Edward P. Mascari (b. 1949) has composed a wide variety of orchestral, choral and chamber music. He has been the recipient of numerous commissions and awards, including grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His compositions have been performed in Europe as well as throughout the United States, including premieres at Carnegie Recital Hall and at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Mr. Mascari’s music has been praised by William Zagorski in Fanfare for being “harmonically adventurous” and for displaying “a fine sense of instrumental textures”.
Two of Mr. Mascari’s orchestral compositions appear on CD. In her Fanfare review of Symphonic Poem (Mt. Washington) Joanne Forman applauded the composer for making “excellent use of orchestral resources”. Recordings of Meet the Orchestra and Three American Dances for Saxophone Quartet are due for release in the near future.
Several premieres of Mr. Mascari’s new compositions will take place during the coming months: Three Psalms for Tenor Saxophone and Organ, commissioned by Friedemann Graef, will be premiered in Berlin, Germany in July; Three for Three (violin, guitar & piano), commissioned by the Strung Out Trio of Turkey, will receive its premiere in Cyprus in September; Other premieres of new compositions include works commissioned by the Ariel Woodwind Quintet (Massachusetts), the Ecclesia Consort (Rhode Island), and organist Carson P. Cooman (New York). Two compositions will receive their premieres in July of 2004: Mass without Words commissioned by the Third Rail Saxophone Quartet and organist Irvin Peterson will be premiered in Washington, DC. And Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, commissioned by Detlef Bensmann, will receive its premiere featuring Symphonie Orchestra Konstanz am Bodensee (Germany).
Further information about Mr. Mascari's compositions may be found on his website: www.edmascari.com.
Mr. Mascari is a graduate of Holy Cross College, holds Master of Music degrees in both Composition and Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory and has taught as a graduate assistant in the Theory Department at Boston University where he was enrolled in the doctoral program. His composition teachers have included William Thomas McKinley, Charles Fussell, Marjorie Merryman, and Lukas Foss.
Mr. Mascari is the Music Director for the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church in Natick, MA and is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of teaching in his private studio.