Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • FALL 2017 • sai-national.org 42 DAV I D P O R T I L L O David Portillo was initiated as a National Arts Associate by the eta Gamma Chapter at the University of Texas at San Antonio in September. American tenor David Portillo has established himself as one of the leading artists of his generation. An alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera, he received the Prix du Garbiel Dusserget in 2015, the Alumni of the Year Award from the University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Music for 2014, and Husky Hall of Fame Member for 2017 from his high school alma mater, O.W. Holmes High School in San Antonio. In the 2015-2016 season, Portillo made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia opposite Isabel Leonard. He returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Andres in Wozzeck in a new production by Sir David McVicar, and to Palm Beach Opera in a role debut as Ernesto in Don Pasquale. European engagements included his debut at the éâtre des Champs-Élysées as Pedrillo, and the tenor soloist in Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra. Portillo has performed internationally on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Sydney Opera House, eatre Champs-Elysees, Oper Frankfurt, and Carnegie Hall in opera and concert. His repertoire of opera roles include Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Opera Australia, Virginia Opera and Opera eater Saint Louis; Jacquino in Fidelio at the Met; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Oper Frankfurt; and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Fort Worth Opera and Opera Philadelphia. An avid recitalist, he has performed in series at the Dallas Museum of Art, University of Illinois Chicago, Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, AZ, among others. He held masterclasses at several universities including University of Arizona, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and Temple University in Philadelphia. JA M E S R O S S James Ross was initiated as a National Arts Associate by the Washington, DC Alumnae Chapter in June. James Ross is the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Maryland, College Park, Conducting Faculty at the Juilliard School, and Orchestra Director of the National Youth Orchestra USA at Carnegie Hall. He is also Music Director-Designate of the Orquesta Simfonica del Valles in Spain. Ross has served as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as William Christie's assistant to Les Arts Florissants, and as Music Director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras as diverse as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Utah Symphony, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. As a horn soloist, he has performed with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Leipzig Radio Orchestra, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He was awarded ird Prize in the Munich International Horn Competition in 1978, becoming the first American and one of the youngest competitors ever to do so. His performances and recordings as principal horn of the Gewandhaus, including the Strauss Four Last Songs with Jessye Norman, helped him gain international recognition as an artist. As a teacher, Ross has served on the faculties of Yale University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges, and teaches conducting each summer at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz. He was Artistic Director of the National Orchestral Institute (NOI) at the University of Maryland from 2002-2012 where his leadership served as an impetus for change in the orchestral landscape of the United States. He is internationally recognized for his work advancing the future of orchestras through cross-genre collaborations especially with choreographer and Macarthur "Genius Grant" Fellow Liz Lerman, polymath designer-director Doug Fitch, and video artist Tim McLoraine, with whom Ross also shares a home and the parenthood of two wonderful dogs, Merryl and Paterson. DeAunn Davis DeAunn Davis was initiated by the Eta Omicron Chapter at the University of Nevada/ Reno in September, where she is the horn professor. Davis is also the Assistant Principal Horn with the Boulder Philharmonic in Boulder, CO; as a member, she performed a sold-out opening night show at the SHIFT Festival in Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center in 2017. She has been an artist in residence at Yale University, the New England Conservatory, and Carthage College in Kenosha, WI. She has presented masterclasses at Arizona State University, the University of Alabama, the University of Georgia in Athens, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Vanderbilt University. Davis has also performed with the Cabrillo Festival, the Honolulu Symphony, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and traveled to Haiti in 2012 as a faculty member with the Ecole de Musique Sainte Trinité Woodwind Festival. She was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago while earning her Bachelor of Music degree at Northwestern University, and earned her Master of Music degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Prior to living in Reno, Davis earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She has performed extensively in the Chicago-land area and was a founding member of the critically- acclaimed experimental chamber group Fih House Ensemble. DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS NATIONAL ARTS ASSOCIATE a man or woman who is nationally recognized for distinguished contribution to the arts FRIEND OF THE ARTS a man or woman who is supportive of and actively involved in the arts at a local or regional level Davis Photo: Kristen Hoebermann

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