Music director to leave after nearly three decades with Etowah Youth Orchestras
Michael Gagliardo says he's walking away after nearly three decades as music director of the Etowah Youth Orchestras at peace with his decision and knowing the time is right.
Gagliardo recently announced that he's retiring from the role at the end of the EYO's current season. His final public performance conducting the group will be the Spring Formal Concert on April 14 at Gadsden State Community College's Wallace Hall.
Gagliardo will continue, however, as music director of the Gadsden Symphony Orchestra, a post he's held since 2016.
He took over the EYO in August 1995, and under his leadership it's become one of the top orchestras of its type in the United States, with performances at New York's Carnegie Hall and overseas.
Gagliardo said multiple factors, both personal and professional, led to his decision.
“I'm a big believer that everything happens for a reason,” he said, “and when things start to align, you step back and look at it.”
He noted that he and his wife, Janet, have been splitting time between Nashville (where she works and they plan to retire) and Gadsden for the last few years.
Their son and his wife live in Nashville, while their daughter, her husband and their kids are in Gadsden, which Gagliardo said has been a nice arrangement in some ways. But while the three-hour drive “is not the worst drive in the world,” he added, “the more you do it, it will kind of wear on you.”
From a professional standpoint, he said, “I want to make sure I leave the program better than I found it and in a good, secure, stable place, with good people around it,” to ensure a smooth transition.
“We're there at that point,” he said.
A native of Alton, Illinois, Gagliardo has a musical background in piano and trumpet, and attended Eastern Illinois University and Ball State University, where he studied conducting.
He's actually the second music director of the EYO. Paul Pierce held that role for four years after the group was launched in 1990, and according to Gagliardo, “All the groundwork and all of the foundation was in place when I arrived.”
Gagliardo has conducted multiple other orchestras and bands over the years, including two stints as music director of the Jacksonville State University Civic Symphony; has been a regular guest conductor at state and regional music festivals across the U.S.; and has conducted musical theater performances for Theatre of Gadsden and the Jacksonville Opera Theatre.
Gagliardo has also been intensely involved in arts education, speaking and presenting at various conferences and contributing to educational outreach programs. He's been an adjunct faculty member in the Walters Department of Music at Jacksonville State University; has served as president of both the Alabama Orchestra Association and the Alabama String Teachers’ Associationl and has served on assortment of arts and musical education boards.
He's received a long list of education honors; has earned 12 ASCAP Awards with the EYO; and locally, received the 2009 Richard Malone Humanitarian Award for his work with the Humane Society.
Gagliardo said he didn't take the decision to step down from the EYO lightly, and that after he informed Tom Banks, executive director of the Gadsden Cultural Arts Foundation, of his plans, felt no regrets or relief, but a sense of peace “that I had made the right decision for me, the program, the foundation and my students.
“Nobody wants to stay too long,” he added, “and you don't want your legacy to be 'that person did some really good things, but those last few years they just stayed around too long.'”
Banks said the foundation is working on a job description for Gagliardo's replacement, hopes to begin advertising it this month and would like to have someone hired by May.
“Mike has been an incredible part of our programs,” he said of Gagliardo. “He's shaped and grown the EYO to what it is. He leaves huge shoes to fill. He's an incredibly dedicated educator and arts administrator as part of our programs, and we'll certainly miss his leadership and creativity.”
Gagliardo said there have been countless highlights during his years with the EYO, most notably trips to England, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and Carnegie Hall appearances in 2002, 2007 and 2015. The group debuted his original composition, “Corbeau: Suite for Orchestra,” in the 2015 concert.
He said he gets much satisfaction from interaction with former students — and not just actual EYO alumni, the organization has directed the strings program in Etowah County Schools and, until this year, Attalla City Schools and Gagliardo was personally involved in that instruction for several years.
“I'll run into people who'll say, 'You taught me in fifth grade at Southside Elementary School,' ” he sad.
He also enjoys seeing second-generation students come through the program, and seeing alumni go into music education. “picking up the torch and carrying on the tradition” as he put it.
Gagliardo said he's happy to be continuing his relationship with the Gadsden Symphony Orchestra. “It's such a joy,” he said, “because there's so much talent locally. It really is a local orchestra. They're an amazing group.”
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Michael Gagliardo to leave as Etowah Youth Orchestras' music director
