Academy All-Stars: A 32-string Choir

When Jennifer Kloetzel steps on stage at Lehmann Hall to perform as part of the Music Academy’s All-Star Cello Choir in the final concert of the new Mariposa series on December 17, it will be the first time the cellist has appeared on campus under the Academy’s aegis since she was a second-time summer student in 1988. That was actually her second time at the festival as Kloetzel first matriculated in 1984, which was back when Abravanel Hall was just a dozen years old. Its replacement, Hahn Hall, is already 14 – and the students, who were yet to be called fellows – were housed in a single apartment building in the pre-Cate School and later Westmont College days. 

But Kloetzel still vividly remembers her summers in Montecito as a “very happy time when I just fell in love with this very magical place.” Practicing in the open-air near the fountain and the trees on the main house’s back patio helped her make it to the finals of the Concerto Competition as a 15-year-old, where she played Dvořák’s famed B minor opus, still a repertoire favorite. 

Since graduating from Juilliard, Kloetzel has gone on to a lauded career as a soloist and chamber musician, the latter exemplified by her founding membership in the San Francisco-based Cypress String Quartet (1996-2016), after which she found her way back to Santa Barbara for a teaching position at UCSB. That’s where Kloetzel has helped to establish a strong chamber music program that includes the Cello Squad, an ensemble that features her cello students. 

All of which makes her a smart choice for helping to put together the program for the All-Star Cello Choir concert, whose members also include Katrina Agate – who was Kloetzel’s student her first year at UCSB – plus Chas Barnard, the youngest alum and a 2020 Keston MAX Winner who was part of the recent Academy residency with the London Symphony Orchestra, along with Shirley Kim, Noah Seng-Hui Koh, Marcie Kolacki, Maki Kubota, and Emma Lee. 

Many of the members have never met before, but Kloetzel said that’s not an issue. 

“Cellists are great to be around in groups and we love to play together,” she said. “The cello ensemble repertoire is rich and varied, and all of us wanted to switch around between playing the melody or the bass lines – no divas in the bunch. So this is very exciting for us.” 

The concert will open with the full ensemble performing three movements from Grieg’s “Suite in the Olden Style, Op. 40” before breaking into two quartets that will play, respectively, two pieces written for cello in Paul Wiancko’s 2017 When the Night, followed by two movements of Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major.” The groups recombine back into an octet to perform Wagner’s “Feierliches Stück” from Lohengrin and the “Winter” and “Summer” movements of Piazzolla’s tango-fied The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. 

“It’s a great program with a broad scope and lots of variety from different countries around the world,” Kloetzel said. “And all but one of the pieces are arrangements by cellists created for groups of cellists. So you’re going to feel the cello love all over the place.” 

As will the musicians of the cello choir themselves when they come together and inspire each other with their unique approaches, she said. 

“The chemistry could be enormous with the pairs or trios or quartets of these cellists,” she said. “It’s exciting to see.” 

Dynamic Duo to Lead Music Academy Vocal Program 

Sasha Cooke and John Churchwell have been appointed co-directors of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy, completing the transition period of stewardship after legendary mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne retired from two decades as Voice Program Director in 2017. It was Horne who hired Churchwell for the faculty back in 2004, two years after she also mentored mezzo-soprano Cooke in her single summer at Miraflores. Now the acclaimed collaborative pianist and two-time Grammy-winning vocalist – who was in residence on campus last summer – will lead the long-term planning for the vocal institute’s curriculum, performance, and teaching roster, employing their expertise as industry influencers to fashion trailblazing training for future fellows.

Churchwell and Cooke are adjudicating auditions taking place this month in New York and Houston to create the roster of 2023 Lehrer Vocal Institute fellows and studio artists who will be the first to take advantage of the new co-directors’ innovative additions. This includes an industry day with managers and casting agents; a new Studio Artist program to create a pipeline of rising talent; an all-Spanish language performance actively pursuing diverse voices with Opera News Award-Winner and Mosher Guest Artist soprano, Ana María Martínez, alongside chamber music and zarzuela specialist, pianist, and coach César Cañón; and a unique vocal performance with a guest stage director that will incorporate artists’ input in the creative process. Visit musicacademy.org for more.