The first official event of the Music Academy of the West‘s 75th Summer Festival was a high definition video of Brett Dean’s fascinating opera of “Hamlet,” starring Academy alum Brenda Rae — thereby underscoring the Academy’s raison d’être, which is to provide the finishing touches on the training of brilliant young singers and musicians on their way, like Rae, to taking up brilliant professional careers.
The academy’s Summer Festivals, then, are finishing schools, conducted in public (and often, weather permitting, en plein air). Yet, no matter how many musical celebrities come to Montecito as faculty and guest artists — and over the years this roster has expanded exponentially — the academy never fails to remind us that the beating heart of the entire enterprise is the yearly gathering of the individual young fellows, for the express purpose of socializing them into the music profession.
Also never to be overlooked is the fact that, for the youth, the Summer Festivals are, basically, the greatest summer camp imaginable. Romances, transitory or eternal, come inevitably with the territory, like summer storms. This aspect, of course, is for the kids to sort out: it’s none of our business, except to the extent that personal passions inform the performances.
The first week of real time events began June 15, with a concert by the Takács String Quartet, followed on Thursday by a chamber music master class and the opening night of the Lehrer Vocal Institute, on Friday, June 17, with the Solo Piano episode of the Showcase Series, and culminates on Saturday, June 18, with the high-ante 75th Anniversary Signature Benefit Event, including a concert featuring Academy alumnae Met Opera star Sasha Cooke, in collaboration with LA Opera’s pianist, Nino Sanikidze.
I’m told that the Music Academy of the West has now officially become The Music Academy, with the logo revised accordingly.
I’ll be previewing most of the festival’s major events as they come up. In the meantime, if you are keen, you can’t do better than to consult the Music Academy’s website and start navigating.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.