For some, summer music means jam bands and nostalgia acts. Connecticut Summerfest provides a true alternative with free indoor concerts of contemporary classical music with guest acts from other parts of the country playing some brand-new works with the composers in attendance. The annual Connecticut Summerfest is an opportunity for the composers, most of whom are still in their 20s, to hear their new works played for the first time by skilled chamber music ensembles before appreciative audiences at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School.
Connecticut Summerfest’s stated mission is to bring together “talented emerging composers with some of the country’s most inventive chamber music ensembles for a week-long festival of artistic exchange culminating in nine world premieres.” Four free public concerts are being held this year. First, each of the three ensembles in residence at the festival gets its own concert, performing works by established composers.
Then there’s a final concert where all three resident ensembles premiere new works by the nine resident composers. Aaron N. Price and Gala Flagello, both Connecticut natives, are the co-founders of Connecticut Summerfest, which is now in its ninth season.
Price is the artistic director and Flagello has the title of festival director. The Hartt School has been a great partner in building the festival. “Aaron and I are both composers ourselves, and we’re both graduates of the Hartt School,” Flagello said.
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