Dear Connecticut Summerfest Family,
It is with heavy hearts and immense gratitude that we announce the end of Connecticut Summerfest. After a decade of extraordinary music making, meaningful collaborations, and impactful community building, it is time to say goodbye to our cherished festival.
Connecticut Summerfest has changed our lives, and over the past ten years, our lives have changed alongside it. Aaron is now permanently based in Winnipeg, MB, Canada, where he teaches in the Education Faculty at the University of Manitoba, recently published a book chapter on the arts multiliteracies potentials for teaching and learning with video games, and writes music for close collaborators. Similarly, Gala no longer calls Connecticut home; she is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she can be found writing music for all types of ensembles, teaching at the University of Michigan, and mentoring the next generation of composers and arts leaders. Aaron and Gala began Connecticut Summerfest at The Hartt School in the early stages of their education; Gala was a junior in undergrad and Aaron was a first-year Master’s student. As their friendship blossomed, so did their ambitious dream for a nonprofit contemporary music festival right in their own backyard, an organization that would serve as a platform for talented early-career composers collaborating with some of the country’s most inventive chamber ensembles and distinguished composition faculty. Through hard work, the advice of mentors, and the support of a passionate and generous community, Gala and Aaron’s ambitious dream became a magnificent reality.
These past ten seasons of Connecticut Summerfest have seen enormous growth and vital artistic impact. Our inaugural season’s concert live-stream of a webcam on a wobbly chair became a high-quality, professional stream run by Kinsmen Sound Studio. Recording sessions for festival composers began as a 45-minute audio-only shoot and developed into one hour and 15-minute multi-camera intensives featuring colorful lighting, with composer consultations in advance to ensure their visions would be effectively captured. Our audience numbers grew both inside the concert hall and online, and our renowned ensembles-in-residence and composition faculty started to know the festival’s name and reputation for excellence before we even reached out. Connecticut Summerfest’s Composition Program application pool skyrocketed from 20 inaugural season applicants to 111 in Season 10, and the majority of festival composers each year were supported by our Gender Diversity Scholarships and Composers of Color Scholarships. Over the past decade, Connecticut Summerfest has been recommended in composer circles as the place that treats new music with the utmost care and in chamber music circles as the festival that prioritizes collaboration, craft, and creativity. Our West Hartford audiences came to concerts night after night, year after year, excited for what they would hear and knowing that—whether this was their first-ever concert of new music or their thousandth—their reactions and questions were valued and encouraged.
Although Connecticut Summerfest will not continue, its ethos and mission will. The Connecticut new music landscape is burgeoning with stunning experiences and artists. Moreover, nationally and internationally, summer music festivals have begun to prioritize essential collaboration between composers and performers. As composition students, we knew that hands-on experimentation and real-time feedback were vital to the development of new work, and, as co-directors, we executed this vision so that others would know the feeling of true collaboration. We are proud to be a part of this movement in our field and look forward to propagating this mission everywhere we go and in every future endeavor on which we embark.
To our donors, sponsors, volunteers, and audience members: a profound thank you. We are endlessly grateful for those of you who received a handwritten letter about an exciting new musical adventure in 2015 and are Connecticut Summerfest Family to this day. We encourage you to follow the careers of the composers and ensembles whose music touched you at our concert series and spread the joy of contemporary classical music. Thank you to our family, friends, and colleagues who have helped the festival bloom in astounding ways, from surprise grocery store runs to strategy meetings and everything in between. Last but certainly not least, a special shoutout to our parents and partners, who believed we could do anything and helped us get there every year with encouraging words and invaluable actions. Every moment of Connecticut Summerfest’s season is a testament to the support of every person who surrounds us, both in the field of music and in our daily lives.
And to our 2016–2025 festival composers, ensembles-in-residence, composition faculty, guest lecturers, and team: we truly could not have done this without you. Thank you for your excitement, encouragement, and enthusiasm for Connecticut Summerfest and its mission. Thank you for your performances, words of wisdom, mealtime conversations, game night fervor, kindness, professionalism, and warmheartedness. May we collaborate again in the future and may your artistic paths always be lit with the brightest of experiences.
Musically yours,
Gala Flagello
Festival Director
Aaron Price
Artistic Director
