THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
Guest Artist Recital of
SSgt Dr. Dominic Muzzi, Piano
Thursday, March 27, 2025
7:30 p.m. | Dohnányi Recital Hall
PROGRAM
Lament (2025)
Four Reflections (2019)
Nolan Miller (b. 1990)
Ben Rieke
Deep Water (b. 2000)
Shards of Glass
Eyes
Curved Metal
En rêve: Nocturne, S. 207 (1885)
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1847)
4. Pensée des morts
3. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude
Venezia e Napoli, S.162 (second version, 1859)
Tarantelle: Presto e canzone napolitana
INTERMISSION
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Recording Notice: This performance may be recorded. Please note that members of the audience may at times be included in this process. By attending this performance you consent to have your image or likeness appear in any live or recorded video or other transmission or reproduction made in conjunction to the performance.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
Each movement in Four Reflections takes inspiration from a different reflective surface both in its aesthetic and structural characteristics. The first movement, “Deep Water”, is a mood-setting prelude. “Shards of Glass”, a perpetual motion toccata, forgoes notion of a time signature for a rapidly unfolding scattershot of small groups of sixteenth notes that carry “shards” of ideas which are transformed through numerous different harmonic and textural idioms. The third movement, “Eyes”, unfolds in a giant modified palindrome where all the material is reflected (and mutated) around a midpoint. “Curved Metal” rounds out the set with a second brutal, driving toccata interrupted by a placid quintal chorale. Across the piece, gestures are often transposed, retrograded, rotated around an axis, or otherwise kaleidoscopically combined.
ABOUT THE GUEST ARTIST
Prize-winning pianist Dr. Dominic Muzzi has been hailed for his “mastery, precision and passion,” and maintains a multifaceted career as a soloist, educator, and collaborator. He has built a substantial presence in the competitive field, having won the gold medal and first prize in the 68th Wideman International Piano Concerto Competition, as well as first prize at the National finals of the Music Teachers National Association’s Young Artist Competition, sponsored by Steinway and Sons. Dominic also was awarded as a semi-finalist in the Chopin Foundation of the United States’ 2020 Competition, as well as a quarterfinalist in the Hastings International Concerto Competition, competing on scholarship after being selected as one of the top three North American candidates.
While pursuing his graduate work at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Dominic built a substantial presence in the competitive field, having won the gold medal and first prize in the 68th Wideman International Piano Concerto Competition, as well as first prize at the National finals of the Music Teachers National Association’s Young Artist Competition, sponsored by Steinway and Sons. Dominic also was a semi-finalist in the Chopin Foundation of the United States’ 2020 Competition, and quarterfinalist in the Hastings International Concerto Competition, competing on scholarship after being selected as one of the top three North American candidates. In the 2022-23 season, Dominic was Awarded ‘Honorable Mention’ and ‘Special Judges’ Prize’ at the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Piano Competition, Second Prize in the National Society of Arts and Letters’ Scholarship Competition, advancing to the national finals in Chicago, IL where he won the Robert Milton and Joanne-Dingwell Hanson Prize and Bronze Medal.
As a guest artist, Dominic enjoyed immensely successful debuts as featured soloist with the Shreveport Symphony and Symphony New Hampshire, performing the first two piano concerti of Sergei Rachmaninoff. His playing was reviewed as ‘breathtaking’, ‘electric’, and ‘incredible.’ He also performed two concerts with The Villages Philharmonic Orchestra, presenting Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in the Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center, which was reviewed as “an extraordinary talent… enhanced by passion and an exacting technique.” Furthermore, he appeared on the Texas Street Arts Series in Louisiana, as well as two ‘Chopin for All’ concerts sponsored by the Chopin Foundation of the United States. During the pandemic, Dominic appeared on two virtual concert series, presenting innovative programming and lectures on the ‘Empowered Musician’ and ‘5pm’ concert series, as well as speaking on podcasts and interviews. An enthusiastic recitalist and educator, Dominic frequently returns home to Florida to perform concerts in a community outreach capacity, having delivered engaging lectures and promoting an accessible approach to fine art for students and audiences alike.
Last concert season, Dominic gave a benefit concert in Port St. Joe, FL, playing to raise money for an anti-hunger fund and giving the public world premiere of ‘Four Reflections’, an award-winning major work by composer and friend Benjamin Rieke. As an educator, Dominic has also appeared as a guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music, being invited to perform and speak about the music of Chopin in undergraduate-level seminars for three years. This year, Dominic was invited to return to Indiana University as a guest artist, performing Bohuslav Martinů’s First Piano Concerto with the Ballet Company in the Musical Arts Center.
Dominic began training in the art of classical piano at the age of four, having shown keen aural ability before that age. Shortly thereafter, he began performing locally in his childhood home of central Florida, giving his first full-length public solo recital at the age of eleven. He was inspired to pursue music professionally in the summer of 2010 while attending the Summer Piano Institute at Florida State University. To that end, he completed his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Read Gainsford. Dominic earned his Master of Music in piano from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under the now-deceased legendary pedagogue Dr. Karen Shaw. Dominic completed his doctoral coursework under internationally acclaimed concert pianist Roberto Plano and graduated in the fall of 2023. While completing his doctoral studies, Dominic served for two years in the United States Army as a Specialist in the 100th Army Band, stationed at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, before successfully auditioning for the President’s Own and transferring to the Marine Corps where he serves as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Band “President’s Own” based in Washington, DC.
As a teacher, Dominic also maintains a successful studio, having prepared students for winning auditions at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, The Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins, The Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, The San Francisco Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, as well as pre-college programs such as Indiana University’s Summer Piano Academy.
In addition to his primary teachers, Dominic would like to extend special gratitude for mentorship from Alexander Gavrylyuk and André Watts.