Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • SUMMER 2016 • PAN PIPES 9 Other honors she accrued during her lifetime include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United Nations Peace Prize, the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) Springarn Medal, the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award, a New York City's Handel Medallion, a congressional resolution of congratulations delivered by First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991, just two years prior to her death in 1993. In 2005, Anderson was honored with a commemorative postage stamp in Washington, D.C., at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall, the venue where she was once prohibited from performing because of her skin color. That highly publicized incident resulted, after a protest by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in her concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939. The Easter Sunday program drew a crowd of 75,000 people and millions of radio listeners, and the entire episode caused the news media to focus greater attention on subsequent cases of discrimination involving Miss Anderson and other African-Americans. -- SAI archives and treasury.gov Una Field Redwine In 1956, Anderson was initiated into the Lambda Chapter at the New England Conservatory of Music as an Honorary Member. At left, Una Field Redwine, Anderson, Elisabeth Wheeler (chapter president), and Lucine Amara. At right, SAI member Geraldine Barretto-Sims talks to Anderson. SAIS IN THE NEWS S AI Honorary Member Renée Fleming, who was initiated by the Rochester Alumnae Chapter in 1993, has been honored with a bust in bronze at e Great eatre - National Opera in Warsaw. She gave a much appreciated concert there on May 17, 2011, performing works by Richard Strauss, Antonin Dvorak, Jules Massenet, and Giacomo Puccini. e unveiling ceremony of the sculpture was at a gathering of Polish admirers, including the diplomatic body and professors of the Music University of Warsaw. e sculpture was created by Norwegian artist Marit Krogh. Soprano Renée Fleming studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and won the audition for the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1988, playing the role of the Countess in e Marriage of Figaro by Mozart in the Houston Grand Opera. A year later she made her debut on the stage of the New York City Opera as Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme. Known as "the people's diva" and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, she regularly performs on the stages of the most famous opera houses in the world. Her talents are sought aer for numerous special occasions, including the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and the 2014 Super Bowl. At a White House ceremony in 2013, President Obama awarded her the National Medal of Arts, America's highest honor for an individual artist. Renée is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the Board of Sing for Hope, the Board of Trustees of Asia Society, and the Artistic Advisory Board of the Polyphony Foundation, as well as the creative advisor to the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR). In 2010, she was named the first-ever Creative Consultant at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she is also a member of the Board and a Vice President. She is currently curating the creation of a world-premiere opera based on the best-selling novel Bel Canto for Lyric Opera's 2015-2016 season. FOR MORE INFORMATION about Renee Fleming, visit reneefleming.com Honorary Member Fleming Honored with Statue in Poland

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