Tag archives: Music Academy
“The Music Note Gala was a stunning success.” So said honoree Cheryl Goldberg – and “stunning” suited an evening of Broadway royalty, golden-hour cocktails and philanthropy at the spectacular Bella Vista Estate in Summerland, raising a record-breaking $1.2 million dollars for their music education and community outreach programs. The sold-out Music Academy of the West […]
It was a summer of truly spectacular performances across chamber concerts, recitals, orchestral evenings and more. That’s to be expected every summer at the Music Academy. There were also several special programs in the “American Mosaic” season, clearly meant to elevate our experiences of democracy and contemplation of the perhaps dwindling American Dream for many […]
When you Google Nathaniel Silberschlag, one of the early listings is a feature that ran in the New York Times back in 2022, when the horn player was all of 23, but already tenured as the principal horn with the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the country’s most storied. He’d landed the prestigious position at 21 […]
Back in 2016, Baltimore native Jasmine Barnes was preparing for her senior recital at Morgan State University. But then fellow African American Freddie Gray was murdered by six Baltimore policemen, who left him unsecured in the back of a van during an erratic drive downtown, causing fatal injuries to his spinal cord. “The riots broke […]
Friday, July 10: After a stirring introduction to the Lehrer Vocal Institute singers for 2026 last week, the vocal season shifts into full swing as the season’s major events rapidly approach. Today, it’s a masterclass with Paul Curran, whose credits include directing productions across the world with opera companies ranging from the Met, Los Angeles, […]
Michael Werner’s 2026 Music Academy of the West experience began well before the majority of his percussion fellows even arrived on the Miraflores campus. That’s because Werner, a 1990 MAW alum and longtime faculty percussionist who is principal at the Seattle Symphony during the rest of the year, was a faculty member for MAW’s inaugural […]
Montecito’s favorite Independence Day tradition returns on Saturday, July 4, as the 30th Annual Village 4th brings neighbors together for the beloved World’s Shortest Parade, followed by a community celebration in Lower Manning Park. The day gets an early start with the Montecito Firefighters’ Association Pancake Breakfast from 7–11 am at Fire Station 91 (595 […]
By the time Peruvian-born Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya finishes his residency at the Music Academy of the West early next month, he will have conducted the last three concerts in a row as part of the Academy’s summer season. Harth-Bedoya closed out the 2025 festival last August leading the by then well-seasoned Academy Festival Orchestra in […]
The Music Academy could have brought Jeffrey Kahane to town to conduct an Academy Festival Orchestra concert, engaging the former longtime leader of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (or LACO, which appeared at the Granada under his baton for CAMA back in 2015) to conduct the fellows in the middle of the summer. Instead, Kahane […]
The Music Academy of the West‘s 2026 Summer Music Festival is the Montecito-based institute’s 79th season, an eight-week celebration full of world-class performances, high-level education, and far-reaching programming that ranges from full 100-member orchestral concerts to chamber music events featuring solo, duo and larger ensembles. Over the course of more than 100 events, the repertoire […]
By Lisa Duncan The Music Academy of the West hosted the Alzheimer’s Association annual fundraiser this week, blending celebrity sparkle, classic cars, and heartfelt humanity into one memorable Montecito evening. Film and TV stars Patricia Wettig and Ken Olin, newly minted residents of our Eden by the sea, presented the Hearts and Hope Award to […]
Changes have been sprouting up fast and furious in the less than three years since Shauna Quill took over at Music Academy of the West as president and CEO, including big turnovers in faculty, some trimming and realignment of the performances and master classes, as well as a staffing reconfiguration, including new Vice President of […]
Opportunities abound in Ojai, the longtime oasis for retreat, reflection, and personal growth, starting this weekend with “Be With Us,” slated for 7 pm on April 10 at Ojai Underground. The interactive evening of music, storytelling, and soulful connection is spearheaded by Ojai’s own Kathlyn “Katie” Hendricks, the bestselling author of Conscious Loving, co-lead of […]
Written by David Bolton Montecito was abuzz for the Valentine’s Day wedding of Teresa Kuskey and Rick Oshay at the sprawling Music Academy of the West. The well-manicured gardens and historic setting provided the perfect backdrop for a spectacular and memorable night of dance, celebration, friends, family and love. A throng of 175 community members […]
At a moment when conversations around health are both deeply personal and publicly fraught, conditions that live quietly inside the body often remain the least understood. Medicine itself is built on privacy – doctor-patient confidentiality exists for good reason – and when pain carries even a hint of stigma or embarrassment, silence can become the […]
The Takács Quartet has been in residency at the Music Academy of the West for many years, but their appearance on January 22 as part of the Up Close and Unforgettable series of benefits has taken on added poignancy as cellist András Fejér, the foursome’s sole remaining original member, has announced that he is retiring […]
Min Joo Yi earned a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Musical Arts program there. Prior to having embarked on these post-graduate studies, the pianist majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton. Not your usual […]
Joshua Roman was just 18 when he first set foot on the Miraflores campus as a cello fellow at the Music Academy of the West’s summer festival in 2002, a summer he says he’ll never forget, partly because it was where he got a sense of what it was like to be a professional musician. […]
When Michael Holliday, Lawrence Scarpa, and Angela Brooks were juggling their T-squares, balsa wood, and glue guns at the University of Florida in Gainesville (go Gators), they likely didn’t foresee the momentous project on which they would be collaborating in far-flung 2025. Even as these architects-in-training made final preparations to enter the profession, some 2,500 […]
Carpinteria-based Jessica Kolbe, a Qigong/Tai Chi teacher and meditation guide, teams up with Santa Barbara pianist Antonio Artese for the debut of a series of intimate events where guided meditation meets live classical music. This journey of silence, breath, and sound, invites participants to quiet the mind to let the music in more deeply, and […]
