Music Academy of the West's 2013 Summer Season Announced

The Music Academy of the West will present a cultural feast of more than 200 events during its 2013 Summer School and Festival, which starts on June 17 and runs through August 10. Among the highlights of this year's festival will be a new production of Mozart's beloved opera The Magic Flute - Santa Barbara's first in 15 years - as well as the West Coast premiere of bereshit by Matthias Pintscher, who is regarded as one of the most sought-after young German composers of his generation. "Magic, Legend, and Ritual" is the festival's theme, and the 66th anniversary season will present performances by violinist Midori, pianist Jeremy Denk, baritone Vladimir Chernov, and the Takács and Brooklyn Rider string quartets - as well as conducting turns by Leonard Slatkin, James Gaffigan, Bernard Labadie, and Nicholas McGegan. Showcasing the Academy's talented Fellows, together with star guest performers and faculty, the events will be presented at the Academy's scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara.

"Every year the Music Academy team aspires to present a transformative experience for our Fellows, and unparalleled music-making for our festival-goers to enjoy," stated Music Academy of the West President Scott Reed. "This summer's dynamic line-up of musical experiences will allow Festival attendees to engage, absorb, and celebrate the many aspects of classical music at its best."

Mosher Guest Artist Residency Program
Generous support from the Samuel B. and Margaret C. Mosher Foundation will once again enable the Music Academy to host four stellar guest artists over the course of this year's summer festival. Ranging in duration, their residencies will involve public masterclasses, performances, and private interaction with Academy Fellows. The Academy's 2013 Mosher Guest Artists are baritone Vladimir Chernov (June 20-24), the quartet Brooklyn Rider (July 3-5), pianist Jeremy Denk (July 15-19), and violinist Midori (July 28-Aug 1).

Opera
The Music Academy Voice Program will present a fully-staged production of The Magic Flute - Santa Barbara's first in 15 years - at the Granada Theatre on August 2 and 4. Academy faculty member Warren Jones will conduct; David Paul, a Juilliard faculty member who oversaw the Music Academy's well-received production of The Rake's Progress last summer, will direct. Paul's extensive credits also boast a critically lauded production of Le nozze di Figaro for Washington National Opera.

"The Magic Flute is simply a masterpiece, and it's fresh every time you hear it. It's a great opera for the entire family," said Music Academy Voice Program Director Marilyn Horne. The 23 Academy Fellows who will perform in the production - chosen from among more than 600 applicants as part of the Academy's Voice Program audition process - represent some of today's finest young singing talent. The 45-member opera orchestra will consist of Music Academy instrumental Fellows.

Orchestral Concerts
The Academy Festival Orchestra will present seven concerts this season, including four at Santa Barbara's Granada Theatre. Larry Rachleff, who serves as music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Rice University's Shepherd School orchestras, and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, will conduct the suite from Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin, Debussy's La mer, and Ravel's La valse on June 22. Detroit Symphony Orchestra Music Director Leonard Slatkin will conduct Roberto Sierra's Fandangos, Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 on July 13. Up-and-coming American conductor Tito Muñoz, music director of New York's Ensemble LPR, will take up the baton for "Concerto Night" on July 20, presenting winners of the Academy's 2013 Concerto Competition. James Gaffigan, chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, will close out the Summer Festival on August 10 with the overture to Wagner's Rienzi, songs from Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn - with Music Academy Voice Fellows in the spotlight, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

Additionally, Bernard Labadie, founding director of Canada's Les Violons du Roy and an internationally recognized expert on 17th- and 18th-century repertoire, will lead members of the Academy Festival Orchestra in a program consisting of Gluck's Don Juan, the overture to Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, and Haydn's Symphony No. 101 ("The Clock") on June 29 in the Music Academy's Hahn Hall. On July 1 in Hahn Hall, Matthias Pintscher - who will become music director of Ensemble Intercontemporain this autumn - will conduct the West Coast premiere of his new work bereshit (scheduled to receive its world premiere in May by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) along with Stravinsky's neoclassical masterpiece Pulcinella (featuring Academy Voice Fellows) and Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin. Nicholas McGegan, the celebrated music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, will conduct a program of works by Rameau (suite from Platée), Vivaldi (Concerto for violin and echo; Concerto for violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, and 2 bassoons), and Haydn (Symphony No. 100) on August 3 at Santa Barbara's First Presbyterian Church.

