Tag archives: Music Academy

The Music Academy of the West season is still a solid six weeks away when 150 fellows will arrive on the Miraflores campus in Montecito and, alongside 60 faculty members, collaborate in creating a truly astonishing slate of events over the otherwise fallow months on the classical calendar.  There are nearly 125 in-person opportunities in […]

Owls, a New York-based string quartet collective, wooed the audience at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall with their original, visceral performance, part of UCSB Arts and Lectures. The entertaining foursome, which unusually included two cellists rather than two violinists – Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko, violist Ayane Kozasa, and violinist Alexi Kenney […]

Now in its 78th season, the Music Academy of the West’s annual summer festival, which runs from June 15 to August 9, offers an unparalleled blend of world class performances and musical discovery. Themed “Soundtrack to Summer,” the mega event showcases international artists performing alongside 150 of the academy’s gifted young musicians and 60 esteemed […]

Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West was socially gridlocked for the Mariposa series of yMusic featuring trumpeter alumni CJ Camerieri performing a new work inviting listeners to commune with the fragile beauty of natural worlds. A new score, a blend of acoustic performance, featured raw and personal field recordings with California composer […]

CJ Camerieri has done pretty well for himself since spending a single summer as a trumpet fellow at the Music Academy of the West in 2002. The Juilliard grad who also plays French horn, arranges, produces and composes, not only co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble yMusic in 2008, but is perhaps even better known as […]

Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West was packed when artists from the visiting London Symphony Orchestra via CAMA performed with academy alumnae, including flute, clarinet and harp, with works by Mozart and Ravel in the latest performance from the Mariposa concert series… The final work, another Mozart piece, “Clarinet Quartet in A […]

The London Symphony Orchestra’s initial partnership with the Music Academy of the West officially came to its pandemic-paused close a couple of summers ago. But the relationship between the two classical music institutions continues with a three-event, two-day residency starting on February 17. President’s Day kicks off at 1 pm with a violin master class […]

Your trusty Society reporter is here with the new board members appointed to your favorite nonprofits. The Music Academy of the West, now in its 78th season, has three new officers and four new members appointed to its Board of Directors. The new Board Officers are Board Chair Danner Schefler, Vice Chair Susan Lichtenstein,and Secretary […]

It was an evening of many facets at the Music Academy of the West when it hosted a Denk, Denim and Diamonds gala which attracted more than 100 guests and raised around $50,000 for the Miraflores oceanside campus. Drinks on the terrace outside Lehmann Hall kicked off the sunset soirée before supporters filed into the […]

At Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West was brimming for another UCSB Arts & Lectures concert when international Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev showed off his tremendous keyboard talent with works by Schubert, Kabalevsky, Janáček, Liszt, and Scriabin. Now Berlin-based, Malofeev came to international prominence in 2014 when he won the International Tchaikovsky […]

The life of Donald McInnes, Camerata Pacifica’s first principal violist, was celebrated at the Music Academy of the West’s Lehmann Hall. McInnes, who studied at the academy from 1954 to 1956 and was a member of the faculty from 1982 to 2012, died in October at his home in Rancho Mirage aged 85. The UCSB […]

The Montecito Association Land Use Committee (LUC) December meeting was held Tuesday, December 3, in person at the Montecito Library community room and on Zoom. The meeting was called to order by its Chair, Dorinne Lee Johnson. Attendees were the Land Use Committee members, MA ED Houghton Hyatt, President Doug Black, Music Academy of the […]

Classical music fans hit the “jack-pot” at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall when New York’s JACK Quartet celebrated their landmark 20th anniversary season. Founded by four alumni of the Eastman School of Music, the Fab Four – violist John Pickford Richards, violinists Ari Streisfeld and Christopher Otto, and cellist Kevin McFarland – […]

Violinist Ari Streisfeld has garnered critical acclaim worldwide for his performances of diverse repertoire after originally establishing himself as one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music. He’s also the co-founder of the world-renowned JACK Quartet, the fearless foursome that quickly became one of the experimental engines of new music after forming at Eastman […]

Scott Reed, former president of the Music Academy of the West, commemorated the first year of his company Lane 4 Fundraising, a fundraising strategy firm he launched with the academy colleague Jon Bishop last fall. A nod to the dynamic duo’s passion for competitive swimming, Lane 4 works with some top nonprofits in our community […]

At a lengthy meeting on November 5th, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0-1 to deny the appeal of the Montecito Planning Commission’s approval of the Music Academy of the West’s Revised Conditional Use Permit (CUP).  District 1 Supervisor Das Williams moved the vote under the condition that staff recommend no more than […]

Camerata Pacifica’s latest show at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall was an absolute gem with works by Fukushima, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg. Flutist Yoobin Son playing “Mei, for Solo Flute” opened the concert with Rachmaninoff’s “Moments Musicaux.” Stravinsky’s “Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet” with Jose Franch-Ballester was the penultimate performance, with Schoenberg’s […]

The Music Academy of the West will be in front of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors (BOS) on Tuesday, November 5th to review its request to update the Music Academy’s 2004 Conditional Use Permit (CUP). The key project changes being requested at this time include: 1. Eliminating the on-site retail shops and reintroducing […]

The Music Academy of the West launched the third season of its Mariposa concert series at Hahn Hall in truly majestic fashion with a recital of new arts songs celebrating the history and legacy of seven African queens The unique program, with piano accompaniment from Kevin Miller, offered historical narrative with 11 songs, each about […]

State Street Ballet’s 30th anniversary gala at the Music Academy of the West was full of eastern promise! More than 200 balletomanes descended on the picturesque Miraflores oceanside campus for the boffo bash, co-chaired by Alex Nourse and Dr. Nicole Callahan, which featured music from the UCSB Middle East Ensemble and the ballet company’s professional […]