Culture Club: Moving into New Spaces

My name is Allyson Fleck and I was recently named Executive Director of Midsummer’s Music. I am not new to the Midsummer’s organization. I have been a violist with this amazing chamber ensemble since 2004 and added Assistant Artistic Director to my responsibilities back in 2015.

I love Door County. My parents grew up in Chicago and met while in school at Ripon College in Ripon, Wis. We moved many times as a family:  Illinois, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Georgia. Each time was an adventure of new spaces, friends, schools and communities. As a child, my parents inherited property at Green Lake where my mom had vacationed since she was a child. Her grandparents, also from Chicago, bought the land and would escape the hot Chicago summers with their families.

We spent many wonderful summers there. The home at the time was not equipped for winter weather. It was a small cottage, and I slept on the porch while my sisters shared a small bedroom. Now my parents have built a home at Green Lake that can be enjoyed all year long. My family gathers there frequently to visit and vacation. But, it was the wonderful fun and sun-filled summers in my youth that provided me a deep appreciation for Wisconsin.

The decision to study at the University of Wisconsin in Madison was a no-brainer. I received a Master in Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts, both in viola performance, from UW – Madison. I ended up on the faculty of Ripon College as an adjunct instructor and had a great time looking into photos and printings of my younger college-aged parents. Harrison Ford was an attendee at the time and there are some great pictures of my mom with the famous actor. After graduation from UW – Madison, I was on faculty at Beloit College as a full-time music professor.

I moved from Wisconsin to Georgia, where I had many professional successes in music, and then recently to Colorado, where I am currently. Colorado has been good to me professionally. It’s a beautiful state and the outdoors seem endless here on the front range. But, I am pulled back to Wisconsin and I couldn’t be happier to return to a place that has always felt like home. Someone wise said that you need to re-move yourself from the situation to appreciate its finest qualities. I always knew Wisconsin and Door County were amazing places but living elsewhere has confirmed how much I appreciate living here. In Door County there are beautiful vistas, restaurants, galleries, venues, arts organizations, nature preservation spaces and groups, schools, activities of all kinds, and most importantly a community that I am close to.

Midsummer’s Music performs all season long in Door County in beautiful spaces. In some ways we are always on the move, but all within the county. We play in spaces where the sunset adds to the concert experience and homes where you can hear the water play on the shoreline or meadow wildlife sing a tune. We play in venues that seem like they were designed with chamber music in mind. One of these new venues in Door County is the new Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. What a beautiful space to have a concert. Midsummer’s moves in starting Thursday, July 5 at 7 pm with a Bastille Celebration Program where you can hear a concert of all-French music. We have more performances on July 25 at 7 pm (music of Coleridge-Taylor and Brahms); Aug. 4 at 7 pm (music of Mozart, Raff and a collaboration with Write-on Door County); Aug. 26 at 3 pm (world premiere by our composer-in-residence Jacob Beranek, additional works by Smetana and Dvorak); and Sept. 22 at 7 pm (concert by Pro Arte Quartet). Please visit our website, midsummersmusic.com, for more concert information.

Allyson Fleck is currently Midsummer’s Music Executive Director, Assistant Artistic Director and Violist. She currently lives in Northern Colorado but is excited to soon call Door County her home. In Colorado she has served as Principal Viola in Greeley Philharmonic, Assistant Principal in Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra, section member of Cheyenne Symphony, and is active in the freelance community. In addition to performing with ensembles, Fleck has had management and administrative duties as orchestra manager of Cheyenne Symphony and librarian with the Greeley Philharmonic. She also teaches beginning strings at a private local school. Fleck enjoys spending time with her two boys, Jacob, 11, and Eli, 9. Together they enjoy music, the outdoors, and playing with their dogs Marley and Dutch.

Peninsula Arts and Humanities Alliance, Inc., which contributes Culture Club throughout the summer season, is a coalition of nonprofit organizations whose purpose is to enhance, promote and advocate the arts, humanities and natural sciences in Door County.