Sigma Alpha Iota

saI-NaTIONal.ORg WINTER 2015 PAN PIPES 23 dR. JUlIE ANN hIll Dr. Julie Ann Hill was initiated as a Member Laureate by the Epsilon Iota Chapter in November. Dr. Hill, Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM), has presented clinics and concerts at Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion festivals and is a frequent guest lecturer and performer on the topic of Brazilian percussion at universities across the United States. As a member of the acclaimed Caixa Percussion Trio, Julie has performed in Mexico, Brazil, France, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. Hill is the co-author of a collection of solos/duets entitled Music for Multi Percussion: A World View (Alfred Publications) and has numerous publications with Innovative Percussion and Row-Loff Productions, and her scholarly research has been published in Percussive Notes and the Garland World Music Encyclopedias. In addition to her duties at UTM, Dr. Hill serves on the international advisory board for Escola Dida, a project in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, dedicated to social transformation for black women and at-risk children through music. She holds a Bachelor's Degree of Music Education and a Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance from UTM, where she was first initiated as a collegiate member, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Hill is in demand as an academic speaker on the topic of music and social transformation. Julie currently serves as President-Elect of the Percussive Arts Society. She is a winner of UTM's Cunningham Outstanding Teacher/ Scholar Award and a recipient of the Hardy Graham Distinguished Professorship Award. dr. grace Fong Dr. Grace Fong was initiated as an Honorary Member by the Orange County Alumnae Chapter in October. Dr. Grace Fong is a prize-winning pianist with an international career as a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and contemporary keyboardist. In addition, she is an Associate Professor at the Chapman University in Orange, CA, where she is director of Keyboard Studies at Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music. Born in Los Angeles, Dr. Fong studied as an undergraduate at the University of South- ern California where she completed a double major, receiving a Bachelor's of Science and was awarded the "USC ornton School of Music Keyboard Department's – Most Outstanding Student – B.M." At the Cleveland Institute of Music, she earned the Master's Degree of Arts and Doctorate of Music in Performance. She has been featured at major venues from Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Hollywood Bowl, Great Hall in Leeds, UK, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and Konzerthaus Dortmund, Germany. She has performed as soloist with the Halle Orchestra in the United Kingdom, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Or- chestra, Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Olympia Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New Hampshire Music Festi- val Orchestra, among others. Dr. Fong is also the winner of one of America's most prestigious piano awards, the 2009 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship of the American Pianists Association, the first female winner in 12 years. She also won the Grand Prize in piano from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, thereaer named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and presented with a medallion by the President Bill Clinton at the White House. Other prizes include Gold Medalist for the Wideman International Piano Competition, the winner of the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, the winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, 1st Prize in the Los Angeles Liszt Competition, 1st Prize in the Edith Knox Performance Competition. An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Dr. Fong has served as guest artist and teacher at National and International Festivals. She is the Artistic Director of the Chap- man University Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music President's Piano Series and the Execu- tive Director of the Chapman University Global Arts Music Festival, seeking to advance the art of music through performance, education, and community. Dr. Fong has embarked on a series of col- laborations with dancers, filmmakers, fashion designers, and artists, and also enjoys perform- ing music that crosses the genres of classical, jazz and Latin lounge. She is a frequent guest artist with three-time Grammy nominee, Pink Martini, which has been described as the house band of the United Nations. With the group, Dr. Fong has shared the stage with some of America's top orchestras and figures, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Na- tional Symphony Orchestra, NPR's Ari Shapiro and performers from Sesame Street. dISTINgUIShEd mEmBERS memBer laureate an initiated member of the Fraternity who has achieved international distinction in the music profession. HonorarY memBer a woman who has achieved international distinction in the music profession who is not an initiated member of Sigma Alpha Iota. DISTINgUIShED continued on page 24

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