The Music Academy of the West will open its gates to the public on Thursday, July 14, for a day of compelling classical music events amid the lush gardens of the academy’s Miraflores campus.

This year’s Academy Open House schedule will include masterclasses, a tour of the academy grounds, a preview of the Luria Education Center and a tribute to mezzo-soprano great and Academy Voice Program Director Marilyn Horne.

Open to music lovers of all ages, the day’s events will be offered free of charge. 

Activities will begin at 11 a.m. with a tour of the Music Academy’s magnificent gardens. Before lunch, faculty violinist Peter Salaff will lead a string chamber masterclass in Lehmann Hall featuring participants in the Music Academy’s MERIT (Music Education Reinforces Intellect and Talent) Program, which provides local musicians ages 11 to 18 with an intensive two-week immersion in the academy’s Summer School and Festival.

After a piano chamber masterclass at 1 p.m. with Music Academy faculty member Jerome Lowenthal in Lehmann Hall, academy visitors will be treated to a preview of the new Luria Education Center at 2:30 p.m. At 3:15 p.m., Salaff and fellow academy faculty member Jonathan Feldman will lead string chamber and collaborative piano masterclasses in Lehmann and Stewart halls, respectively. A member of the academy brass faculty will lead a brass ensemble masterclass in Hahn Hall at 3:15 p.m. as well.

At 5:30 p.m. in Hahn Hall, the academy will screen Nigel Wattis’ 1994 documentary film Marilyn Horne: A Profile, which traces the extraordinary singer’s life from a Pennsylvania childhood to stardom on the stages of opera houses and concert halls in the United States and Europe. Horne has directed the academy’s esteemed Voice Program since 1997. The film will be followed by the unveiling of a bust of Horne that was commissioned by former academy board member and celebrated architect John Burgee and his wife, Gwen, and a reception for event attendees in Towbes Courtyard hosted by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Music Academy of the West.

After its normal business hours, the Rack and Treasure House, the academy’s on-campus consignment shops, will be open from noon to 3 p.m.

Click here for a complete schedule of Open House activities.

The day’s events are supported by Montecito Bank & Trust. For information, call 805.969.4726. Free parking is available on campus.

— Tim Dougherty is the communications manager for the Music Academy of the West.