Sonoma County Honor Bands Concert

Dr. Jerome Fleg has conducted and performed throughout the United States, Europe and South America. He is Director of Instrumental Music at Santa Rosa Junior College where he currently conducts the Orchestra & Symphonic Band.  He has served as director of the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies, Simply Strings Orchestra, Casper College Jazz Band and Colorado Youth Symphony Wind Ensemble.  Dr. Fleg also served as conductor of the Archipelago Music Festival, Guatemala Jazz Festival Big Band, and Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Youth Symphony Philharmonia. He and his ensembles have won awards such as 2 nd  place award in Reno Jazz Festival (as director of SRJC Jazz Band), and have been featured on major media outlets (TV, radio, newspaper, internet).  Dr. Fleg previously served as a faculty member at Casper College, University of Wyoming at Casper, and University of Wyoming.

He currently plays bass clarinet position with the Central City Opera, and has performed with a variety of Bay Area Ensembles including Santa Rosa Symphony & Symphony of the Redwoods.  Dr. Fleg has held Principal Clarinet positions with the Wyoming Symphony, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Mantonvani Orchestra (tour) and the Antero Wind Quintet. As a member of the Antero Wind Quintet, Dr. Fleg won 1st Prize in the Plowman Chamber
Music Competition and silver medal in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.

Dr. Fleg has received awards such as a Faculty Recognition Award at Santa Rosa Junior College and "Best Should Teach"; silver award at the University of Colorado.  He holds a BM & BMEd Degrees from Peabody Conservatory, MM from University of Northern Colorado and Doctorate from University of Colorado.

Michael D. Stone earned the B.A. in Music Education/Performance and the M. Ed. from University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Stone serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for the Bakersfield City School District. As the arts administrator for the district, he oversees arts programs at 31 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, and 2 junior high schools. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Stone served for over 14 years as instrumental music teacher at Chipman Junior High School, also in the Bakersfield City School District.

Chipman bands and orchestras consistently earned Unanimous Superior Ratings at California Music Educators Association (CMEA) ratings festivals during his tenure. Chipman ensembles performed at the state conferences of CMEA and California Band Directors Association. Mr. Stone was featured in the January 1999 issue of The Instrumentalist Magazine, and has written several articles for the magazine since that time. During the summer of 1998, he was awarded the prestigious "Fellowship in Music Education" at Northwestern University. In March of 2009, Mr. Stone served as an Online Mentor for the Music Educators National Conference National Council of Supervisors of Music Education. In 2016, Mr. Stone authored a blog post entitled “Mentoring New Music Educators for Lifelong Success in the Profession” for the National Association for Music Education, or NAfME.

Under his leadership, Bakersfield City School District was named a Best Communities for Music Education Award Winner 2013-2022 by the National Association of Music Merchants. The District’s Music In Our Schools Week instrumental music recruitment program received a 2014 Golden Bell Award of the California School Boards Association, as did the District’s Choir Standards Festival in 2019. In October of 2015, Mr. Stone was recognized by the Arts Council of Kern as its Outstanding Arts Educator at its Accomplishments Awards Gala.

Mr. Stone is a Past President of CMEA, CBDA, CMEA Central Section, Kern County Music Educators Association, and begins work as the Chair of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Council of Music Program Leaders beginning on July 1, 2020, appointed by NAfME President Mackie Spradley. He served as the Music Supervisors Representative on the CMEA State Council from 2018-2020, and was Western Division Representative on the NAfME Council of Music Program leaders from 2016-2019, becoming Chair of the Council in 2020. Mr. Stone is the current Western Division President-Elect for the NAfME National Executive Board. He has also served in an adjunct capacity at California State University, Bakersfield, teaching instrumental music methods to undergraduates. He holds active memberships in many professional organizations, including NAfME, CBDA, CMEA, KCMEA, and Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association and was inducted into the American School Band Directors Association in 2001. Mr. Stone is a euphoniumist and trombonist, and is a
founding member of the Bakersfield Winds, a symphonic wind ensemble.

Active as an adjudicator and guest conductor, Mr. Stone has conducted honor bands and orchestras and clinics throughout California, as well as in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. Recent guest conducting engagements include the 2019 Hart School District Junior High School Honor Band and the 2019 San Luis Obispo County Middle School Honor Band. In December of 2021, he presented at the Midwest Band and
Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. Mr. Stone has served for many years as a guest conductor at the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp in California’s Sonoma County.