Discussion Panel

Jeff Garza is Principal Horn of the San Antonio Symphony and the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon. He has served as guest Principal Horn of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has previously held positions with the Houston Grand Opera, Utah Festival Opera, New World Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and National Repertory Orchestra.

Jeff received his musical training at Rice University and Interlochen Arts Academy. He is Professor of Horn at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

Aaron A. Flagg was named dean of The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in March of 2009 by President Walter Harrison and Provost Lynn Pasquerella. As dean, he oversees a performing arts college for music, dance, and theatre with approximately 750 undergraduate and graduate students and 250 faculty and staff.

Originally from Baldwin Park, CA, Dr. Flagg is a professional trumpet player and received his undergraduate and master's degrees from The Juilliard School and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His diverse experience includes concerto, recital, orchestral, and chamber music performances in classical, jazz, and new music.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Hartford, he was Executive Director of Music Conservatory of Westchester (2005-2009), a graduate faculty member and Director of Educational Outreach at The Juilliard School (2000-2005), and Director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Connecticut (1999-2000).

As a trumpet player, Dr. Flagg has given concerto and other solo performances with orchestras, toured with chamber music groups, and performed numerous recitals. He has given master classes and recitals at Jackson State University and Fayetteville State University, and presented lectures at the Curtis Institute, Oberlin College, and Carnegie Hall.

His jazz performances include the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Music Outreach Jazz Ensemble, and the Aaron Flagg Quartet. He has toured with the Tania Leon's Son Sonora Ensemble; recorded with Roberta Flack and operatic soprano Barbara Conrad; and performed with the New York Philharmonic, Manhattan Virtuosi, Lansing Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Wynton Marsalis, Gladys Knight, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among others.

Dr. Flagg is currently a board member of the League of American Orchestras in New York. He has served on numerous grant panels and was New York Metro Area chapter chair for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. He has been a consultant with arts presenting organizations and universities around the country, while also being a teaching artist for 15 years with organizations including the Lincoln Center Institute, Carnegie Hall Education, New York Philharmonic Education, Memphis Arts Council, Guggenheim Museum, and the New York City Opera. He was named a national spokesman for the Music Educators National Conference in Virginia in 1999 and received the Rising Star Award for Westchester's "Forty under Forty" in 2008.

Alberto Suarez is in his first season as Principal Horn of the Kansas City Symphony. He also performs with the Britt Festival and the Mozart Festival in San Luis Obispo during the summer. Prior to joining KCS, Alberto was a member of the New World Symphony and has a Bachelors of Music from Northern Illinois University and a Masters of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music. James Sommerville, Principal Horn for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been his primary instructor since 2001.

Alberto has also worked with Michelle Baker from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As a member of the Huntington Brass Quintet, Alberto received critical acclaim for their 2002 recording, [i]Daniel Pinkham: Music for Brass[/i], and was part of Chamber Music America’s Rural Residency program.

Afa Sadykhly is Music Director of The Sphinx Organization, and oversees all artistic affairs, curricular design, and the artistic content of all programs. Ms. Sadykhly also serves as the editor for The Quarter Note, Sphinx’s quarterly newsletter. She has appeared as a speaker and presenter at national conferences, including the National Association for Schools of Music, the American Symphony Orchestra League, Americans for the Arts, and others. Ms. Sadykhly has also participated as an orchestra grant review panelist for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Most recently, she participated in the discussion panel hosted by Surdna Foundation on the topic of alumni tracking in educational institutions. She graduated with High Honors from the University of Michigan with Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Violin Performance. She has previously served on the faculty of Clarkston Community Conservatory in Southeast Michigan and was a member of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to extensive teaching experience, she has performed with several symphony orchestras and chamber groups in Russia, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Austria and the United States. She also has international corporate experience, having previously served as an Executive Assistant at ARCO, The International Oil and Gas Company in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Jeff Garza is Principal Horn of the San Antonio Symphony and the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon. He has served as guest Principal Horn of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has previously held positions with the Houston Grand Opera, Utah Festival Opera, New World Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and National Repertory Orchestra.

Jeff received his musical training at Rice University and Interlochen Arts Academy. He is Professor of Horn at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

Jeff Garza is Principal Horn of the San Antonio Symphony and the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon. He has served as guest Principal Horn of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has previously held positions with the Houston Grand Opera, Utah Festival Opera, New World Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and National Repertory Orchestra.

Jeff received his musical training at Rice University and Interlochen Arts Academy. He is Professor of Horn at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

Aaron A. Flagg was named dean of The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in March of 2009 by President Walter Harrison and Provost Lynn Pasquerella. As dean, he oversees a performing arts college for music, dance, and theatre with approximately 750 undergraduate and graduate students and 250 faculty and staff.

Originally from Baldwin Park, CA, Dr. Flagg is a professional trumpet player and received his undergraduate and master's degrees from The Juilliard School and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His diverse experience includes concerto, recital, orchestral, and chamber music performances in classical, jazz, and new music.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Hartford, he was Executive Director of Music Conservatory of Westchester (2005-2009), a graduate faculty member and Director of Educational Outreach at The Juilliard School (2000-2005), and Director of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Connecticut (1999-2000).

As a trumpet player, Dr. Flagg has given concerto and other solo performances with orchestras, toured with chamber music groups, and performed numerous recitals. He has given master classes and recitals at Jackson State University and Fayetteville State University, and presented lectures at the Curtis Institute, Oberlin College, and Carnegie Hall.

His jazz performances include the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Music Outreach Jazz Ensemble, and the Aaron Flagg Quartet. He has toured with the Tania Leon's Son Sonora Ensemble; recorded with Roberta Flack and operatic soprano Barbara Conrad; and performed with the New York Philharmonic, Manhattan Virtuosi, Lansing Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Wynton Marsalis, Gladys Knight, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among others.

