Faculty Artist Series features double bassist Milton Masciadri

The University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music is excited to bring the first Faculty Artist Series concert of the fall to you virtually on Oct. 28 at 7:00 p.m. Double bass professor Milton Masciadri will take the Ramsey Hall stage to perform a 50-minute concert with piano faculty David Fung.

With the restrictions on performance during the pandemic, the program is focused on the international bass repertoire of the solo works for double bass and piano, including works by Eccles, Rachmaninoff, Koussevitzky, Bloch, Gustavino, Amato and Bottesini. The program also includes a piece by late Emeritus Professor Leonard Vernon "Chic" Ball, Jr., who taught at the School of Music for twenty-eight years.

The concert will be live-streamed via music.uga.edu/live-streaming, and will be simultaneously retransmitted by UNESCO for the World Heritage and Unity Program. According to Dr. Masciadri, UNESCO will be sharing the live-stream on their channels all across Latin America and Europe.

“The pandemic has changed the approach for performances, and [the] invitation of [my double bass] students to the hall emphasizes the unity of bass enthusiasts alike in the world,” said Dr. Masciadri.

Milton Masciadri is a third-generation double bass player. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, he began his studies with his father and by age 17 was Co-principal Bassist with the Porto Alegre Symphony in Brazil. At 19, he was already on the faculty at Brazil’s Federal University. Masciadri's enthusiasm for enlarging the repertoire of the double bass has led him to publish and premiere works of many contemporary American and South American composers, including works commissioned for him by such institutions as UNESCO and Funarte (Brazilian Foundation for the Arts) as well as making contributions of his own with numerous transcriptions and arrangements.

Assistant professor of piano David Fung has been described as “stylish and articulate” in the New York Times. Fung regularly appears with the world’s premier ensembles including the Albany Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and with the major orchestras in Australia, including the Melbourne, Queensland, and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.

The Oct. 28 concert will be streamed for free online at music.uga.edu/live-streaming at 7 p.m. The cancellation of concerts this fall has created many challenges for the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. If you are interested in making a gift to support our efforts to make a UGA education possible for all of our students, please considering making a gift to our Thursday Scholarship Fund. If you have questions about giving to the Hugh, please contact Sara Emery: semery@uga.edu.