Alexandra Mascolo-David

“A splendid pianist—refined, searching and expressive, and her playing is loaded with insight and interpretative detail.” So wrote The Washington Post, after Alexandra Mascolo-David’s performance at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Ms. Mascolo-David has performed and led workshops and master classes in Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Kosovo), Asia (China, Japan), Oceania (Australia), and the Americas (Canada, Perú, Brazil, Costa Rica, USA), including a New York debut recital at Carnegie Hall (Weil Recital Hall) in May 2004, which received a glowing review in The New York Concert Review.

Dr. Mascolo-David is a native of Portugal and has devoted the last three decades to exploring and unearthing the music of Portuguese and Brazilian composers, especially that of Francisco Mignone. She is in the forefront of presenting Mignone’s piano music and her performances, especially of his Valsas brasileiras (Brazilian Waltzes), have been widely acclaimed. Her compact disc recording of Volume One of the Valsas brasileiras (2001) was highly praised by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Volume Two was released in 2007. Dr. Mascolo-David’s continuing research on Mignone’s music earned her a Research Excellence Grant from Central Michigan University to record his Fantasias Brasileiras (Brazilian Fantasies) for piano and orchestra with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, under Maestro Raymond Harvey for the White Pine Music recording label in a 2010 release. In addition to performing traditional solo and chamber literature, Dr. Mascolo-David has championed works by numerous contemporary composers, especially those of the late David Maslanka. Her performance in Maslanka’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Winds and Percussion” released by Albany Records in 2005 received accolades from the American Record Guide. She also co-commissioned and premiered Maslanka’s “Piano Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Wind Symphony” as part of a consortium of universities in 2017. 

Further collaborations include performances with the Trujillo Symphony Orchestra in Perú, five years with the Orpheus Piano Trio of Central Michigan University, appearances as a guest pianist with the Fontana Chamber Arts Summer Festival (Kalamazoo, MI), and the University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series. Dr. Mascolo-David is a founding member of the BelleDonne Piano Duo (with Brazilian pianist Rúbia Santos), and Yara Ensemble (with mezzo-soprano Sarah Stone). Both ensembles devoted themselves to exploring the rich landscape of Iberian, Brazilian, and American culture and heritage through music.

Dr. Mascolo-David is a most sought out and devoted teacher. Her students have won prizes in auditions and competitions and consistently achieve success in their career paths. She is an active participant in the movement devoted to performance anxiety management. Her contributions to this cause include the development and implementation of a successful performance anxiety management course at Central Michigan University, as well as presenting papers at national and international conferences and offering lectures and workshops on the subject throughout the U.S. and abroad. Another area of Dr. Mascolo-David’s interest is teaching effortless, injury-free piano technique. Her research and knowledge, coupled with lessons with Edna Golandsky and Joseph Gurt on the Dorothy Taubman approach to piano technique, led her to create and develop her own method of building technical skills in a methodic and systematic way, whilst preventing students from incurring piano-related injuries, despite assiduous practice.

Dr. Mascolo-David has taught at the Interlochen Arts camp, at Iowa State University, and was named Professor Emerita of Piano by Central Michigan University, where she served on the piano faculty for 29 years. Currently, she is Lecturer of Piano at the University of Kansas. She holds a piano diploma from the Oporto Conservatory of Music, Portugal, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in piano from the University of Kansas, where she studied with Sequeira Costa.

Dr. Mascolo-David is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards including the First Prize in the Piano Competition of Braga, Portugal, the Central Michigan University’s 2001 Provost’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity, the 2007 President’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity, and a 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Mascolo-David is an ecstatic survivor of an unruptured brain aneurysm craniotomy (2010). Ever since her miraculous recovery, she has lectured throughout the U.S. on the vital role that music played in her full rehabilitation. After many months of motor, occupational and speech therapy, Dr. Mascolo-David feels incredibly fortunate to have been given a renewed opportunity at life.