This year marks Jerome Lowenthal’s 50th summer on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West.
Indeed, he is so closely identified with the academy — in my mind and the public’s — that it has long been hard to tell where the one leaves off and the other begins, even when we remind ourselves that his day job is that of chair of the piano department at the illustrious Juilliard School in New York, arguably the premier music conservatory in the U.S. and certainly the best known.
Lowenthal is also a concert pianist of rare gifts, known for his dry wit and juicy arpeggios (I can see him wince at the word juicy, but I could not resist the symmetry).
Since I began to cover the Music Academy, in the mid-1980s, every Summer Festival’s official business has begun with a piano masterclass by Jerome Lowenthal, a master if ever there was one.
This year, the festival will also open with an event featuring Maestro Lowenthal, but with a difference. The event will be the Opening Gala, and Lowenthal will be the focus of the whole evening, devoted to Honoring a Legend.
This will take place at 5 p.m. Friday, June 14, in Hahn Hall on the Miraflores campus of the Music Academy, 1070 Fairway Road, Montecito.
According to the academy: “The evening will include an unforgettable concert featuring star-studded Academy alumni pianists Micah McLaurin (’14, ’16), Elizabeth Roe (’01), Evan Shinners (’09), and Orion Weiss (’00), guest artist pianist Ursula Oppens, and Jerry Lowenthal himself.
“Jerry will curate the program, highlighting special reflections of his illustrious career. Tickets will be available for the concert and an exclusive, intimate dinner with an encore performance.”
The celebration has an ominous, valedictorian undercurrent to it, but we will keep our fingers crossed.
The Opening Night Gala, Honoring a Legend, is co-chaired by Michele Brustin, Stephanie Shuman and Warren Staley, with honorary chairs Leatrice Luria and Kandy Luria-Budgor.
Cocktail attire isapproriate. Tickets to the gala are priced as follows:
Individual tickets (including concert and dinner) $500; sponsored tables of 10 (including preferred seating at the concert and dinner) $5,000; sponsored tables of 10 (includes premier seating at the concert and dinner) $10,000; sponsored tables of 10 (includes exclusive seating at concert and dinner) $25,000; and sponsored tables of 10 (includes VIP seating at the concert and dinner) $50,000.
Proceeds benefit the academy’s full-scholarship program, community access initiatives, and year-round outreach programs. For more information, or to buy tickets by phone, contact Allie Rigonati, 805-695-7929.
— 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.