Salvatore Macchia Named Chair of UMass Amherst Music and Dance

World renowned professor and performer recently celebrated 40-years with department
Salvatore Macchia
Salvatore Macchia

AMHERST, Mass – Salvatore Macchia, professor of composition and string bass at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has been named chair of the department of music and dance, effective July 1, 2019. He follows
Roberta M. Marvin, who recently completed her three-year appointment as chair.

Macchia, who recently celebrated his 40th season with the department, is well-known for his work as a performer in the European and jazz traditions throughout America and Europe. His compositions have been performed throughout America, in Europe, the former Soviet Union and Japan, including performances at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in Poland, American Academy in Rome, the Computer Arts Festival in Padua, Italy, and the Aspen and Monadnock Festivals in the U.S.

He has received commissions from Interensemble (Padua, Italy), New England Chamber Music and Composers Forum, Harvard Summer Dance Theater, and Pioneer Valley Symphony, and multiple commissions from Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Mohawk Trail Concert Series, UMass Amherst Opera Workshop, Dorn Press and Gasparo Records. Macchia’s most recent composition, Overtura Rocambolesca, was premiered by Springfield Symphony Orchestra in May 2019. Macchia can be heard on the Gasparo, Open Loop, CRI and Spectrum labels, and his works have been published by the Rinaldo and Dorn Presses.

In accepting the appointment, Macchia stated his commitment to expand and enrich the department’s offerings, maintain the highest academic and musical standards, and enhance the department’s reputation both regionally and nationally. He added, “I consider myself lucky to have been able to learn from the chairs with whom I have worked, and I am grateful to have had such outstanding mentors to follow.”

A former member of the faculty at the University of Evansville, Southern Illinois University, University of the Pacific, Amherst and Bennington colleges, Macchia holds a B.M. from the Hartt School of Music; and an M.M.A. and D.M.A. from Yale University.