Tag archives: Music Academy of the West

It was all a case of location, location, location as the Music Academy of the West’s 72nd annual summer festival entered its second week. Having staged all concerts at Hahn Hall on the Miraflores campus with the fest’s kickoff, the Lobero and Granada were added into the mix this week. The Festival Artists Series at […]

The Music Academy of the West transforms the Granada Theatre into Mission Control for a special London Symphony Orchestra space-themed family concert next Friday, July 12, kicking off three straight days of different programs with the esteemed British orchestra in the second year of its partnership with MAW. The Voyager program, which incorporates excerpts from […]

A ten-acre Montecito estate, with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, has just come on the market for $17 million. The 13,932 sq. ft. property is just a tiara’s toss or two from the homes of TV talk show titans Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres. The expansive grounds include terraced gardens, a pool, spa with a […]

After more than two years and a $12 million budget, the 33-year-old 40,000 sq. ft. Rescue Mission is ready for its closeup. The extensive project represents five years of planning, permitting, fundraising and rebuilding the facility, which has served more than three million meals and provided 1.6 million stays for the homeless since 1986. The […]

In just his third season at the Music Academy of the West, Los Angeles-based director and designer James Darrah has already had a dramatic effect on the seven-decades-old summer festival – employing his unique collaborative focus and vision at a convergence of opera, classical music, and theater to the already well-respected program at the stunning […]

Piano legend Jerome Lowenthal was honored for his half century of teaching at the Music Academy of the West and the launch of the institution’s 72nd annual summer school and festival at a record-breaking gala, which netted $475,000 towards scholarships and other funding. New York-based Lowenthal, 87, who is also chair of the prestigious Juilliard […]

Michael Werner, who left college when he was appointed Principal Percussionist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, also played percussion with the Metropolitan Opera for 13 years before joining the Seattle Symphony as its principal in 2009. So the 15-year MAW veteran faculty member pronounced himself pretty thrilled that the academy will perform the West Coast […]

Finding a selection of events to highlight from the new Music Academy of the West summer festival isn’t an issue. Distilling the 200-some offerings over the eight weeks down to a manageable preview is a much greater challenge. That’s because MAW has been moving in leaps and bounds in its wildly successful recent efforts to […]

It’s no surprise that Jerome Lowenthal responds to interview questions with the same sort of erudite yet playful tone anyone familiar with his master classes has come to know and love, as well as a particular precision, with personal flair, that mark his piano performances. So when asked what it means to be notching his […]

Santa Barbara Quire of Voyces performs a pair of “Cathedral Classics” concerts May 18-19 at St. Anthony’s Chapel, closing out its 25th anniversary season… Earlier that same Saturday afternoon, the Santa Barbara Music Club presents the first of two free concerts featuring winners of the 2019 Scholarship Awards at First United Methodist Church, 305 East […]

If chamber music were an Olympic sport, one could hardly imagine a more formidable dream team than the trio of violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and pianist Jeremy Denk. The three are each considered among the elite on their instruments as recitalists and symphonic soloists as well as other formats, and in many ways […]

Also on the horizon before the opening of the Music Academy’s impressive eight-week 2019 Summer Music Festival in mid-June is the recital featuring the 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano and pianist Andrew Sun at Hahn Hall on May 24. The singer joined the Oper Frankfurt studio last September two months after […]

Sophiko Simsive, who won the Music Academy of the West’s second annual Solo Piano Competition last summer, was a little bit shaken when she answered the phone on Monday afternoon. She’d just learned of the fire at Notre Dame, and had yet to come to terms with the ongoing devastation. That personal connection might seem […]

Johann Sebastian Bach was certainly ready for his closeup when the Music Academy of the West hosted a Council of Contributors alumnus recital at its cavernous Lehmann Hall with 32-year-old pianist Evan Shinners, who gained considerably notoriety last year when he performed works of the German composer for five hours daily for 37 consecutive days […]

Social gridlock reigned when developer John Price and wife, Janna, and business partners Tod and Audrey Berlinger, opened The Villas at Olive Mill, nearly 15 years after first submitting their building application and going through 28 hearings between 2004 and 2017. The Spanish colonial-style, three-story mixed-use property on the corner of Coast Village Road and […]

Los Arroyos, the popular Mexican eatery on Coast Village Road, is celebrating 20 years in business. Owner Tony Arroyo opened his first location in downtown Santa Barbara on West Figueroa Street in 1999 and launched his outlet in our rarefied enclave in 2004. The chain now has branches in Camarillo and Goleta, with a nosheteria […]

Grammy Award nominees the Danish String Quartet, visiting our Eden by the Beach for the fourth time, gave two very different performances for their UCSB Arts & Lectures appearances. The fab four – violinists Frederik Oland and Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen, cellist Fredrik Schoyen Sjolin and violist Asbjorn Norgaard – kicked off their latest visit at […]

Baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert was one of the few Music Academy of the West vocal fellows to span the changeover from Abravanel to Hahn halls in 2007-08, and his approach to his own career underwent a simultaneous metamorphosis during his MAW tenure. Sure, Herbert found his time on Mirafloras campus “enjoyable and fun” and made […]

Terry Valeski and Pamela Strobel are new board directors at the Music Academy of the West. Terry will also serve as co-chair of the academy’s marketing committee, with Pamela serving on the education and outreach committee. He served as president and managing director of Pacific Bell, while she is the director of Domtar Corporation, Illinois […]

Montecito TV titan Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Loggins, and actor Rob Lowe paid tribute to the 23 people who lost their lives and many who lost everything a year ago, as our tony enclave was ravaged by catastrophic mudslides. Oprah, 64, was among hundreds of local residents taking part in the first anniversary vigil, walking from […]