Romeo Cascarino (September 28, 1922 – January 8, 2002) was an American composer of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. Cascarino was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on September 28, 1922 and died in

Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough with Home Rule Municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area. Located ...

on January 8, 2002. He graduated from

South Philadelphia High School South Philadelphia High School is a public secondary high school located in the Lower Moyamensing neighborhood of South Philadelphia, at the intersection of Broad Street and Snyder Avenue. The school serves grades 9 through 12 and is part of ...

in June 1941. He served for many years as professor of music at the (now-defunct)

Combs College of Music Combs College of Music was a former music school founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1885 as Combs Broad Street Conservatory of Music by Gilbert Raynolds Combs, celebrated pianist, organist and composer. It closed in 1990. H ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He received two

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

s (in 1948 and 1949). His music is generally tonal, and his

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

is the opera ''

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

'', whose life had fascinated Cascarino since childhood. The opera took him nearly 25 years to compose (from 1950 to 1975), and it was premiered in 1982 at the Academy of Music in

with John Cheek of the Metropolitan Opera in the title role. CDs of his music have been released on Naxos featuring his Orchestral and Chamber Works with JoAnn Falletta conducting; 'Blades of Grass', for English Horn and String Orchestra was recorded on Innova with Orchestra 2001 conducted by James Freeman. His works have been played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Orleans Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic of London and the Nord Deutsches Symphony. His ballets ''Pygmalion'' and ''Prospice'' were mounted in Philadelphia and New York. In 1961 he arranged and conducted ''Pieces for Piano and Orchestra'' recorded in the cine Citta studios in Rome, Italy. From 1950 to 1957, he was musical director of the Co-opera Company giving performances of rarely heard operas in English, the translations often done by Cascarino himself.

External links

Romeo Cascarino biography
from Naxos site

May 28, 1988
South Philadelphia High School Alumni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cascarino, Romeo 1922 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American classical composers American male classical composers Musicians from Philadelphia Classical musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians