UNC Pembroke music professor Tim Altman recently returned from Italy, where he performed a solo trumpet recital and led a masterclass at Conservatorio di Musica, Riva del Garda.

Dr. Altman was invited to the Italian conservatory by Ivano Ascari, professor of trumpet at the Conservatorio di Musica. Altman first met Ascari at the international Trumpet Guild conference in 2012. Masterclass participants prepared music written by Eric Ewazen, an American composer and longtime faculty member at the Juilliard School and lecturer for the New York Philharmonic’s Musical Encounters Series.

Altman worked with the brass students on their interpretation, articulation, tempi and phrasing.

Ewazen, who was the focus of Altman’s dissertation, spent a week at UNCP in 2005 when the university commissioned him to write a musical piece that was performed by the UNCP Wind Ensemble and choirs at the North Carolina Music Educators Association conference that year.

Also, during the workshop, Dr. Altman performed works by Ewazen and shared biographical information and stories about the legendary composer. Ascari, an internationally known musician and co-founder of the Verona Brass Ensemble, has also visited UNCP in recent years.

In 2013, Altman led a masterclass at the University of Trento in Italy and has collaborated several times with Ascari. A Fulbright U.S. Scholar in 2019, Altman has had lectureships in Ludwigsburg University in Germany in 2017 and 2018.

Altman, who joined the UNCP faculty in 1999, is a professor teaches trumpet, conducting, and is the director of bands, conducting the wind ensemble and concert band.