The Hartt School is pleased to welcome five new faculty members: Gary Capozziello, Violin faculty; Carolina Flores, associate professor of Choral Music and director of Choral Activities; Adam Glaser, visiting Professor of Orchestral Conducting and interim director of Orchestras; Kyle Robert Grimm, assistant professor of Music Composition; and Kyle Pfortmiller, Voice faculty.
Hartt is thrilled to announce a wonderful addition to the college string faculty: award-winning violinist Gary Capozziello. Recently appointed the assistant concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony, Capozziello enjoys a multifaceted career as a versatile performer and educator. His dynamic performances have garnered acclaim from sources such as WTNH, The Hartford Courant, Broadwayworld.com, and the American League of Orchestras. Hartford Magazine 2018 featured him in "Inspired: A Renaissance of Young Artists" (2018) and on the 2023 cover of "The Artful Mind." With recent concerto engagements across New England, Capozziello is highly sought after as a soloist, in addition to chamber musician, and orchestral performer. In his teaching, Capozziello is deeply passionate about sharing his expertise in the Alexander Technique and Mindfulness practices, empowering students and fellow musicians to tap into their deepest potential and find a harmonious connection between body and instrument. Formerly faculty at Quinnipiac University, Capozziello also teaches at Promisek Bach+ summer workshops and at the Hotchkiss School.
Carolina Flores is thrilled to return to The Hartt School. She has been awarded the 2015 Excellence of Teaching Award at Manchester Community College (MCC), the 2016 National NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award, and the 2018 National Hispanic Heritage MCC Employee Award (State of CT). For over 15 years, she has served in many capacities at the Connecticut chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (CT-ACDA) including as president from 2013 to 2015. Currently, Flores serves on the board of CANE (Choral Arts New England).
A native of Spain, Flores is a frequent lecturer, adjudicator, and clinician. She has previously held teaching positions at the University of Rhode Island, The Hartt School, Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford, CT), and Notre Dame High School (West Haven, CT). Currently, she is the Artistic Chorale director of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale (MSOC). She has also been the assistant director and accompanist for the New Haven Chorale in Connecticut, and the artistic director of the Pioneer Valley Cappella Choir in Northampton, MA. She has led choirs on tours of Austria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain.
Flores has held church positions as organist, choir master, and as music director in several churches in New York City and Connecticut, directing choirs of all ages. After 23 years as Music Director at St. Theresa Church in Trumbull, she retired in 2020 to pursue her research interests and to be able to spend more time with her family and return to singing professionally with choral groups. She has sung with Yale Camerata, Yale Pro Musica, Pro Arte Singers, and Voices of Concinnity and is currently a member of Alchemy and CONCORA.
As a pianist, Flores has been a prize-winner in several international and national piano competitions. In New York she performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Cami Hall, Rockefeller Center, and has performed as concerto soloist with the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Sixten Ehrling. Before becoming a choral conductor, she taught piano and chamber music, in Spain, New York, and Connecticut.
Flores obtained degrees in music education and piano pedagogy at the Superior Conservatory of Music in Zaragoza and the Royal Superior Conservatory of Music in Madrid, respectively. In addition, she earned BM and MM degrees in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and a DMA in choral conducting at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, CT.
Adam Glaser is the music director of the professional-caliber Juilliard Pre-College Orchestras and director of Orchestras and associate professor of Music at Hofstra University. In 2023, he began his tenure as music director and conductor of Long Island’s renowned South Shore Symphony. Recent engagements include the New Jersey Symphony, where Glaser filled in last-minute for music director Xian Zhang in critically acclaimed subscription concerts featuring violinist Hilary Hahn, Musical America’s 2023 Artist of the Year. Previous posts and engagements include principal conductor of the NYU Orchestras and the Usdan Center for the Arts, a nine-concert residency with the Symphonia Boca Raton, performances with the orchestras of Wheeling, Illinois and Victoria (British Columbia), and collaborations with such distinguished artists as Itzhak Perlman, Joyce Yang, Conrad Tao, Maxim Lando, Vijay Gupta, Timo Andres, Monica Yunus, and Areta Zhulla. Notable conservatory and youth orchestra engagements include the Interlochen Philharmonic, Purchase Symphony Orchestra, All-Eastern Honors Orchestra, and multiple All-State Honors Orchestras.
