About Los Angeles Alumni Chapter

The history of the Los Angeles, California Alumni Chapter began several years before its official installation on March 20, 1919.  When Charlotte Andrus Brown left Chicago's Iota Alpha Chapter and moved to Los Angeles, she missed the splendid group of musicians she left behind.  In 1915, while Charlotte's sister Caliste was visiting, the first meeting was called.  (Caliste Conant Walker, more commonly known as Caliste Sinek, composed the words and music of "Our Triangle," which was adopted as the fraternity song at the 1913 convention.)  Although only three people responded to the first call for members, an interested group found each other through The TRIANGLE. Six members formed the Los Angeles Alumni Club with Past Supreme President Harriet Wright presiding as installing officer.  It was the first alumni chapter established west of St. Louis.* Our members include prominent performers, composers, and music educators from all over the Los Angeles area.  Former Third National Vice President Gladys Stalling, former National President Marian Davidson, and Centennial Convention Chairman Dawn Phelps Neal are members of this chapter.  Sharing some of the same geographic space with the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter is the Beverly Hills Alumni Chapter, as well as half a dozen other nearby Alumni Chapters. The former San Fernando Alumni Chapter has merged with the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter and all scholarships are under the sole management of the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter.  The Ellen Berke Music Education Grant is awarded biennially to a non-profit organization providing free instrumental music instruction to public school elementary students in the San Fernando Valley area.  In 2006 the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter held the Loeb Louviere Scholarship Competition for instrumental and vocal performance majors from colleges throughout Los Angeles.  The competition was held again in the spring of 2010 with $10,000 in prizes awarded to students.  The competition finals took place at the historic Ebell of Los Angeles Theater in a well attended public performance. The Los Angeles Alumni Chapter advises and mentors two local collegiate chapters, UCLA (Phi Nu) and USC (Mu Nu).  In addition to providing guidance on collegiate activities, the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter gives annual scholarships to collegiate members at UCLA and USC.  These awards are given for performance, musicianship, and musical potential at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  For Los Angeles Alumni Chapter members, an annual grant has been established to be awarded and used for a specific professional project.  Past winners have used the grant to defray costs of travel expenses, accompanying, music engraving and compositional commissions.  In order to play an active role in supporting music making, education and creation in our community, the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter donates annually to various non-profit music organizations in the local community. The Los Angeles Alumni Chapter hosted the 1960 Santa Monica convention and served as a host chapter at the 1974 Palm Springs Convention.  The Chapter has received a number of national awards including the Circle of Winners.*  For the year 2009-2010, the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter was honored by the International Executive Office with the "International Alumni Chapter of the Year Award," was selected as the "Outstanding Alumni Chapter" of the Pacific Southwest Province, was recognized for its "Outstanding Contributions as Service, Education, and Resource Volunteers (SERV) in Music," and received a "Helen Haupt Foundation Chapter Grant" to send participants to "Faces of Eve," a concert of women composers in New York City.  The Los Angeles Alumni Chapter also received a "Helen Haupt Foundation Chapter Grant" in 2008 to send six of our members (performers and composers) to Bejing, China for the International Alliance of Women in Music Congress. For general information about joining Mu Phi Epsilon, please browse through the Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity website and contact the MPE International Office (www.muphiepsilon.org/aboutmpe/contactus.html).  For information about joining the Los Angeles Alumni Chapter, please e-mail Marilyn Summers, Los Angeles Alumni Chapter president (tobebop918@yahoo.com).  Los Angeles Alumni Chapter general meetings are held monthly, October through June (with the exception of January), usually on the second Thursday of the month at 10:00 AM.  A music recital program immediately follows each meeting, featuring both members and special guest performers. Please check the CHAPTER MEETINGS page of this website for 2011-2012 Chapter Meeting dates, locations, and music recital program performers. * See Chapter Nine of     A Centennial History of Mu Phi Epsilon (International Professional Music Fraternity): 1903-2003     First edition: July 2003.  Compiled by Wilma Froman Sheridan; Katherine Doepke, Contributing Writer     Copyright (c) 2003 by Mu Phi Epsilon International Professional Music Fraternity; Manufactured in the U.S.A. by Nortex Press (Austin, Texas)