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Auburn High School 405 S. Dean Rd. Auburn, AL 36830 (334) 887-2117 __________ |
| Auburn High School Band Alumni Profiles:
Mark Sforzini |
Mark Sforzini was a member of the Auburn High School Band
from 1983-87, and is currently the principal bassoon and soloist for the Florida Symphony Orchestra, music director for the Pinellas
Youth Symphony, and a prolific composer. While at Auburn High, he qualified for a spot in the Alabama Bandmasters All-State
Red Band four years, sitting first chair Red Band his sophomore, junior, and senior years, as well as being selected as a
McDonald's All-American Band Member.
After graduating from Auburn High, Sforzini attended Florida State University, where he recieved his Bachelor of Music studying under John Hunt and William Winstead. At Florida State, Sforzini was a two-time grand prize winner of the Richard E. Burgin Solo Competition and was named the Theodore Presser Scholar in 1990. Sforzini has also held positions with the Tallahassee Symphony and the Naples Philharmonic, and has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra. He has served on faculty at Florida College, the Sewanee Summer Music Center in Tennessee, and Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, as well as giving master classes at Florida State University and Rice University's Shepard School of Music, where he premiered Scott McCallister's Quintet for Bassoon and Strings. He has also recently premiered the Industrial Sextet for winds, brass and strings, Trio for Organ, Clarinet and Bassoon, and his wind quintet, Dark Song of a Nomadic Tribe. Sforzini's recent compositions include Water Works - Aqua Rising for full orchestra; Rhapsody, a duet for flute and bassoon; Two American Sketches, for clarinet and English horn; and Remembrance Upon a Midnight Hour, for solo cello. He is currently one of two finalists for the position of Assistant Principal Bassoon with the world-famous Cleveland Orchestra.
Though Sforzini's recent compositions have sometimes delved into fairly uncommon instrumentation, one of Sforzini's earliest works was for wind band. In 1986, the Auburn High School Band premiered Sfozini's tone poem for band, Paradox, featuring Sforzini on bassoon. Click on the following link to here Mark Sforzini's Paradox, as performed by the Auburn High School Symphonic Band under director Tommy Goff.
Paradox - Mark Sforzini
To hear one of Sforzini's more recent works, you can purchase cellist Elizabeth Morrow's 1999 CD, Soliloquy - Contemporary Works for Unaccompanied Cello, which includes Sforzini's Remembrance Upon a Midnight Hour.
Soliloquy - Contemporary Works for Unaccompanied Cello
© Trey Armistead, 2001. Last revised 9 December 2001.
Related sites
• Band History
• Awards and Honors
• All-State Members
• Individual Awards
