A Serious Summer Musical Cavalcade

In many a city in the United States, and beyond, the summer months comprise a lean time in the realm of classical music concert action. A summer’s nap is baked into the fairly rigid protocol of classical concert programming. But not so in Santa Barbara, where we are happily spoiled by the embarrassment of riches put forth by the venerable Music Academy of the West (MAW), now launching its 79th annual festival, a busy cavalcade of musical action through early August. 

Like clockwork, MAW is bringing on a slate of concerts, master classes, and performance ops for both visiting artists and faculty of renown and the already-accomplished young fellows (students) who pass the rigorous process of acceptance and travel here from around the world.

Whether on MAW’s lavish and verdant Miraflores Estate compound in Montecito or filtering downtown into the Granada and Lobero theaters, and elsewhere, the Music Academy becomes a fact of cultural life for eight weeks each year. To which we say: Bring it on.

Soon enough, the festival will showcase familiar traditions such as Saturday-night orchestra concerts at the Granada, with acclaimed conductors leading the Academy Festival Orchestra, a fully staged opera — this year, the contemporary opera Elizabeth Cree, by Kevin Puts (The Hours) — and other events showcasing the world-renowned voice program. Past celebrated faculty leaders of the program include Marilyn Horne, for whom the main house of the Miraflores estate was named, and in its seminal days, Lotte Lehmann and Martial Singher. 

Running with the theme of “American Mosaic,” the MAW programming checks in with the Declaration of Independence’s 250th birthday, with such national pride detailing as George Gershwin’s An American in Paris on the opening orchestra concert (July 3, Granada) and Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait (July 18, Granada) (originally, Josh Brolin was slated to narrate the Copland work, but a film schedule intervened — Christopher Lloyd is filling the slot). Another pinch of Americana arrives in the form of a second year of “Brass @ the Bandshell,” in the Plaza del Mar bandshell (August 2 at noon) and one of many free-to-the-public and family-friendly offerings. 

The MAW buzz begins this weekend, with the young Grammy-winning crossover sensation ARKAI at Hahn Hall on Friday, June 19, and veteran pianist Jeffrey Kahane at the Lobero on Saturday night. The following week, the Takács String Quartet, which has become a resident group each year, gives a special Lobero concert on Saturday, celebrating the retirement of cellist András Fejér, a founding member on the job for 50 years. 

Highlights of the festival include the much-coveted annual recital by famed faculty member Jeremy Denk (July 15, Lobero), who takes on Beethoven’s herculean Hammerklavier sonata and modern works. Violinist Jennifer Koh, whose signature Bach & Beyond project has landed in Santa Barbara many times over the years, returns with a program mixing up Bach and Philip Glass (July 25, Lobero).

A few weeks back, a special preview evening unveiled this year’s plans for patrons and other interested parties, at Hahn Hall, presented by MAW president/CEO Shauna Quill, now in her third season as head, and two new administrative voices — Vice President of Artistic Planning Indigo Fischer and Creative & Artistic Advisor Conor Hanick, also a respected faculty pianist-of-note who gave a mini-recital in the hall. Hanick, who was a featured soloist at last weekend’s Ojai Music Festival, will also be spotlighted in the MAW festival, as soloist in a new-ish piano concerto by Samuel Adams (son of John), at the AFO concert on August 1 at the Granada, to be conducted by Hannu Lintu.

At the spring preview evening, Quill said of her comrades, “It is with deep pleasure that I am going to get to work with the dream team as we plan this new era of the Music Academy.”

Vis-à-vis Quill’s aforementioned “new era,” the Academy is at a moment in its history, on the brink of its 80th anniversary, and the anticipation of a major new downtown outpost in Santa Barbara, an education and performance facility known as the Muse Music Education Center. Once the Muse officially opens, after an ambitious renovation, in the 2028 season, the 900 block of State Street will be fortified with another centerpiece venue in a new art-centered hub, across the street from the newly opened state-of-the-art Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s McHurley Film Center five-plex across the street and the Lobero, a half block away. 

Meanwhile, season 79 charges forward for the next eight weeks, giving classical music fans — and neophyte and would-be fans — plenty of reasons to get out of the house. Live music beckons weekly.

For more information, see musicacademy.org.