Gerald Carpenter: Music Academy of the West in Full Sail

Works by Libby Larsen, John Musto among this week's performances

By Gerald Carpenter, Noozhawk Contributor | Published on 07.18.2010

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It is going to be a busy week at the Music Academy of the West, and it starts right off that way on Monday.

Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers.
Libby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. (Ann Marsden photo)

First up are masterclasses by Jerome Lowenthal, Kathleen Winkler and Benjamin Kamins, plus the second performance of the wildly and justly popular Opera Showcase (7:30 p.m. Monday, Hahn Hall, 1070 Fairway Road), with stage direction by Nicholas Muni, a freelancer with more than 200 productions worldwide to his credit, and musical direction by the inimitable Warren Jones. Showcased will be scenes from Mozart’s Magic Flute, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Handel’s Julius Caesar, among others. All of the above events can be enjoyed without leaving the magic realm of Miraflores.

On Tuesday, the star-studded “Tuesdays at Eight” faculty concert (8 p.m. Tuesday, Hahn Hall) boasts a program that contains works by two — count ‘em — living American composers. The complete schedule consists of Zoltán Kodály’s “Duo for Violin and Cello, Opus 7” (Winkler, violin; Alan Stepansky, cello); Libby Larsen’s “Concert Piece for Bassoon and Piano, 2008” (Kamins, bassoon; Margaret MacDonald, piano); John Musto’s “Divertimento, 1999” (Timothy Day, flute; Richie Hawley, clarinet; Geraldine Walther, viola; Stepansky, cello; Natasha Kislenko, piano; Edward Atkatz, percussion); and Johannes Brahms’ “Quintet in f-minor for Piano and Strings, Opus 34” (Jonathan Feldman, piano; Takács Quartet: Edward Dusinberre and Lina Bahn, violins; Walther, viola; András Fejér, cello).

Born in Delaware, Larsen has spent most of her life in Minnesota. She has more than 400 works in her catalogue, and her recordings — upward of 60 CDs and counting — have won Grammys. In 1973, she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, which has since grown into the American Composers Forum.

Multitalented John Musto is a virtuoso and/or collaborative pianist and internationally famous composer.
Multitalented John Musto is a virtuoso and/or collaborative pianist and internationally famous composer.

Born in Brooklyn, Musto has since moved across the Hudson to Manhattan, where he now lives with his wife, soprano Amy Burton, and their son, Joshua. Musto is a multiple-threat musician; established as a concert pianist, as a composer of operas and art-songs and orchestral music, he is now gaining a wide following in the world of chamber music.

Click here for more information on the Music Academy of the West, or to purchase tickets call 805.969.8787.

— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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