Gala Flagello

The music of composer Gala Flagello (b. 1994) “is both flesh and spirit, intensely psychological without sacrificing concrete musical enjoyment” (Lana Norris, I Care If You Listen). She is also the Festival Director and co-founder of the nonprofit contemporary music festival Connecticut Summerfest. Gala is a recipient of the Edward Diemente Prize for Excellence in Creative Activity (The Hartt School), the Artist Scholarship (Artists for World Peace), and the Dorothy Greenwald Graduate Fellowship (University of Michigan). She is the winner of the 2020 Sinta Quartet Composition Competition, 2020 Michigan Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer Prize, and the 2017 Dulciana Vocal Ensemble (Dublin, Ireland) Call for New Works.

Gala is enthusiastic about collaborating with performers, educators, and artists of all kinds. She has received two EXCEL Enterprise Grants for her projects Educational New Music for Developing Voices (2017) and The Contemporary Solo Horn (2018). Her piece Self-Talk, which was premiered at National Sawdust in August 2018, will be featured on Vanguard Reed Quintet’s debut album, Red Leaf Collection (release: June 2020). Gala is also a three-time collaborator of DAMET Percussion, writing Precious Metals and Fragile Goods for Natural Beauty, a multimedia touring show that aims to demonstrate humans' impact on our environment.

Gala holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition degree from The Hartt School, a Master of Music in Composition degree from the University of Michigan, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan. Her major composition teachers have included Michael Daugherty, Kristin Kuster, Evan Chambers, and Robert Carl, and she has studied horn with Susan Spaulding and David Wakefield. Gala's works are self-published, with select works published by independent, eco-friendly publisher Just a Theory Press.

Gala pronounces her name GAL-uh Flah-JEL-oh.