Coming all the way from Puglia, Italy, Dr. Francesco Mastromatteo held a two-day series of workshops with music majors, finishing his visit with a performance in the Redfern Art Center’s Alumni Recital Hall.
Mastromatteo, a classical cellist, was invited as part of the Class of ‘39 Global Education Grant along with his wife Noemi Passiatore, a classical guitarist.
Professor of Music Dr. Christina Wright-Ivanova said she was excited for the opportunities this grant had to offer for students.
“We hit a lot of different facets of the musical community here, which was great,” said Wright-Ivanova. “He came in for a two-day residency and taught about 12 hours when he was here.”
Mastromatteo worked with students of all disciplines, from French horn to percussion, cello, working with vocal students on Italian diction and speaking to her honors class, said Wright-Ivanova. She added that Passiatore worked with several guitar students.
Passiatore said she was very excited to work with some of the students, as it was her second time traveling to the United States and first time traveling to Keene.
“It was a really great experience for me,” said Passiatore. “I met five students that studied guitar here and were really curious, I think, and the classes were a really beautiful experience for me.”
“It was extremely fascinating to me because I found a very diverse environment,” said Mastromatteo about working with Keene State students.
“I feel that [as] a teacher, [as a] professor, coming into a new environment is a great opportunity to learn. I gave what I know, what I have learned with my experience, but also the students gave me lots of different inputs,” added Mastromatteo.
Students said they enjoyed working with Mastromatteo as well.
Tori Young, senior, was in a playing workshop with Mastromatteo, for which she played a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach.
“He had a lot of good feedback because he has played a lot of Bach,” said Young. She added, “Though it is for violin and cello, he still had a lot of good commentary even though I’m playing it on marimba.”
Young said she was pleased with the comfort and focus of the conversation, adding, “It’s nice to get into the nuance of things and have an elevated conversation.”
Mastromatteo’s performance was during a methods class, which was received positively by students.
Sophomore Jamie Mailloux said, “It was very nice to listen to. Any time we get an international performer, it’s always a treat because they are classically trained so well.”
When Mastromatteo and Passiatore were asked about the pieces they performed afterwards, they both said they were very pleased with one in particular, a four-movement vocal piece composed by Professor of Music Dr. Heather Gilligan.
Passiatore said, “I fell in love with the composition [from] the teacher [Gilligan] here, the four-part vocal [piece].”
Mastromatteo said he enjoyed Gilligan’s piece as well.
“For me, it was new. It was the first time that I was performing the piece for voice and cello,” said Mastromatteo. “It is always a joy and an honor to perform with the composer in the audience. [Us] classical musicians don’t have that many composers that are in the audience.”
Wright-Ivanova said she was pleased with their performance of Gilligan’s piece and the overall performance as well.
“That piece is amazing and they gave a beautiful performance,” said Wright-Ivanova. “They worked so well together and you could really feel the Italian flavor in everything they do because, as [Mastromatteo] talked about, art and life are the same for Italians.”
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
