A group of Adrian elementary school students experienced the intersection between visual arts and music in a recent collaboration between the Adrian Center for the Arts and Adrian Symphony Orchestra.

The ASO played “Vitality,” a new piece by Ann Arbor composer Gala Flagello, at its Nov. 12 concert. The piece was composed in 2022, and Flagello was inspired by a quote from dancer and choreographer Martha Graham: “There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”

Each year, the ASO programs at least one new piece by a living composer, an opportunity made possible by people who donate to the symphony’s New Music Society. 

Earlier in the year, 18 students from Prairie Elementary School listened to Flagello’s piece and, with the help of ACA instructors Taina Mantey and Michele Pisano Spence, created 3D mixed-media works of art inspired by it. The students have been taking classes at the ACA as part of a collaboration with Adrian Public Schools to provide art enrichment for fourth and fifth graders.

The pieces were displayed in the lobby of Adrian College’s Dawson Auditorium at the Nov. 12 concert.