Anais Pellegrini has joined the Santa Barbara Symphony as Vice President of Advancement. Born in Malta and raised in China, Australia, and Hong Kong, she began her career in fundraising at New York’s Katonah Museum of Art in 2005 and has since worked for a range of non-profit organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Community […]
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 […]
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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 […]
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 […]
Here’s one you don’t want to miss if you can help it: The Broadway Musical Cruise aboard the Condor Express. Owner Hiroko Benko invites one and all to come aboard and enjoy the best of Broadway on a smooth Saturday evening cruise with live and on-deck performers Deborah Bertling and Carol Ann Manzi, accompanied by […]
Echo In The Canyon, Andrew Slater’s documentary about the 1964-68 era in Laurel Canyon when folk-rock bands formed in the neighborhood that offered both seclusion and proximity to Hollywood studios before giving way to the psychedelic and singer-songwriter movements, may well prove to be the most commercially successful movie to have emerged from this year’s […]
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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 […]
The first Stoke the World gathering, five years ago, was actually a wake held at the request of its honoree. San Luis Obispo County resident Greg Junell came up with the concept a company that would make it easier for others to fashion parties, events and other gatherings to foster education and connection. But after […]
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 […]






