Violinist survives COVID, raises funds for out-of-work musicians

Hartford Symphony Orchestra member calls having illness ‘hell on earth’

When classical violinist Gary Capozziello emerged from a debilitating monthlong bout of COVID-19, he says “I felt compassion and love for what was around me. I decided to use the power of music to try and help others.”

Capozziello, member of Hartford Symphony Orchestra, decided to help his fellow musicians whose livelihoods had been affected by the crisis. He began posting videos of himself playing solo violin pieces as a Facebook fundraiser in hopes of raising $10,000 for an artist relief fund to be managed by the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

“I sweated over which foundation to do a fundraiser for. I thought, how can I really have an impact?”

On his Facebook page titled “Help Me Create a COVID-19 Artist Relief Fund,” Capozziello posts videos of himself playing separate movements from J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 3 and Belgian composer Eugene Ysaye’s Sonata for Solo Violin. The movements connect over time, as the fundraiser continues. When Capozziello has reached his goal of $10,000, he’ll perform a full-length livestreamed recital. The Greater Hartford Arts Council, which has managed other artist relief programs, will distribute the funds to Connecticut musicians.

A Fairfield native who recently moved to Avon from New York City following his illness, Capozziello feels fortunate that he is able to help, and even to play violin again.

“I was sick all of May,” Capozziello remembers. “I was like on my deathbed, man. I felt it wanting to get to my lungs. I wanted to go to a hospital but I was in New York City and it was too dangerous, so I just sweated it out. I was in so much pain. I had this terrible migraine for a week. It was hell on earth. Of course, being in bed three weeks or more, I wasn’t playing at all. I was too weak. I’m still recovering in some ways.”

In addition to the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, which has continued paying its musicians 80% of their usual salaries through the crisis, Capozziello has performed with orchestras around the state, including Manchester Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of New Haven, the American Chamber Orchestra in Fairfield County, the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra, Torrington Symphony Orchestra, the Hartt Orchestra and the Hartt Wind Ensemble. He’s also active with chamber ensembles (including as a founding member of the Atlas Piano Trio) and teaches violin at Quinnipiac University and the Hotchkiss School.

Capozziello saw how his fellow symphony musicians, and the orchestras which employ them, were impacted by the pandemic. Classical players will likely be among the last artists to be return to live performance, due to how closely together an ensemble needs to sit, and other issues such as sweat and spit flying around.

“I have friends who’ve lost everything,” Capozziello says. “Classical musicians basically freelance. They may have a few steady jobs, plus teaching. It’s a portfolio life, all gigs, gigs gigs — but then there were no gigs.”

Donations to Capozziello’s artist relief fund for Connecticut musicians can be made through the Facebook page, but also through the GHAC (with the donations specifically designated for “Capozziello COVID Fundraiser”).