“I went back to school in my 50s,” says Flasch, 68. “I was sitting there at UW-Milwaukee with graduate conducting students.”
A year later, Flasch returned to the podium, this time as a maestra with confidence. Over the next decade, she honed her ability, learning to use her singing skills – expressiveness and an acute sense of tempo and sparkle, for example – to her advantage. She helped build Aurora University’s Music by the Lake series. In 2015, she brought her experience home to Milwaukee, where she founded the Southwestern Suburban Symphony, a professional orchestra focused on offering smart, accessible programming outside the city.
As for that early lesson? It was part of the journey. “If I hadn’t fallen on my keister, I might not have ended up here. It taught me what I didn’t know, and that is crucial in music.”
