Dr. Joseph Baldassarre

has been a member of the Boise State University Department of Music Faculty since 1975. He is professor of music history and classical guitar, Music History coordinator, student advisor to the Bachelor of Arts-General Music Degree, and advisor to the BSU Guitar Society.

His teaching assignments include Music History and Literature I (Medieval-Renaissance), applied classical guitar, applied lute, Introduction to Music, Guitar Literature, Early Music Performance Practices, History of Rock Music, and director of the Classical Guitar Ensemble and the Early Music Ensembles.

Dr. Baldassarre holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Classic Guitar Performance with Emphasis in Early Music Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, a Master of Arts in Music History and Literature with a Minor in harpsichord from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, and a Bachelor of Music Education with a major in classic guitar and minors in string bass and flute.

His published articles include,"The Tournament of Tottenham: Music as Enhancement of the Prosody", joint article. Fifteenth-Century Studies 16 (1990): 239-52. "Baseball's Ancestry," The Baseball Almanac, Chapter 1, Capitol Publishing (1994): "Baseball before 1800," The S.A.B.R. 2001 Research Journal, and a book of scales and exercises for the electric bass. In 2004 his series of articles on how to play the medieval lute appeared in the (British) Lute Society Quarterly, and another article on the same subject in the Lute Society of America's Quarterly. His photo and biography is featured on the "Calibrata" and "300" sets of Aranjuez classsical guitar strings.

Dr. Baldassarre is a frequent soloist on classical guitar, lute, baroque guitar, vihuela, and other fretted strings. Most of his numerous instruments are self-researched and designed, and built by his father, Antonio. He is the founder of The Boise Early Music Society; Camerata, a duo with flutist/baroque flutist Linda Yordy; the Academy of St. Giles, an early music ensemble; and Ensemble Aranjuez, a guitar trio with adjunct faculty Ryan Nitz and Kelli Larson. He plays music publicly about 10 times per month.

He is working on several recording projects: an solo album of popular tunes named "Just Add Water", a solo medieval album, a CD of French baroque guitar suites; and has produced a CD of Irish and British folk tunes named "Young Jane". In the early 1990's he produced four medieval music albums with The Quill Consort.

His pastimes are playing in his rock band, playing racquetball, driving his 1930 Model A Ford, riding with his wife Jan on their Indian motorcycle, and is a baseball pitcher and infielder. He has three children, all in their 20's: Genya, Leyla and Stephen, and a grandson, Gabriel.