An established composer, Glaser has had his works performed by over 30 orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Utah, Vancouver, Illinois, and Toronto. Commissions include his Passacaglia for string orchestra, Launch for orchestra and chorus, and an arrangement of Hatikvah for string orchestra and children’s chorus.
An active jazz pianist, composer, and recording artist, Glaser released his debut CD, Wide Awake, with the Adam Glaser Trio in 2019 and followed in 2021 with a solo album, Excursions, featuring 15 original contemporary jazz instrumentals. As a founding member of Phil Orch Jazz, Glaser has performed and toured with this unique group of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, appearing at such venues as World Cafe Live and the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Stage in Philadelphia, the Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado. Equally at home across the pop/contemporary spectrum, he has collaborated with groups ranging from the bluegrass-inspired DePue Brothers Band to world-music/fusion group Batik. Following several years as a consultant and marketing manager for Fortune 500 companies, Glaser maintains a keen interest in commercial music, audio branding, and the use of music and sound throughout the business world.
Profoundly committed to arts education and community engagement, Glaser is the creator and host of The Composer’s Paintbrush, a series in which he leads audiences through an exploration of the creative techniques behind musical masterworks, previously presented by New York’s Morgan Library & Museum. Glaser earned graduate degrees in orchestral conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan), a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in English, Afro-American Studies and Music, and a diploma in composition from the Juilliard Pre-College Division.
Kyle Grimm is a composer and double bassist whose music has been described as "feisty technicolor" (Roger Zahab). His compositions strive to strike a balance between the gritty and the beautiful through juxtaposition, layering, and synthesis; often employing electronics alongside acoustic elements. Improvisations I, a full-length album for double bass and electronics, is currently streaming on all platforms. In addition to the stage, Grimm's works can be heard in the video game Hold the Fort, by Monster Tooth Studios and currently on Steam and the short film, The Autumn Waltz, currently on Amazon Prime. His compositions have been featured in many concerts and series, and he has had his works performed by numerous ensembles and soloists across the country. Grimm frequently performs his own works whether they are solo or chamber. He has curated, composed, and performed a recital for solo bass and live electronics titled Bass on Bass on Bass. In 2017, he performed alongside his colleagues in his multimedia work, L'inferno Etudes, based on the 1917 silent film, L'inferno. Grimm is also an advocate for his colleague's works and has been involved in numerous premieres and performances, including: ...of things known and others that are yet to be by Ken Steen, and pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design by Paula Matthusen. He has also played double bass under the direction of Robert Black and David Macbride.
Kyle Pfortmiller made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Marquis d’Obigny in a new production of La traviata, directed by Willy Decker during the 2010–11 season. He was heard later in the season in Capriccio. Kyle has returned to the MET as Marquis d'Obigny in 2012, 2014, and 2015 and has also been heard in Andre Chenier, Faust, La fanciulla del West, The Magic Flute, and as Brian's father in the New York Premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys.
Some of his most recent roles include a reprise of the role of Mr. XE in the Pulitzer Prize winning opera, Angel's Bone, by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek with the Beijing Festival and the Hong Kong New Arts Festival; his role debut as King Arthur in the musical Camelot with Intermountain Opera; and his role and company debut in the US premiere of Vivaldi’s Farnace as Aquilio with Spoleto Festival USA.
Pfortmiller has appeared with opera companies throughout the United States including the Metropolitan Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, New York City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Florida Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Carolina, Tulsa Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Memphis, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Saratoga, and Prototype Festival among many others.
He has employed his unique talent in opera, operetta, and musical theatre from the contemporary to the classic. His repertoire includes the title roles in Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Rigoletto, as well as Valentin (Faust), Eisenstein and Falke (Die Fledermaus), Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Silvio (Pagliacci), Count Carl Magnus Malcolm (A Little Night Music), Billy Bigelow (Carousel), Pierre/Red Shadow (The Desert Song), Hajj, the Poet (Kismet), and Henry Higgins (My Fair Lady).
As a voice teacher, he maintains a private studio in New York City and holds faculty positions at Molloy University and Lehigh University. Pfortmiller has given masterclasses at his alma mater Illinois Wesleyan University, University of Tulsa, Loyola University, Montana State University, and Buckhill Skytop Music Festival and returns semi-annually to the Bethesda Summer Music Festival.
Pfortmiller holds a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was honored to receive the 2014 Distinguished Alumnus Award. Pfortmiller is a Sullivan Award Winner, a Theodore Presser Scholar, and a proud member of both Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.