Acclaimed conductor Larry Rachleff will lead the Academy Festival Orchestra in its first concert of the Music Academy of the West’s 2008 Summer Festival season at 8 p.m. June 28 at the Lobero Theatre. The night will feature Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 73.
Described by the Chicago Tribune as a “take-charge maestro who invests everything he conducts with deep musical understanding,” Rachleff serves as music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Antonio Symphony. He also is director of orchestras and holds the Walter Kris Hubert Chair at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston. Rachleff has appeared as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Houston, Seattle, Indianapolis, Utah and Kansas City symphony orchestras, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 1993, he was among four U.S. conductors selected to lead the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall under the mentorship of Maestro Pierre Boulez.
A former faculty member at Oberlin Conservatory, where he was music director of orchestras and conductor of the Contemporary Ensemble, Rachleff also has served as conductor of the Opera Theatre at the USC. In 1988, he served as music director of the highly acclaimed American-Soviet Youth Orchestra tour, and he has conducted and presented masterclasses at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, the Zurich Hochschule and the Sydney and Queensland (Australia) conservatories. In constant demand as a conductor and masterclass clinician, Rachleff is frequently invited to lead other conservatory orchestras, including those at Juilliard, England’s Royal Northern College and the New England Conservatory. He has collaborated with such leading composers as Samuel Adler, the late Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Michael Daugherty and John Harbison.
The Lobero Theatre is located at 33 E. Canon Perdido St. in Santa Barbara. The concert is supported in part by Northern Trust.
The Music Academy will present the West Coast premiere of William Bolcom’s opera A Wedding, as well as performances by conductor Peter Oundjian and pianist Christopher Taylor as part of the academy’s 61st Summer Festival. The academy will present 188 events during its 2008 Summer School and Festival, which will begin June 23 and conclude Aug. 16.
Additional highlights will include performances by the Canadian Brass and the Takács Quartet, and conducting turns by George Manahan, Anne Manson, Nicholas McGegan and Daniel Hege. Featuring the academy’s exceptionally talented Fellows, together with illustrious guest performers and faculty, the events will be presented at the academy’s scenic Miraflores campus and in venues throughout Santa Barbara.
Tickets are $45. For tickets and information, click here or call 805.969.8787.
Founded in 1947, the Music Academy of the West is among the nation’s preeminent summer schools and festivals for gifted young classical musicians. The academy provides promising musicians with the opportunity for advanced study and frequent performance under the guidance of internationally renowned faculty artists, as well as guest conductors and soloists. Admission to the Academy is strictly merit based, and Fellows receive full scholarships (tuition, room, and board).
Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 200 events annually.
Tim Dougherty is the communications manager for the Music Academy of the West.