Remembering Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni

I'm saddened to share the news that our friend, composer, harpist, accordionist, professor of neuroscience, and beautiful person Evelyn T. Castiglioni passed over to the other side early this morning. She's been ill for a while, so it's not entirely unexpected. But it is a great loss to her family, friends, and the mandolin community.

I don’t recall exactly when I met Evelyn, but one of the earliest memories I have is when I was asked to play guitar backup with her excellent band Jalapeño Honey for a contra dance at Austin’s old Carpenter’s Hall. It was so much fun and that was my first taste of her wonderful signature trio arrangements.

Austin Mandolin Orchestra commissioned several pieces from her, Wild Onion Rag and Carousel. These remain among our favorites today and scores for these (and other) pieces are included in her book Concert Pieces for Mandolin Orchestra available on Amazon.

Over the years, I've valued Evelyn's friendship and collaboration as a fellow mandolinist and composer.

I’ve completely lost count of how many books of music Evelyn has compiled. She’s been prolific in creating catchy compositions and arrangements that are fun and approachable for mandolin - and mixed instrumentation. Just this summer, she published with her daughter Anna and Evelyn's Little Book for Mandolin Trios 2019: 50 Tunes for Mandolin Trios 2019.

I’ll miss her and I hope that you help me remember her through her music. Rest in peace, Evelyn.

Evelyn's publications on Amazon

Joel Hobbs
www.joelhobbs.com
https://www.facebook.com/AustinMandolinOrchestra/

That's a shame, I have brought Evelyn's arrangements into various groups I play with and they are always well received. We'll be playing a couple in Christmas shows, I am sure the audiences will enjoy them.

Evelyn was a very generous and encouraging person. I've learned countless new tunes from her arrangements, which she sent out a few times every year. You will be missed, Evelyn!

I’m really sorry to hear that Joel.
I actually never met Evelyn but it’s strange how life is sometimes, and the connections we make.
I wrote her a text a couple of months ago and I wanted to share it with you guys.

Hello Evelyn,
I’m really sorry to hear that you’re not well.
I have to thank you for your books, they’ve been a real comfort over the years.

One time, my daughter was about seven years old and we were walking back home from her piano lesson here in a small village in the South of France. It was a hot summer’s evening and she had had piano lessons before, but this time it was different. She was excited because she had just played a tune, ‘Row, row, row the boat’ I think it was. BUT at the same time her piano teacher had played the accompaniment.
‘At the same time, Dad’ she said.

For her it was all beginning to fit together and everything was beginning to make sense.
Anyway we got home and I showed her your first book that I’d printed from the internet.

‘Yes’, I said to her, ‘someone we don’t even know in America just shared it with us’. She nodded, ‘We’re so lucky’, she said.
She opened up the pamphlet and looked down at the lines and the black dots. And she saw that it was music and that each line was a different instrument. And she saw each person playing their part, all together, and all of a sudden she understood what was possible. And her eyes just lit up.
So Evelyn I want to thank you for that.

I wish I could say thanks again. I've never met Evelyn, but I enjoyed the music she shared here, and then I went on to buy 3 of her books off Amazon. I've shared her music with students, and my husband and I regularly play out of them, sometimes on mandos, others on recorders. She has touched so many of us in the music community, and her music will continue to do so. R.I.P. Evelyn....and thanks for your gift of music.

I have also never met Evelyn, but I've had extensive email exchanges with her over a period of many years. We had planned to meet up when she came to the UK earlier this year, but the logistics did not work out. Her generosity in sharing her many, many wonderful tunes and her help and encouragement in all matters musical has been invaluable. Our ensemble has over one hundred of her arrangements or original compositions in our repertoire folder, many of them firm favourites that are revisited and played on a regular basis. I had known that she was very ill, and so this news sadly does not come as a surprise. She will be missed by many!

Martin

Evelyn very generously contributed to the Kickstarter campaign a few years back, putting her hand up for a bent-top flat back classical mandolin which she said she enjoyed playing. She was a great help in getting my book published and much appreciated. I hope the mandolin finds another good home.

Thanks, Joel, for passing along what is really sad news.

I have enjoyed playing music from Evelyn's collections for many years. For some strange reason we continue to spend our winters up North and our summers back home in Texas. Evelyn's music helped make winter much more enjoyable. We never got together in Texas, much to my disappointment. And now regret.

She was a delightful person and personified what makes this place, and so many musical communities so priceless. The geographically range of the memorial messages here gives only a small indication of how many of us were both touched and influenced by Evelyn's generosity.

She will be missed....but also remembered each time I open one of her "Winter" collections.

Mick

Joel, thanks for sharing this news, sad as it is. I was lucky to have met Evelyn at the Austin CMSA (2015) and we had several conversations about composing, arranging and book production. She was kind and generous and amazingly productive and the quality of her work was first rate. I was very honored that she asked to include one of my tunes in her 2018 vol. 3 Big Book.

I remember a bunch of us went down the street to a restaurant one of those evenings (you might have been our guide) and I was lucky to sit near Evelyn and get to know her a little. My wife was already of fan of her work in the world of folk harp but I hadn't realized until then that she was a very accomplished academic as well.

She made a big impression in our little mandolin world in a short time but her arrangements and compositions will circulate for many years to come. She was the subject of many conversations at this year's CMSA ( as you can imagine, so were you) and many of her friends and admirers were sending her their support.

So sad to hear of another generous contributor to these pages and the music and instrument we love. RIP.

Sad news! I had a very brief interaction with Evelyn a couple years back when she bought my Flatiron 1N. She was super kind.

Thanks John, sorry I missed seeing folks at CMSA this year!

Sad news, Evelyn's arrangements are great, and I love to play the arrangements with my loop station. Evelyn has made a good contribution of easy and good sounding arrangements for mandolins - Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA9lpHnZbFU

Remembering Evelyn I made another video of one of her arrangements:
The Old Man and the Old Woman

Thanks Evelyn!

From her Book 3:
The Old Man and the Old Woman (Christmas Rum)
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