Engaging the Community

Aug 28 2006
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Aaron Flagg

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.

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A working definition of community engagement I enjoy is “the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people.” To what extent would or should this apply to our individual orchestra’s efforts? An interesting fact is that this definition is taken from the medical field, specifically from the Atlanta-based Center’s for Disease Control; a field with a much larger and deeper commitment to connecting with communities than symphony orchestras.

For our field, a simple title like “Engaging the Community” really has the panelists touching on several key questions, namely:

1. How we build on and innovate 150 years of presenting orchestral concerts?

2. How should musicians be prepared in school, and supported on the job, in order to play effective, active roles in engagement activities?

3. How big of a role should orchestras play in ensuring arts education for all in their community and in addressing our industry’s history of racisim that is the core cause of the current racial imbalance throughout the institution of orchestras (i.e., board, staff, and musicians)?

4. How can we learn program design concepts for interactive concerts?

At the end of the day, our mission statements should guide priorities. One per-service orchestra I perform with is called the West End Symphony. It is part of a small New York City arts in education organization called Music Outreach: Learning through Music Inc. Founded in 1965, its sole mission is “To demonstrate creative strategies for engaging young learners through the use of music and literature as catalysts for learning across the curriculum.” This clarity of mission leads this orchestra to carefully design the most engaging 45-minute program I’ve seen or participated in by an orchestra. The concerts are prefaced by in-school visits by musicians of the orchestra who teach the children songs played at the concerts and read stories, which will have orchestral accompaniment at the concerts. The conductor and individual orchestra members speak, there are solo features for several musicians, dancers, visual aids, and every concerts features children from the attending school performing with the orchestra. Despite many of the typical complaints, musicians are engaged and stay committed to these concerts; playing in the aisle for the kids, laughing together on stage, and knowing that they have made an impact.

I too wonder about Leonard’s figure of 4%. Perhaps it includes only music by folks like Beethoven, Schubert, and Hindemith. Although I don’t include video game music as great music (at least not yet), I do include music of Hailstork, Frank, Daughtery, Higdon, Marsalis, and others who are still alive and quite interesting. With this diversity in mind, I believe that we should be passionate about sharing great music with everyone, including the other 96%.

About the author

Aaron Flagg

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.

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