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NUNET CLITANDRE
Special to The Leader
“Playing in tune is like being pregnant, you either are, or you aren’t.”
This quote was one of many quirky quips of the late Carl V. Mazzio that was shared by his colleagues at his tribute concert in King Concert Hall on Sunday afternoon. The two-hour tribute concert was filled with beautiful orchestral music and joy-filled eulogies by his dear friends and colleagues.
Carl V. Mazzio was one of Fredonia’s most precious gems. During Carl’s 16-year-long legacy at Fredonia, he conducted the Fredonia School of Music’s All College Band, the Wind Symphony and the Trombone Choir. Carl was an exceptionally hard-working and adored music professor. He had an incredibly lucrative career in music, working with big names such as Yo-Yo Ma, Aretha Franklin and jazz legend Tony Bennett. He received his M.A. from the Juilliard School of Music and his B.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was Principal Trombone of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He performed with a numerous amount of orchestras on the East and West Coast and even in Mexico.
Mazzio’s professional performance career as a musician came to an abrupt halt after he developed a neurological disorder known as focal dystonia or “Musician’s Cramp.” Though obviously upsetting to have one’s career cut short by a medical condition, the diagnosis proved to be a test of integrity to how much of a resilient and hardworking person Mazzio was.
He did what anyone with an inextinguishable passion would do: reinvented himself and adapted. He left performing professionally behind and became a conductor for the Fredonia School of Music.
Mazzio’s longtime partner, Julie Robinson, held back tears while giving her speech about her fond memories with him and what he meant to her. She recalled being a student of Mazzio’s at the very beginning of their love story. The department gave them their blessing to pursue each other romantically. Because of their new relationship, Mazzio could not give Julie a grade when she performed her juries so instead gave her a smiley face or a simple (yet somewhat harsh) “get better.” She then spoke directly to his students vehemently reassuring them of the love Mazzio had for every one of them.
One particularly sweet moment during the concert was when professor Paula Holcomb was describing a time when he came into her office, slammed a picture on her desk and proclaimed, “This is my greatest accomplishment.” That picture was of his son Clark Mazzio. Clark follows in his father’s footsteps as a musician who studied trumpet performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. Clark came to Fredonia to play among Mazzio’s beloved students and pay tribute to his late father.
He led his students with conservatory standards and brought along with him an admirable passion for teaching music in hopes of inspiring his students to chase their dreams and to reach the heights of professional repertoire.
At the end of the emotional concert, his colleagues joined and each placed their conductor batons on the performance podium as a salute to their late friend. This tribute concert was indeed the start of the preservation of the great legacy that was Carl V. Mazzio.
Mazzio’s hobbies included drinking wine, hiking in the Colorado Rockies and collecting blue morpho butterflies, his favorite. He suffered a stroke in early January and passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family two weeks later. His brain was donated to science to research further and better understand focal dystonia. He was 53.
The Fredonia College Symphony and The Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus will be performing Ein Deutsches Requiem: Brahms on March 4 in Mazzio’s honor.