Professor Receives Grammy Nod

Anthony Mazzocchi, Montclair State interim associate director of the John J. Cali School of Music, is one of 25 semifinalists for the Recording Academy and Grammy Foundation’s first-ever Music Educator Award recognizing a teacher who has made a “significant and lasting” contribution and demonstrated a commitment to keeping music education in schools. The semifinalists were chosen from among more than 30,000 initial nominations.

Mazzocchi, a professor of trombone, is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, Riverside Symphony and Key West Symphony. His career as a music teacher began by accident, he says, when he took a school band director job in Brooklyn to be closer to his girlfriend (now wife). During his nine years in Brooklyn, Mazzocchi says, he created a nationally recognized music program and fell in love with teaching. Mazzocchi has consulted for major music conservatories such as The Julliard School and directed the Fine and Performing Arts program at the South Orange and Maplewood school district.

While teaching, Mazzocchi continued to maintain his professional life as a trombonist. “This way of life has driven my instruction, especially when it comes to mentoring our music education students at Montclair State,” Mazzocchi says. In addition to currently teaching at Montclair State and Kean University, Mazzocchi is also the executive director of the Kinhaven Summer Music School in Weston, Vermont.

The final 10 nominees for the Music Educator Award will be announced in December. If Mazzocchi is selected as the winner from among the 10 finalists, he will be flown to Los Angeles in January to accept the award and a $10,000 honorarium and to attend the Grammy Awards.

Read an article about Mazzocchi at Montclair Patch.