Step into the Castle Hills home of Tom Masinter ’72, M’76, and you’ll find a sanctuary where music, history, and nature collide. Surrounded by a lush garden that resembles a miniature San Antonio Botanical Garden, Masinter lives a life defined by a passion to create and nurture. He is a composer, music director, master piano historian and restorer, Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM), and avid gardener—just to scratch the surface of his many talents.
At this home, Masinter instructs students on a meticulously restored 1929 Weber concert grand, one of hundreds of premium pianos, including Steinways and Baldwins, he has personally brought back to life over decades. His teaching studio, once highlighted in a KLRN-PBS special, centers on a philosophy far larger than scales and technique.
“When I am teaching a student over several years, I really get to see them grow in their music and as a person,” Masinter says. “My main goal is to turn out good people first, good musicians second, and good pianists third.”
Masinter’s connection to Trinity University runs deep, starting in 1968 when he followed his siblings, Wade ’68 and Susan ’69, to campus from their musical home in New Orleans. At Trinity, the encouragement of his professors set him on a course to major in geology and music composition and later earn a master’s in musicology. He loved his geology professors and was a lab assistant for three years and president of the Geology Club.
His music professors asked him to compose music for a first-year class musical, the first of three that he wrote. His musical Princess Alice was staged in Trinity’s Attic Theater in 1975. He also wrote incidental music for plays at Trinity, including The Fall of Faustus (1972), A Cry of Players (1973), Beyond the Horizon (1973), and The Realist (1974).
The late Choir Director Claude Zetty showcased many of Masinter’s choral works in multiple performances by the Trinity Choir in 1971 and 1972, while a collaboration with his late friend Mark Leonard ’75 produced “Don’t Say My Song is Over” for a 1973 KLRN-PBS special on aging.
Those early opportunities jump-started an extraordinary career. Today, Masinter’s piano compositions have been published by the likes of Warner Brothers Pub., Stardreams Pub., RBC Music Pub., Noteworthy Pub., and Alfred Pub., while his acclaimed musical Gone to Texas earned an Alamo Theatre Arts Council Globe Award for Excellence in Music across productions in San Antonio, Austin, and New York. Fire on the Bayou, his musical written with Leonard, has had two productions in San Antonio.
Never forgetting the community where his journey began, Masinter is an active fixture in alumni life, hosting annual holiday gatherings, attending Alumni Weekend, and consistently supporting the university as a Trinity True donor.
“My Trinity University education and experience have contributed to a wonderful life for me,” Masinter says. “Being a Trinity True contributor gives me the satisfaction of helping other students begin their paths to success and happiness.”
For Masinter, supporting Trinity means promoting an ecosystem where creative minds thrive.
“Trinity is for someone who is imaginative, creative, and really wants to contribute something more than just do a job. It’s the perfect environment to have your goals nurtured,” Masinter says. “Trinity was life-changing for me.”
Editor's Notes:
For more, visit Masinter’s website at http://www.tommasinter.com/index.html.
Several photos in this story were taken by Susan Masinter Riley ’69, a professional photographer.