There’s a three-letter word to explain why Patrick Matarazzo agreed to direct the Iola Area Symphony Orchestra.
F-U-N.
“They’re in it for fun,” he said. “Some of these people have been playing instruments for 20, 30 years. They play for the love of it. There’s no pressure. That’s what makes rehearsal easy.”
Matarazzo will take over the community orchestra when practices resume Jan. 6. The orchestra began in 1965 and became a program under the Bowlus Fine Arts Center in 2018.
The orchestra has two concerts each year, one in the fall and one in spring. The next concert is scheduled for Feb. 22.
About 30 musicians play in the orchestra. They come from all walks of life and play a variety of instruments. A few are high school or college students. The oldest members are in their 80s.
“It’s a really fun group and I would like to see it continue to grow,” said Mandy Moyer, assistant director at the Bowlus.
And when it comes to F-U-N, she knew Matarazzo was the right person for the job.
MATARAZZO also serves as a music instructor at Allen Community College, and just finished his first semester. Before that, he taught high school band in communities across Arkansas.
And before that, he served in the U.S. Army, then attended college at the University of Arkansas, where he planned to pursue an entirely different kind of career. As an accountant.
“Because I had the Army college fund, I didn’t have to worry about funding. I was also on a band and choir scholarship. I quickly realized accounting was not it,” he said.
As a high school teacher, Matarazzo helped his students achieve their goals of getting into college.
“Because I had the opportunity to go to college and teach music, I wanted to inspire other students to be able to do that as well.”
Of course, not all of his students became music teachers. Some actually became, well, accountants.
WHEN MATARAZZO directed his first concert with Allen students earlier this month at the Bowlus, he had no idea it was also a kind of an audition. Moyer was watching. She knew the symphony needed a conductor and wanted to see if Allen’s new music director might be a good fit.
