It is with a heavy heart I report that we lost our good friend and conductor of 17 years,
Crisante Ianni
on Thankgiving Day, 2007.
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2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the Munier Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra! The orchestra originally consisted of two smaller groups of classical mandolin aficionados from Philadelphia, PA who united under the baton of Dr. Joseph Tiracchia. Dr. Tiracchia’s father had the unique qualification of having been personally acquainted with Carlo Munier and Raffaele Calace and was a dedicated student of these mandolin greats.

This orchestra is named after the great composer, teacher and mandolin virtuoso, Carlo Munier. He was born in Naples, Italy, (the home of the “Neapolitan” mandolin which is the instrument that is played today) on July 15, 1859. He died in Florence, Italy, on February 11, 1911. He is credited with elevating the status of the mandolin to its rightful place as a classical instrument because of his artistry, his world-renowned teaching methods and his compositions, which number more than three hundred.

The orchestra draws from a deep repertoire of mandolin music spanning from little known but virtuosic compositions by Calace and Munier to the universally familiar O Sole Mio and Funiculi-Funicula.

The orchestra had recorded three LPs of this music in the early and middle 1960’s. Thereafter, the classical mandolin entered a period of diminished popularity in the United States that is only now being replaced with a renewed interest in this beautiful orchestral sound. As this interest has grown, it has been accompanied by a desire on the part of our enthusiastic audiences to own some recordings. Alas! The early recordings were now long out of print and are only available through dedicated mandolin music collectors.

Currently, a project is underway to preserve these recordings, along with more recent material, using today's media, Compact Disc

Today, The Munier Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra members are proficient amateur musicians of divergent backgrounds whose dedication to the preservation of the mandolin and its music is paramount.

Most of the members live in the Delaware Valley which includes Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, South Jersey and Delaware.

The recent popularity of the mandolin and its music has resulted in the formation of mandolin orchestras in this country and throughout the world. The Munier Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra, under the leadership of its present director/conductor, Robert Henry, is proud to have been a pioneer in this movement.