Sondra Clark**

Sondra Clark writes: “In the midst of writing a suite of South American dances last spring, I received word that my life-long friend and brother, the noted artist Fritz Scholder, had passed away. At that sad time, I felt doubly blessed to be a composer because the movement I was writing, ‘The Swallows of Santiago,’ suddenly took on a spirit of homage, and in creating its gentle bird calls and sweeping, soaring melodic lines, I found my own spirit being uplifted.”

Premieres

Island Delights, an award-winning piano solo suite, was presented at the National Association of Composers, USA series concert at the Palo Alto (CA) Arts Center in February 2005. Three Scenes from New Orleans (composed for piano, four-hands) was arranged for orchestra by conductor Dr. Joyce Johnson Hamilton, and premiered by the Diablo Symphony Orchestra at the Dean Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, CA, in April. South American Dances for piano four-hands was premiered at a Music Teachers Association of California Annual Convention recital in Sacramento, CA, in July; this work also received an award in the 2005 Composers Today State Contest.

Performances

Waltz Mate, a companion piece to Chopin’s B minor Waltz for Clarinet, was performed at the January 2005 SAI Musicale in Menlo Park, CA, by SAI Friend of the Arts Michael Marmor, clarinet, and Marge Cassingham, piano. In March and April, pianists Amy Foster and Cindy Harrington, editor at PianoAtPepper.com, performed Three Odd Meters and Dakota Day in a series of presentations across the country, including Eastman School of Music and the Music Teachers National Association National Conference in Seattle, WA. Key Lime Sunset and 3 + 3 + 4 were presented in May at the Diablo Valley College Spring Recital Series in Pleasanton, CA. Muir Woods for organ and piano was presented by the Welch-Hancock Duo in October, at the San Luis Obispo (CA) Performing Arts Center at the California Polytechnic State University.

**Sigma Alpha Iota Friend of the Arts

Further Information

• 2003-2004 American Composers Update
• 2002-2003 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section