Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • SUMMER 2017 • PAN PIPES 13 joined the Lehman Engel Musical eatre Workshop. I've composed for over a dozen original musicals. "Muffins", written with J. Linn Allen, won Best Original Music in the 2nd annual Premiere Premieres Festival in Chicago in June 2016. I enjoy being active in my music community serving on the boards of the American Society for Music Arrangers and Composers (I was the first woman officer), the Academy of Scoring Arts, and AFM Local 47. I initiated into SAI, Beta Upsilon at CSULA. It is an honor to serve as a judge for the 2018 IAMA Awards, and a privilege to write a special jazz piece honoring my dad and my own musical roots!" Bonnie's counterpart on the IAMA jury, Dr. Richard Crosby, has been a faculty member since 1986 at Eastern Kentucky University, where he teaches piano and music history. Born in Ohio and raised in Florida, he received his B.M. in music education, a M.M. in piano performance and wind conducting, and his DMA in piano performance, all from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Ohio. As a pianist, he is heard frequently in concert performances of solo and chamber music. He has released a CD through Capstone Records entitled An American Portrait, containing works by Charles Griffes, Amy Beach, William Grant Still, Lee Hoiby, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, David Guion, and George Gershwin. Richard has also distinguished himself as a successful composer, penning works in a variety of genres including songs for voice and piano, solo selections for piano and organ, several chamber sonatas, and individual commissioned pieces for concert band, wind ensemble, and chorus. Dr. Crosby's works are published by Southern Music, Prairie Dawg, Press, TRN, and Northeastern Music Publications, Inc. In 2014, he was the recipient of the 2014-16 EKU Foundation Professorship, the university's highest honor for teaching excellence. e annual award recognizes those who demonstrate outstanding abilities in teaching, service, and research. No stranger to the rewards and responsibilities of fraternal music life, he has undertaken many roles in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Crosby served 18 years on the National Executive Board, including three terms as National President. He remains Governor of Province 25, a position he has held since 1988. He also served for 12 years as a trustee on the Sinfonia Educational Foundation. In a recent telephone conversation, he reminisced about his longtime, treasured friendship with former SAI National President Ginny Johnson during their concurrent years of fraternity leadership. When asked about his thoughts on being selected as an honored Composer-Judge for IAMA, Richard offered this summary encapsulating his personal connection to SAI: "I am very proud to be a National Arts Associate of SAI. I played a major role in helping to establish the SAI chapter at EKU more than two decades ago with the help of Brenda Ray and your national staff, and have been very supportive of the girls in our chapter. I am a pianist by training, but as a composer I am self-taught. I had tinkered with composing off and on in my 20s and 30s, but it was only aer four surgeries on my hands and the fear that my performing days were behind me that I turned more seriously towards composing. My first serious, major work was my Trombone Sonata, written in 2003. anks to an amazing surgeon I have recovered my ability to perform but I still put a good bit of time into composing. I determined from the start that I would write the kind of music that I wanted to hear and not worry about pleasing anyone else. I have found that stance very liberating. I am a Romantic by nature, and my music is tonal, although I continue to stretch my horizons in the use of dissonance. I am pleased to be given the chance to write a work for the 2018 SAI National Convention and I look forward to sharing my music with all of you." We hope you've enjoyed learning a little bit about our Composer-Judges and their remarkable musical journeys. Stay tuned for our next IAMA installment, leading up to the exciting "reveal" in Scottsdale next July! — Sara Bong, Inter-American Music Awards Director T he Composers Bureau is a group of contemporary American composers who have achieved recognition at the national or international level in concert (classical) music. Since other means exist to promote commercial music, teaching pieces, and works for religious services, we concentrate on concert music, excluding teaching pieces or hymns. Sigma Alpha Iota has a deep commitment to American composers, and provides opportunities to publicize their accomplishments. You may locate the information through an alphabetical list of composers. The Archives contains information about former Composers Bureau members who have passed away. Sigma Alpha Iota's annual American Music issue of its quarterly journal, PAN PIPES, is published each winter, and includes a digital Composers Update about the premieres, performances, recordings, and publications of recent compositions, as well as other pertinent news. The journal is listed in the Music Index, which includes a separate entry for each composer. The Composers Bureau Online provides information not solely limited to recent news. If you are an SAI Composers Bureau member who would like to submit an update or if you are a composer who would like to be considered for membership, please contact SAI National Headquarters. We are happy to include biographies, publication, performance and recording information, internet links, and photos. You can find current information and the most recent issue of the the Composer Update here: sai-national.org/home/ ComposersBureau/tabid/60/Default. aspx What is the Sigma Alpha Iota Composers Bureau? INTER-AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

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