advan- tage in both power and speed nor mally reserved for large handed male pianists, enabling her to dom i nate the piano com pe ti tions in Yugoslavia for many years. She went on to win six inter- na tional piano com pe ti tions in Italy, Yugoslavia and Mace do nia. She per formed with every major orches- tra in East ern and Cen tral Europe. She com pleted her for mal music stud ies in piano and com po si tion and received her Master's degree with hon ors from the Uni- ver sity of Arts in Bel grade at the age of 21. Marina's record ings of Mozart: Marina and the St. Peters burg Soloists and Chopin Piano Waltzes became top- selling clas si cal CDs in Cen- tral and East ern Europe. e dis in te gra tion of Yugoslavia into con flict among its diverse eth nic groups greatly affected her out look on life and her music. She craved peace and unity in the face of eth nic extrem ism. As a result, she devel oped her hall mark Unity In e Face of Diver sity and imme di ately applied her vision of unity and hope to her musi cal com po si tions, cre at ing a new style of the ethno- classical genre. Her album, My Balkan Soul, became the best-selling clas si cal crossover CD in 11 Euro- pean coun tries. She received the Yugoslav "Oscar" for most pop u lar musi cal artist in 1996. e fol low ing year, she received the Yugoslav Media Award for Most Pop u lar All Media Per son al ity. dIstInGuIsHed MeMbers In tHe neWs Honorary member marina Arsenijevic Honored , Marina Arsenijevic was initiated as an SAI Honorary Member by the Pontchartrain Alumnae Chapter in 2003. HONORED continued on page 10

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