Chamber Music and Solo Recitals
Presented in Hahn Hall, Tuesdays @ 8 concerts showcase Academy faculty artists performing beloved favorites and undiscovered treasures of the chamber music repertoire. Among the guest artists this season are New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, New York Philharmonic Principal Violist Cynthia Phelps, violist Karen Dreyfus, and violinists Jorja Fleezanis, Erin Keefe, and Brian Lewis. Audiences will enjoy performances by the Takács and Brooklyn Rider string quartets (June 20 and July 3, respectively), as well as recitals by baritone Vladimir Chernov (June 24), pianist Jeremy Denk (July 17), and violinist Midori (July 29 and 31).

String Quartet Seminar
Recently inducted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame - the only string quartet to be so honored to date - the Takács Quartet will also oversee the Academy's innovative new String Quartet Seminar, which will provide 16 string Fellows with intensive ensemble coaching over the course of seven days. The seminar will culminate in a public recital by participating Fellows (forming four quartets) at Hahn Hall on June 19.

Academy Alumnus in Residence
Celebrated cellist Joshua Roman will inaugurate a new alumni residency program at the Academy this summer. From July 15 to 25, he will curate his own curriculum to inspire Fellows, teach a masterclass, perform, and participate in special projects. Since attending the Music Academy in 2002, the cellist has enjoyed remarkable success both as a performing artist and as a programmer committed to engaging and expanding the classical music audience. The San Francisco Chronicle has described him as "a cellist of extraordinary technical and musical gifts."

Masterclasses
The masterclass is one of the hallmarks of the Music Academy experience. All Fellows participate in the Music Academy's extensive masterclass program, which is designed to complement individual private instruction. Throughout the eight weeks, more than 100 public masterclasses are presented by faculty and guest artists, including vocal masterclasses with Marilyn Horne and vocal piano and interpretation faculty member Warren Jones. In addition, weekly masterclasses are presented by members of the string, woodwind, brass, percussion, voice, and piano faculty, such as flutist Timothy Day; hornist Julie Landsman; pianists Jonathan Feldman and Jerome Lowenthal; violinists Kathleen Winkler and Peter Salaff, and newly appointed faculty artist Glenn Dicterow; violists Donald McInnes and Roger Myers; and cellists David Geber and Alan Stepansky. The public is invited to attend these classes, which provide unique insight into the music teaching process at its most dynamic and intimate.

About Music Academy of the West
Founded in 1947 by a group of Southern California arts patrons and musicians that included Lotte Lehmann and Otto Klemperer, the Music Academy of the West is among the nation's preeminent summer schools and festivals for gifted young classical musicians. The Academy provides these promising musicians with the opportunity for advanced study and frequent performance under the guidance of internationally renowned faculty artists, guest conductors, and soloists. Admission to the Academy is strictly merit based, and Fellows receive full scholarships (tuition, room, and board). Academy alumni are members of major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university and conservatory faculties throughout the world. Many enjoy careers as prominent solo artists. Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 200 public events annually, comprising performances by faculty, visiting artists, and Fellows; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera.

Music Academy of the West alumni number more than 6,000 and represent a veritable "who's who" of the classical music world, with such luminaries as Metropolitan Opera stars Marilyn Horne ('53), Grace Bumbry ('56), Thomas Hampson ('78), Juan Diego Flórez ('95), Isabel Leonard ('05), and Alek Shrader ('08); pianist Orion Weiss ('00); Lotfi Mansouri ('57), General Director Emeritus of the San Francisco Opera; Cynthia Phelps ('79 & '83), Principal Violist with the New York Philharmonic; David Shifrin ('68), clarinetist and former Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and Laurence Lesser ('53), former President of the New England Conservatory.

For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.

Music Academy of the West: 2013 Festival Highlights

Santa Barbara, California
"Magic, Legend, and Ritual"

June 20
Takács Quartet

June 21
PianoFest

June 22
Larry Rachleff w/Academy Festival Orchestra

June 24
Vladimir Chernov, baritone

June 29
Warren Jones Masterclass

June 29
Bernard Labadie w/Academy Festival Orchestra

July 1
Matthias Pintscher w/Academy Festival Orchestra (bereshit West Coast premiere)

July 3
Brooklyn Rider

July 8 & 10
Opera Scenes

July 13
Leonard Slatkin w/Academy Festival Orchestra

July 17
Jeremy Denk, piano

July 20
Tito Munoz w/ Academy Festival Orchestra - "Concerto Night"

July 20
Marilyn Horne Song Competition

July 22
Academy Percussion Ensemble

July 27
Marilyn Horne Masterclass

July 29 & 31
Midori, violin

Aug 2 & 4
The Magic Flute (David Paul, stage director; Warren Jones, conductor)

Aug 3
Nicholas McGegan w/Academy Festival Orchestra

Aug 10
James Gaffigan w/Academy Festival Orchestra

www.musicacademy.org

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