Meet Isabella Carucci | Flutist, Writer, and Executive Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Isabella Carucci and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Isabella, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Notably, the “standard” composers for flute (e.g., Berbiguier, Anderson, Moyse, Tafannel, Gaubert, Altes, and Bitsch) are no longer living. Prominent living composers for flute, including Valerie Coleman, Shulamit Ran, and Adolphus Hailstork, create pieces with professionals in mind – these are only technically achievable by very few advanced high schoolers. For example, the Theodore Presser Company describes “Wish” by Valerie Coleman as “For advanced performers.” I envision a world where beginner and intermediate flutists can easily access music representing diverse identities, including their own, at a developmentally appropriate level. I think that this is especially important for students who do not want to pursue music professionally. Diversity belongs in music; this inspired me to create the Flute Pedagogy Project.

The Flute Pedagogy Project commissions composers from historically underrepresented communities to write pedagogically informed flute pieces for middle and high school flutists. Our website (flutepedagogyproject.com) offers the sheet music, example recordings, study guides, and interviews with the composers to students and their teachers for free. Our partnership with the Intermezzo Fund, a student-led organization here at the University of Michigan, will allow all students who use our website to directly apply for the Intermezzo Fund grants that cover the invisible costs of music, such as competition fees, travel funds, and lesson payments. For example, if a student would like to have a lesson through our website with me or Ella but cannot afford the $30 fee, a link will direct them to the Intermezzo Fund. Any student who wants to travel to Solo and Ensemble competitions with one of our pieces will have access to the Intermezzo Fund. Intermezzo Fund currently offers grants to students in the Michigan Youth Ensembles and, now, any student who accesses the Flute Pedagogy Project online.

Julia Caird, a flutist part of the Michigan Youth Ensemble’s Orchestra directed by Professor Jayce Ogren, is a senior in high school and premiered Xenia Llyllth’s “Two-Stepping on their Toes” with me in April 2024. Julia performed the student flute part, and I performed the optional teacher part, which helps guide students by making the piece into a duet for students who would rather not perform it alone. Working with me and Ella, composer Xenia incorporated tongue clicks and stomps to show the student flutist how to easily change between complex time signatures that they have not seen before. These aids, including the teacher part we commissioned from Xenia, make these uneven groupings and new rhythms accessible to students!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The music industry is constantly changing. I strive to be a well-rounded and socially aware critical thinker who can execute technical passages while challenging, informing, and delighting audiences. Most recently, I performed as a soloist with the Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra in April 2024 as the winner of the Solo Honors Competition. The focus and trust needed to collaborate with so many people at once made for an incredibly surreal experience! My professor, Amy Porter, gave me sound advice: always look at the conductor. Additionally, I have received first prize in the Baroque Charleston International Music Competition (2022), first prize in the Bellagrande International Music Competition (2023), second prize in the Darlene Dugan Young Artist Competition (2024), and honorable mention at the MTNA Young Woodwind Artists Competition (2023). I am a substitute flutist and piccolo player for the Lima Symphony Orchestra, Macomb Symphony, and Warren Symphony, positions I received by audition.

As a flute student at the Aspen Music Festival this past summer, I performed with Mark Sparks in the Aspen Chamber Symphony (conducted and directed by Robert Spano) in the festival’s third week. During this cycle, I realized two fundamental truths: reliability would be crucial to my career, and preparation was always reliable. During the performance, while I was very aware that Medici TV was recording and live-streaming the concert to more people than I could ever imagine, I leaned into my knowledge of the parts around me, aware of the intervals I was tuning from below as second flute and the others I was tuning from above as piccolo.

As Executive Director of the Flute Pedagogy Project, I have worked to incorporate our venture as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, record example recordings of our commissions, write and present grant proposals, connect prospective composers with the proper educational framework to guide their compositions, host showcase concerts, and premiere every commission.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In Ann Arbor, I love strolling around the Arb and going for coffee at Zingerman’s. Catching live performances at Blue Llama Jazz Club and Hill Auditorium is always a must. The entire flute studio at U-M went tubing on the Huron River, and the Ann Arbor Ramble Trail is a beautiful place to run or hike outside during the warmer months!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to Ella Hursh and Mattie Levy, the secretary and treasurer of the Flute Pedagogy Project. I couldn’t have done this without you!

Ella Hursh is a senior at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, majoring in instrumental music education and flute performance. Ella acted as the Dean’s Liaison for the Music Education department this past year and enjoyed teaching through the Crescendo Detroit Pathways Program. She frequently teaches at middle and high school music camps in the Ann Arbor and Madison areas as well as maintaining her private studio. She is currently the President of the Michigan Collegiate NAfME Board.

Mattie Levy is a Coordinator for the University of Michigan’s SMTD Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and a Program Coordinator Assistant for Wolverine Pathways. She recently graduated from the University of Michigan with an M.A. in Composition and M.M. in Oboe Performance. Recipient of the prestigious Presser Award, Mattie’s musical entitled Concert Black follows three Black classical musicians and their journey within and outside of academia. Mattie is the co-founder of Black Leaders in Art Collective, and her essay entitled “If my Imposter Syndrome had a Voice and the Reality of the Situation” was published in the online journal Music and Politics in the Moment.

Website: https://www.isabellacarucci.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabella.carucci.flute/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077083777702

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@IsabellaCarucciMusic

Other: https://flutepedagogyproject.com

Image Credits
Micheal Ayers (Perrysburg-211)