Dr. Flagg is currently a board member of the League of American Orchestras in New York. He has served on numerous grant panels and was New York Metro Area chapter chair for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. He has been a consultant with arts presenting organizations and universities around the country, while also being a teaching artist for 15 years with organizations including the Lincoln Center Institute, Carnegie Hall Education, New York Philharmonic Education, Memphis Arts Council, Guggenheim Museum, and the New York City Opera. He was named a national spokesman for the Music Educators National Conference in Virginia in 1999 and received the Rising Star Award for Westchester's "Forty under Forty" in 2008.

Alberto Suarez is in his first season as Principal Horn of the Kansas City Symphony. He also performs with the Britt Festival and the Mozart Festival in San Luis Obispo during the summer. Prior to joining KCS, Alberto was a member of the New World Symphony and has a Bachelors of Music from Northern Illinois University and a Masters of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music. James Sommerville, Principal Horn for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been his primary instructor since 2001.

Alberto has also worked with Michelle Baker from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As a member of the Huntington Brass Quintet, Alberto received critical acclaim for their 2002 recording, [i]Daniel Pinkham: Music for Brass[/i], and was part of Chamber Music America’s Rural Residency program.

A native of New York City, Laura says, “My goal is to be an instrument. If God has given me a gift to use, I’ll use it and take care of it.” Double bassist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 1970, Laura began her musical training at the prestigious High School of Music and Art in New York City as well as the Dalcroze School of Music, studying with New York Philharmonic bassist Homer Mensch. She went on to study on major scholarship at Indiana University, studying bass with both Murray Grodner and Gary Karr. Also a trained contralto vocalist, Laura studied voice at Indiana University with both Vera Scammon and Elizabeth Mannion and later continued vocal studies with Mari Taniguchi at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Laura is a frequent soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of Doc Severinsen and Andreas Delfs. To quote James Auer of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel…"But it was Laura Snyder, the orchestra’s double bassist since 1970, who brought down the house—not as an instrumentalist but as a singer. Her sonorous, majestic contralto voice brought fire and moral magnificence to two traditional spirituals. The first, [i]Steal Away[/i], was alternately crooned and cried out as she paid homage to the person, and the message, of the Baby Jesus. The second, [i]Go Down Moses[/i], was as powerful a declaration of freedom as Uihlein Hall has ever, in its history, heard. Quite obviously, Snyder is an actress as well as a singer of remarkable gifts. She not only vocalized but acted out her intention that “Old Pharoah” shall “let my people go.” For a moment the Marcus Center was the Lincoln Memorial and she was Marian Anderson."

Laura is married to Fred Snyder, director of the Lawrence Academy of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. They have three grown children: Jennifer, Assistant Principal violist with the Virginia Symphony in Norfolk, Virginia; Jon, a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities majoring in theatre; and Jared, a cello performance major studying at the Juilliard School in New York City and UW-Milwaukee.

Laura and Fred have ministered in a variety of settings and locales, including numerous churches, conferences, retreats, seminars and tours. Highlights include singing at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, soloist with the Phoenix Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra, directing children’s musicals at Elmbrook Church, and singing gospel songs with the Milwaukee Youth Orchestra’s Senior Symphony on their tour of Spain and Italy. In 1998 and again in 1999 they traveled to Africa to minister and sing in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, and Cape Town and Pietermaritsburg in South Africa. In April of 2000, Laura was narrator with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in subscription performances of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.”

Her first CD, [i]Precious Lord, Take My Hand[/i], is her heart’s response to the plight of children in Khayalitsha Township outside Cape Town, South Africa, who live on the very edge of existence; all proceeds from this project go directly to their aid. A family production, this recording features both Jennifer and Jared accompanying their mother in a collection of hymns, Negro spirituals and gospel songs. The entire Snyder family toured southern Africa for three weeks in December of 2001, performing numerous benefit concerts and services for the children of Khayalitsha Township.

As an avid teacher of young people, in addition to her large private double bass studio in Milwaukee, she has served on the faculties of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, WI, Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, and Carroll College in Waukesha, WI, and currently teaches at UW-Milwaukee. In July of 2003 she traveled to Haiti to teach string bass to underprivileged children for 3 weeks. In February, 2000, she was awarded the Milwaukee Times Newspaper’s Black Excellence Award in Music, presented to African-Americans in our community who have opened the doors of change and who portray the essence of positive role models in our society. In 2004, the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee presented Laura Snyder with their prestigious Distinguished Citizen Award for significant musical contribution to the community.

Afa Sadykhly is Music Director of The Sphinx Organization, and oversees all artistic affairs, curricular design, and the artistic content of all programs. Ms. Sadykhly also serves as the editor for The Quarter Note, Sphinx’s quarterly newsletter. She has appeared as a speaker and presenter at national conferences, including the National Association for Schools of Music, the American Symphony Orchestra League, Americans for the Arts, and others. Ms. Sadykhly has also participated as an orchestra grant review panelist for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Most recently, she participated in the discussion panel hosted by Surdna Foundation on the topic of alumni tracking in educational institutions. She graduated with High Honors from the University of Michigan with Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Violin Performance. She has previously served on the faculty of Clarkston Community Conservatory in Southeast Michigan and was a member of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to extensive teaching experience, she has performed with several symphony orchestras and chamber groups in Russia, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Austria and the United States. She also has international corporate experience, having previously served as an Executive Assistant at ARCO, The International Oil and Gas Company in Baku, Azerbaijan.