Writer and Speaker
In addition to his work as a conductor, arranger, and editor, Mr. Mauceri writes frequently on opera and musical theater. His writings on the music for the American cinema have expanded the definition of American music as well as twentieth century classical music. His articles on late-nineteenth century performance practices have challenged many accepted traditions in the performance of Verdi and Wagner. He is currently a member of the advisory panels of the Kurt Weill Edition as well as the American Institute for Verdi Studies at New York University.
His speech on the arts in the 20th century for the International Society of Performing Arts Administrators was featured as the cover story of Musical America in June of 1991. Mr. Mauceri wrote the opening commentary for Billboard magazine’s first annual classical music edition in September of 1994, and in January of 1995 he was featured in a long article for Symphony magazine called “No Sin in Cinema.” His speech for theAssociation of California Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Society for the Preservation of Film Music called “The Music that Has No Name” was reprinted inLincoln Center’s Stage bill program during September and October of 1995. His 1996 speech on the influence of acoustical environment on performance practice was published in 1998 in Italy. In February of 1998 Mr. Mauceri gave a significant paper on the long-term effect of World War II on music and esthetics called “Where has all the Music gone?” as the Keynote speaker for The National Conference of the Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio. In 1999 Mr. Mauceri was awarded a Berlin Fellowship from the American Academy in Berlin. His residence there helped support research on his planned book “The War on Music” which deals with the influence of World War II on contemporary esthetic evaluations.
Mauceri’s work on temporal structures, especially in the operas of Verdi, garnered an invitation to speak at the International Verdi Conference in 2001 (New York University), and his paper “Verdi for the 21st Century” was subsequently published in Florence. In 2003, he delivered a paper for the American Musicological Society Conference in Houston, Texas on textural theory and practice, and in 2005 he was the keynote speaker for the Major Orchestra Librarians Association Conference. His presentation “Exiles in Hollywood” was subsequently published in the society’s newsletter, and in June of 2006he addressed the American Symphony Orchestra League’s annual conference with a paper entitled “When you Play the Music and No One Hears it,” which was subsequently published in the league’s magazine, Symphony. In 2007, the league commissioned Mr.Mauceri to write a major assessment of West Side Story to celebrate the work’s 50th anniversary.
Mr. Mauceri's credentials within the academic world continue with the 2010 publication of an article, commissioned by Cambridge University Press for a Festschrift honoring Professor Philip Gossett, Chairman of the Music Department of the University of Chicago. The work, entitled "The Art of 'Translation'", is the epilogue of the book, Fashions and Legacies of Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera.
As Chancellor of UNCSA, John Mauceri has appeared twice on "Carolina Business Review," the oldest television series in North and South Carolina on business, as well as before the Appalachian Regional Development Institute Leadership Summit, to speak about the arts as an economic engine. He is co-chairman of the University Transformation Team, a group of university presidents and chancellors in the Triad region of North Carolina. He frequently acts as an advocate for the arts before state and federal legislators.
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