Gala Flagello

Gala Flagello (b. 1994) is a composer, educator, and nonprofit director whose work is inspired by a passion for lyricism, rhythmic vitality, and fostering meaningful collaboration. Her music, described as "at times endearingly whimsical, at times ominous, but always moving" (Cleveland Classical), resonates with audiences through its emotional depth and dynamic expression. Flagello's collaborations with leading ensembles, artists, and institutions on national and international stages build impactful projects for audiences and performers alike.

Flagello’s 2024/25 season features the European premiere of Vitality with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including an international performance broadcast, along with orchestral performances of Bravado by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony, and the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra. She is a recipient of the 2024 Barlow General Commission, which will support the writing of Nebulous Beauty for the Thalea String Quartet. This season also includes over a dozen consortium premieres of Flagello’s Love & Nature, a wind band work commissioned by 55 ensembles across the United States, including the United States Air Force and Coast Guard Bands. Performances of Flagello’s works will be featured at music conferences across the country, including the Midwest Clinic, College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), and North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA).

Upcoming projects include a new piano concerto for soloist Henry Kramer and commissions from the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, the University of Nebraska–Omaha School of Music, and the University of Florida Bands. Album releases this season include Tallā Rouge’s Shapes in Collective Space featuring Burn as Brightly and a commercial recording of The Bird-While with Hub New Music and the University of Illinois Wind Symphony.

Flagello’s music frequently engages with topics such as environmental advocacy, gender equity, and mental health. The Bird-While, a concerto for Hub New Music and symphonic winds, is based on the environmental poetry of Michigan poet Keith Taylor, with each movement sonically exploring Michigan-specific flora and fauna. Other recent socially engaged projects include commissions from Diversify the Stand for Winds of Change; bassoonist Joseph Swift for his album Room to Breathe; mezzo-soprano Samantha Williams for her theatrical song cycle American Patriots; and the Georgia Run-Off Commissioning Project.

Flagello is a passionate educator and arts nonprofit leader. As the Festival Director and co-founder of the contemporary music festival Connecticut Summerfest, she champions the creation of new music and nurtures creative growth through collaboration. In her teaching, Flagello enthusiastically works with students to develop fledgling ideas into fully realized pieces, examine repertoire from Saint-Georges to Saariaho, and incorporate non-musical elements such as visual art and technology into their work. She maintains a private studio of composition students and has been engaged as Composer in Residence at institutions including the University of Michigan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Queen’s University (CAN). Flagello is proud to have co-designed and co-teach the course Commissioning and Collaboration Basics (ARTSADMN 406/506) at the University of Michigan with Hub New Music Executive Director Michael Avitabile.

Flagello earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition from The Hartt School, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the Dorothy Greenwald Graduate Fellowship. She has honed her craft as a Composition Fellow at prestigious institutions such as Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. Flagello’s works are self-published, with select works published by Just a Theory Press. When not composing, you can find her cooking up a new recipe, tending to her plethora of spider plants, or reading a good book.

Name note: Gala pronounces her name GAL-uh Flah-JEL-oh.
Upcoming premieres in the 2023/2024 season include Bravado for wind band by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Vitality for wind band by the Youth Performing Arts School Wind Ensemble at the Midwest Clinic, and Until My Last Breath by Horns of the Heartland. Other season highlights include performances by the Santa Fe Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, La Jolla Symphony, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Symphony Orchestra, and Central Ohio Symphony.

Flagello’s recent creative projects include collaborations with the Albany Symphony, Hub New Music, Peabody Essex Museum, University of Michigan Symphony Band, Virginia Tech Wind Ensemble, University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club, and the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus. Recent accolades include first prize in the Musicians Club of Women Composition Competition, the Sinta Quartet Composition Competition, and the Michigan Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer Prize. Her music will appear on upcoming albums including violinist Matt Albert’s &Violin (E Pluribus Unum for violin and viola) and saxophonist Jeff Siegfried’s Shades (Candlewood for soprano saxophone and piano).

Striving to use music as a vehicle for social change, Flagello frequently engages with topics such as environmental advocacy, gender equity, and mental health in her work. She was recently commissioned by Hub New Music to write The Bird-While, a concerto for Hub New Music and symphonic winds premiered by Michael Haithcock and the University of Michigan Symphony Band in 2023. The concerto is based on the environmental poetry of Michigan poet Keith Taylor, each movement sonically exploring Michigan-specific flora and fauna, and 5% of all score sales is donated to the Bird Center of Michigan. Flagello’s other recent socially engaged projects include commissions from Diversify the Stand for Winds of Change; bassoonist Joseph Swift for his album Room to Breathe; mezzo-soprano Samantha Williams for her theatrical song cycle American Patriots; and the Georgia Run-Off Commissioning Project.

Gala is a passionate educator in the classroom, privately, and as a guest lecturer. In her teaching, she enthusiastically works with students to develop fledgling ideas into fully realized pieces, examine repertoire from Saint-Georges to Saariaho, and incorporate non-musical elements such as visual art and technology into their work. Gala maintains a private studio of composition students at the high school and collegiate level. She has been engaged to speak on composition, orchestration, arts administration, and entrepreneurship at institutions such as The Hartt School, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Virginia Tech, Heidelberg University, and Central Connecticut State University. In winter 2024, she and Hub New Music Executive Director Michael Avitabile will co-teach the course Commissioning and Collaboration Basics at the University of Michigan.
Flagello earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition from The Hartt School, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the Dorothy Greenwald Graduate Fellowship. Gala’s works are self-published, with select works published by independent, eco-friendly publisher Just a Theory Press. Please visit www.galaflagello.com for more information.

Name note: Gala pronounces her name GAL-uh Flah-JEL-oh.