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Music Academy of the West Summer Events
Saturday June 30, 2012

By Music Academy of the West

The Music Academy of the West will serve up a sumptuous musical doubleheader featuring celebrated pianist Warren Jones and acclaimed conductor Larry Rachleff on Saturday, June 30. Mr. Jones - named Collaborative Pianist of the Year for 2010 by Musical America - will lead a vocal masterclass at 3 pm in the Lobero Theatre, followed at 8 pm by Mr. Rachleff and the Academy Chamber Players performing works by Mozart, Messiaen, and Copland in Hahn Hall. Tickets for Mr. Jones' masterclass cost $30; tickets for the Academy Chamber Players performance cost $37.

Mr. Jones has been a Festival favorite since joining the Music Academy faculty in 1993. Recently selected to receive the 2011 Achievement Award from the Music Teachers National Association - the organization's highest honor - he serves as principal pianist with Camerata Pacifica and frequently performs with many of today's top artists. He has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall and throughout the United States, Asia, Europe, and South America. Also a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Jones previously served as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera (10 years) and San Francisco Opera (three years). His 26 recordings for all the major labels include Grammy-nominated CDs with Samuel Ramey and Håkan Hagegård. Mr. Jones currently directs the Academy's Vocal Piano and Interpretation Program.

The Lobero is located at 33 East Canon Perdido Street in Santa Barbara. The 2012 Music Academy Vocal Masterclass Series is generously supported by Shirley and Seymour Lehrer.

Making his fifth consecutive Music Academy Summer Festival appearance, Mr. Rachleff has served as music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic for 16 seasons. He also serves as music director of Rice University's Shepherd School Orchestras in Houston and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. 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. A former faculty member at Oberlin Conservatory, where he was music director of orchestras and conductor of the Contemporary Ensemble, Mr. Rachleff also has served as conductor for USC Thornton Opera. In 1988 he led 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.

Mr. Rachleff and the Academy Chamber Players will perform the overture to Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio, Messiaen's mystical Couleurs de la cité celeste, and Copland's Appalachian Spring.

The Academy Chamber Players concert is generously supported by a gift from Northern Trust.

The Music Academy of the West's 65th anniversary season also will include an ambitious new production of Igor Stravinsky's exuberantly inventive opera The Rake's Progress, as well as performances by acclaimed soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and celebrated violinist Gil Shaham. The Academy is presenting more than 200 events over the course of this year's Summer School and Festival, which began June 18 and concludes on August 11. Additional highlights will include performances by the Miró Quartet, pianist Ingrid Fliter, and percussionist Colin Currie, as well as conducting turns by James Gaffigan, Alexander Lazarev, Nicholas McGegan, Andrew Grams, and Yan Pascal Tortelier. 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.

For tickets and information, call 969-8787. Information is also available online at www.musicacademy.org.

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