Sigma Alpha Iota Celebrates 75th Anniversary
April 15-17 at Knox College
The Knox College chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, the international music
fraternity for women, celebrates its 75th anniversary with a series of events
April 15-17 on the Knox campus in Galesburg, Illinois. Two Knox alumnae active
in professional music -- jazz vocalist Semenya McCord and opera singer Janet
Mensen-Reynolds -- will return to campus to perform and conduct master classes.
All events are free and open to the public.
Thursday, April 15
10:00 p.m. Concert: Semenya McCord will perform with the Knox
College Jazz Band. Cherry Street Brewing Company, 57 S. Cherry, Galesburg.
Free.
Friday, April 16
4:00 p.m. Master Class: Janet Mensen-Reynolds and Semenya
McCord will lead a master class in voice. Open to all for participation or
observation. Kresge Recital Hall, Ford Center for the Fine Arts. Free.
7:00 p.m. Lecture/Workshop: Semenya McCord will give a
lecture/workshop about her career in jazz performance. Kresge Recital Hall.
Free.
Saturday, April 17
3:00 p.m. SAI Musicale: Members of SAI, including current Knox
students and SAI members from the area, will perform. Kresge Recital Hall.
Free.
8:30 p.m. SAI Benefit Concert: Featuring Janet Mensen-Reynolds.
Kresge Recital Hall. Free, but donations are welcome to support scholarships
for deserving music students.
Guest Artist Biographies
Semenya McCord, a native of Galesburg and 1971 Knox College
graduate with a degree in music, has won many accolades for her work, both in
performance and in education. She researches and promotes jazz as an art form
and has created special performances -- called "Journeys into Jazz" -- that pay
tribute to historic jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday,
Thelonius Monk and Antonio Carlos Jobim. She also tutors students in the Boston
area through the Longley School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music
and Tuft's University.
McCord received the Martin Luther King Award for Musical Excellence in Boston
in 1990 and was named "Outstanding Jazz Vocalist" at the 1988 Boston Music
Awards. She is a member of the Boston Jazz Society, Massachusetts Music
Educators, Martha Briggs Educational Club of New Bedford, and the Boston
alumnae chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota.
Janet Mensen-Reynolds earned her bachelor's degree in music at Knox
College in 1989. She received a two-year apprenticeship with the Chicago Lyric
Opera's Center for American Artists and now performs regularly with the Chicago
Lyric Opera, both as an understudy and as a featured member of the Lyric Opera
Chorus. In recent seasons with the Lyric she has appeared in Rossini's
Cinderella and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and had understudy
roles in McTeague, La Traviata, and Die Walkure. She was
also featured in "An Afternoon at the Opera" with the West Suburban Symphony of
Chicago.
About Sigma Alpha Iota
Sigma Alpha Iota, the international music fraternity for women, was
established in 1903 at the University of Michigan, and the Psi Chapter at Knox
College was chartered in 1927. SAI has approximately 90,000 members in more
than 180 college chapters and 100 alumnae chapters throughout the United
States. Members have to demonstrate interest, ability and academic achievement
in music. SAI is also open to non-students active in the music profession.
Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college,
located in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,100 students from 42 states and 33
nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building
remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.
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