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.
“He doesn’t know this, but I was watching him interact with the students,” Moyer revealed as Matarazzo listened. “I talked with some of his students afterward about how they felt working with him, and their responses spoke volumes about his character.”
“I’m glad you talked to the right ones,” Matarazzo said, joking.
“Then I started pestering him to take the job,” Moyer said.
Moyer also noted how Matarazzo has developed Allen’s music program in just one semester. When he started, the band had only two students. Now, he has eight. While that’s still a small number, Matarazzo and Moyer see potential to work together to grow both Allen’s music program as well as the community orchestra.
“I started looking at the instrument list of the orchestra and the instrumentation I have at Allen. I think all of my students would want to be a part of this,” Matarazzo said.
Allen’s music students already perform fall and spring recitals at the Bowlus. Matarazzo suggested, “What if, instead of a spring concert, the Allen students perform with the orchestra?”
Matarazzo also plans to organize a jazz clinic with area high schools, and hopes he might be able to convince high school orchestra students to join the community group, too.
He’s also been recruiting musically inclined Allen staff to join the orchestra.
Moyer said she is excited for the partnership opportunity. Whenever the community orchestra had younger members in the past, the older adult performers took on roles as mentors.
“It’s important for us to work together. Many of the college students don’t know much about the Bowlus. This is a stepping stone to introduce them and for us to work together musically,” she said.
MATARAZZO and his wife, Emmeline, live near Centerville. Together they have four children, Michaela, 35; Elysse, 19; Thatcher, 5 and Dutton, 2.
During this interview, Matarazzo recalled another time he was interviewed. It was a live radio broadcast during a football tailgating event. The DJ asked how Matarazzo motivates his band students.
“That’s easy,” he quickly responded. “It’s a five-letter word. P-I-Z-Z-A.”
No matter how you spell it, the symphony orchestra is heading into a new era.
To learn more about how to join the orchestra, call the Bowlus at 620-365-4765. Practices are on Mondays at 7 p.m. at the Bowlus.
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