Tag archives: Music Academy of the West
The Gaviota Coast Conservancy (GCC) held its first annual fundraiser at the Music Academy of the West to celebrate the donation of $165 million to buy the Bixby Ranch and to preserve 32 acres (76 miles) of precious coastline forever. This was all due to the largess of Jack and Laura Dangermond. They wanted to […]
You won’t find any violins, violas or cellos on the grounds of the Music Academy of the West next Sunday afternoon, October 13, when the classical music institute hosts the Music in the Gardens benefit. But there will be plenty of guitars, electric basses, banjos, horns and even a fiddle or two at the second […]
It was a decidedly busy night when Santa Barbara Choral Society held a kick-off reception for its 72nd season at the Music Academy of the West. Claudia Scott, who has sung with the choir for half a century, was recognized for her sterling contribution to the choir, while Debra Stewart and Erica Di Bartolomeo, both […]
Supporters of The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County got a sneak peek of the charity’s forthcoming 8th annual Table of Life event at the Ennisbrook home of John and Betsey Muller when a reception was hosted at Marge Cafarelli‘s Public Market. Guests at the sunset soirée were able to taste bites from a number of […]
The Gaviota Coast Conservancy hosted its first ever Coastal Legacy bash at the sun-soaked Music Academy of the West, attracting 230 guests and raising around $200,000 for the environmental non-profit. The event honored philanthropists Jack and Laura Dangermond who, two years ago, preserved in perpetuity the largest privately-owned ranch on the Gaviota Coast with the […]
On Saturday September 21, from 2 to 5 pm in the sun-dappled environs of the Music Academy of the West, Jack and Laura Dangermond will be honored with the Gaviota Coast Conservancy’s (GCC) Coastal Legacy Award for 2019 – a festive and deeply grateful acknowledgement of the couple’s show-stopping rescue of 24,000 long-contested acres with […]
Despite the fact that she is Kenny Loggins’ youngest daughter, and half-sister to Crosby Loggins, once a stalwart on the Santa Barbara music scene who was the winner of MTV’s Rock the Cradle back in 2008, it wasn’t pre-ordained that Hana Aluna would become a professional musician. Sure, Kenny wrote and recorded the lullaby with […]
The Music Academy of the West concluded its 72nd annual summer festival on a high note when the Academy Festival Orchestra, under conductor Marin Alsop, performed Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 at the Granada. The entertaining program also comprised of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon‘s 13-minute piece blue cathedral, just a week after her well received […]
Marin Alsop is a serious classical musician, perhaps even more so than the average conductor, given what she had to go through to accomplish what she has over a 35-year career. Along with her many other achievements, Alsop became the first woman ever to lead a major American orchestra when she was appointed music director […]
A positive plethora of presidents, past and present, descended on the Hilton Beachfront Resort for the sold-out 71st annual La Reception del Presidents, kicking off Fiesta Week in grand style. The fun fête in the Plaza del Sol, short on speeches and long on tradition with dancing and music, attracted more than 330 local dignitaries, […]
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 […]
For its 2019 opera presentation, Music Academy of the West is providing the vocal and instrumental fellows the chance to take on a very modern work that has only had a handful of previous productions. Cold Mountain – the 2014 saga from the prolific composer Jennifer Higdon – is adapted from Charles Frazier’s epic Civil […]
As the 72nd Music Academy of the West summer festival nears its conclusion, the Santa Barbara Bowl was the place to be on an idyllic evening for a community concert with the historic London Symphony Orchestra and the Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Daniel Harding, music director of the Orchestre de Paris. The sold-out show, […]
Five-time Grammy Award winner and 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Award recipient double bassist Edgar Meyer negotiates a rarely traveled road as a star in both the classical music and bluegrass worlds, where he works as both a performer and a composer. Hailed dryly by The New Yorker as “the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively […]
The “Cocoon” world premiere arrived in a sold-out concert on July 19 at the Music Academy of the West (MAW) Hahn Hall, as part of the MAW Fellows “Picnic Concert Series.” The guest artist composition titled “Cocoon,” by Jim Stephenson, is a trifecta Artist in Resident project which started July 2018 incorporating science, music, and […]
Classical musicians don’t come much more ambitious and open-minded than flutist Claire Chase. The accomplishments of the soloist, collaborative artist, curator, and advocate for new and experimental music are numerous, including founding the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2001, which has premiered more than 800 works since its inception, while her recognition includes being named […]
It was a trip down memory lane for polo patriarch Glen Holden and his wife, Gloria, when for the first time in six years, they hosted a Family Fun Day at their former Gehache Ranch, now owned by Santa Barbara Polo Club president, John Muse. The fun event was so oversubscribed, with more than 500 […]
The London Symphony Orchestra’s four-year partnership with the Music Academy of the West, which came on the heels of a similar groundbreaking deal with the New York Philharmonic from 2014-17, officially began last year. But this summer is when the entire LSO – one of the world’s great orchestras that is also well known for […]
East Valley Road to Perdition I am astonished to be writing again about the Ennisbrook Owner’s Association and their unwillingness to fulfill their responsibilities to us as members and residents. Ennisbrook owns our entire road. It starts at East Valley Road, and continues past ten properties and the four Ennisbrook members are the last four […]
Jerome Lowenthal is one of the most electric pianistic personalities before the public,” so says one of his reviewers. Santa Barbara’s The Music Academy of the West (MAW) claims him for their own because he has been a part of their eight-week summer program for an amazing 50 years mentoring students. Yet he has appeared […]