Faculty

Please meet our wonderful team of instructors and administrators.

Tino D’Agostino

Founder/Director
Trained both in Italy and the US, Tino brings a wealth of knowledge in traditional music as well as modern Jazz and Pop. As instrumental director at Arlington (MA) High School, his ensembles have performed at All-State Conferences and tours of Italy. A noted clinician, he has presented workshops for music educators at Massachussets Music Educators Conferences and at Drum Festival, Montreal, CanadaBass. He has performed with Andrea Bocelli and Ivan Cattaneo in Italy as well as Mike Stern and Wayne Krantz in the US. 

polly ford

Art instructor
Polly Ford has been an art teacher for grades K through 8 for over 18 years. Polly currently teaches at the Ottoson Middle School in Arlington, Massachusetts. She holds art and education degrees and has studied at the Chautauqua Institute of Art, Temple University’s Tyler School of Art program in Rome, Bates College, and the University of Texas in Austin.  A working artist, Polly works primarily in oil and acrylics. She has shown her work in Austin, Dallas, Boston and Providence.

Kristi Scaccia

Music and Wellness Instructor
Kristi Scaccia, holds a Bachelors degree in Horn performance from Florida State University and a Masters in performance from the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, where she studied with world renowned Horn player Alessio Allegrini. Kristi is a freelance horn player and has International performing experience from touring the US with Carolina Crown, to performing in Japan, and performing across Italy and Switzerland. In addition to her performing experience, Kristi has a deep seeded passion for teaching. She holds many positions teaching music in the Arlington Public Schools, is certified in Baby-Toddler First Steps in Music, and is an instructor at the North End Music and Performing Arts Center in Boston, MA. She has been a marching band instructor for many years, was a visual technician for award winning WGI indoor percussion ensembles, and teaches private horn and brass lessons. Aside from her life of music, Kristi enjoys learning and teaching yoga for musicians, learning and coaching personal development, coaching workouts, and spending time outside with her dogs, Monty and Sofia.

Sarah Barker

Resident Nurse
Sarah Barker, BSN, RN, NCSN

Sarah has been a school nurse since 2012 caring for middle and high school-aged students.  Currently, she works in Arlington Public Schools at Ottoson Middle School. In addition to traveling to Italy with the AHS Performing Arts Program in 2018 and 2023, Sarah has also enjoyed working as a camp nurse during the summers at overnight camps both in the US and Italy since 2014. Prior to being a school nurse, Sarah worked in multiple in-patient acute care settings. Sarah received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Connecticut and is a Nationally Certified School Nurse. Sarah loves working with and caring for kids, supporting them on their developmental journey.

Tommaso tola

Music Instructor-Percussion Specialist
Tommaso Pietro Tola was born and raised in Varese, Italy. He began learning music at age five, and by age six, he was playing flute at a music school in his city. It was not until age eleven that Tommaso left the flute and began playing drum-set at the secondary school of Varese with Professor Andrea Cappellari. He continued to play drum-set throughout high school with lessons from Pino Li Trenta, a well known Italian percussionist. Following high school, he passed the exams for Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, where he continues to study all percussion to earn his Masters in Music Pedagogy. At 24 years old, he has had the opportunity to play with masters like Alessandro Cadario, Ennio Morricone, Edoardo Piazzoli, Thomas Netopil, Vladimir Verbitsky, Sergio Bellotti, Tino D’agostino, and had the opportunity to perform in America with the Mount Prospect Community Band in Chicago. Currently, Tommaso teaches drum-set and percussion in Switzerland and Italy.

Pasquale Tassone

Honorable Mention and Co-Founder
Pasquale Tassone studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, has an honors diploma from the Chigiana Academy in Siena, Italy, and a Ph D from Brandeis University. He has written music for the University of Lowell recital series, the M.I.T. Band, and ALEA III. His music is published by E.C. Schirmer, Kendor Music, Grand Mesa Publications, Fenwick Parva Press and RCEditions. Tassone’s music has been performed and premiered in places such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing arts in Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, the Artama Choral Festival in the Czech Republic, London, Scotland and the Vatican City in Rome. Some of Tassone’s other accomplishments include, first prize from Catholic University’s Composition Contest, and Finalist for the 2012 European American Musical Alliance Prize. In January 2018, his Wings of Light for String Quartet was chosen by the Italian Center for Rare Diseases in Rome as an artistic contribution in the fight against rare diseases. Among being an accomplished composer, Pasquale Tassone served as Fine Arts Director in the Arlington, Massachusetts Public Schools until his retirement in 2008.