Multimillion-Dollar Bequest Will Support
Future Music Academy Opera Productions
Santa Paula soprano Irene Cummings attended the Music Academy in 1951
For Immediate Release August 8, 2008
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – Soprano Irene Cummings, whose lengthy career included regular appearances on Tennessee Ernie Ford's primetime variety program The Ford Show in the late 1950s through 1961, has bequeathed her 16-acre Santa Paula avocado ranch to the Music Academy of the West. Currently valued at almost $3 million, the property will be used to endow future Academy opera productions upon Ms. Cummings' passing.
"We are exceedingly grateful to receive this extraordinary legacy gift. In appreciation we are pleased to establish the ‘Irene Cummings Endowed Opera at the Music Academy of the West,' which will ensure that the Academy is able to mount opera productions indefinitely," said Music Academy Board Chairman James E. Davidson.
Ms. Cummings, who is married to Ventura County pulmonologist and internist Theodore G. Hostetler, attended the Music Academy in 1951, studying with John Charles Thomas, Richard Lert, and Lotte Lehmann. She later befriended celebrated mezzo-soprano and Music Academy Voice Program Director Marilyn Horne, in whose honor Ms. Cummings made the gift to the Music Academy.
"I want to help other singers as much as possible, and to this day I have very strong feelings for the Music Academy," said Ms. Cummings, by way of explaining the gift. "Marilyn has said she wants to make sure there will always be opera at the Music Academy. Through this gift I am doing my part to make Marilyn's wish an enduring reality. Thank you, Marilyn, for being the catalyst for all of us to support the Music Academy."
"What an incredible gift to the Academy. I couldn't be more grateful," said Ms. Horne.
Ms. Cummings is a longtime supporter of the Music Academy, each year funding a full scholarship for a Music Academy Vocal Fellow. According to Mr. Davidson, her latest gift is especially significant in that it will enable the Academy to permanently defray the costs associated with its annual opera production, thus eliminating the fiscal uncertainties that have occasionally bedeviled such productions. The Academy was unable to present an opera between 1991 and 1996 due to budget constraints.
A native of Ventura County, Ms. Cummings grew up in Santa Paula and Saticoy as the daughter of third-generation ranchers. After receiving operatic coaching from Ernest St. John Metz at an early age, she attended the Music Academy for one summer, but returned repeatedly to observe vocal masterclasses, through which she met Ms. Horne. Ms. Cummings subsequently toured with the Charles L. Wagner Opera Company before spending three years as one of the "Top Twenty" singers and dancers on NBC's The Ford Show. She also appeared on CBS' The Danny Kaye Show and in numerous Cabrillo Music Theater productions in 1970 through 1978.
"It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to leave this property to the Music Academy of the West," said Ms. Cummings. "I can't imagine a more worthy cause."
Ms. Cummings' gift is the second significant donation announced by the Music Academy in as many days. On August 7 Santa Barbara philanthropists Shirley and Seymour Lehrer announced plans to donate $3 million in support of ongoing programmatic and facility upgrades at the Academy. That gift includes a $1 million challenge grant that will help bring the Academy's recital hall renovation fundraising campaign to a close by year's end.
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 these 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). Academy alumni are members of major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university and conservatory faculties throughout the world. Many enjoy careers as prominent solo artists. Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 200 public events annually, including performances by faculty, visiting artists, and Fellows; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera. The Music Academy will broadcast live performances by the world-renowned Metropolitan Opera at Hahn Hall beginning in October. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
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