Chords for the Kids

School students had to face the music at the Music Academy of the West.

More than 300 youngsters from United Way of Santa Barbara County’s Fun in the Sun scheme attended a concert at Hahn Hall as part of the Up Close and Musical program, now in its eighth year.

The fun event, a collaboration between Janet Garufis, chairman and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust, and Scott Reed, President and CEO of the academy, featured pupils from Carpinteria Middle School, Harding, Franklin, El Camino and Solvang as they participated in musically themed outdoor activities, including interaction with world-class musicians and their instruments.

The concert, Percussion is Everywhere!, featuring faculty artists and Michael Werner, principal percussionist of the Seattle Symphony, was a high-octane interactive experience for the youngsters, many experiencing their first-ever concert.

Magnificent MAW

The Lobero was the place to be as the Music Academy of the West’s 72nd annual summer festival approaches its conclusion.

The Academy Chamber Orchestra, under conductor Thomas Ades, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard on piano, played works by Ravel and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, with mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce, tenor Ryan Hurley, and baritone Samuel Kidd.

Just 72 hours later the theater was packed for the Festival Artists Series, featuring works by Heinichen, and a fascinating performance by bass flutist Claire Chase playing works by Felipe Lara and Olga Neuwirth, the latter Magic Flu-idity featuring Conor Hanick on typewriter.

The innovative program concluded with Schubert’s String Quartet in C Major with the Takacs String Quartet.

A concert to write home about…

Man’s World

Author Steve Oney launched his latest book, A Man’s World: A Galley of Fighters, Creators, Actors, and Desparadoes, with a bijou bash at Tecolote, the tony tome temple in the upper village.

The work features 20 profiles of men written during Oney’s 40-plus years as a magazine journalist, including actor Harrison Ford, tortured rocker Gregg Allman, and Heisman Trophy footballer Herschel Walker.

The stories originally appeared in such glossies as GQ, Playboy, Esquire, Time, The New York Times, and Los Angeles magazines.

Harvard graduate Oney’s first book, And the Dead Shall Rise, an examination of the Leo Frank lynching, won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award for best work on the nation’s legal system, and the National Jewish Book Award for history.