Music Academy Opera Showcase to Take Place July 14 and 16
For Immediate Release June 13, 2007
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA- Music Academy of the West Voice Program students will bring to life best-loved scenes from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Britten's Peter Grimes, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and five other operas in a pair of much-anticipated opera showcase performances at Abravanel Hall. Directed once again this year by former San Francisco Opera general director Lotfi Mansouri and the effervescent pianist and accompanist Warren Jones, the performances will take place at 2 pm Saturday, July 14, and (repeat at) 7:30 pm Monday, July 16. These productions have long been among the most popular events of the Summer Festival season at the Music Academy.
Mr. Mansouri, a Music Academy alumnus, will serve as stage director, and Mr. Jones will serve as music director for the performances, which will feature costumed singers and minimal props. The two served in the same capacities for last year's opera showcase performances. Mr. Mansouri will again lead a three-week acting and movement workshop for Academy Voice Program students as part of this year's Summer School and Festival, culminating with the opera showcase performances. Mr. Jones, who frequently accompanies many of today's most acclaimed singers, has been a Music Academy faculty member since 1993.
"We are presenting opera as musical theater, which is to say we are presenting opera that has been distilled to its dramatic essence, dispensing with the more grandiose of operatic conventions. Opera companies from coast to coast are increasingly moving in this direction, incidentally, so we are in effect providing our young singers with an optimal training experience and preparing them for the future of opera," explains Mr. Mansouri, a recipient of the prestigious San Francisco Opera Medal and the Music Academy Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Abravanel Hall is located on the Music Academy campus at 1070 Fairway Road in Santa Barbara. Tickets to each opera showcase performance cost $28. Free parking is available on campus, though space is limited.
The Music Academy of the West will celebrate its 60th anniversary with an unprecedented 2007 season program featuring numerous classical music luminaries. The Academy will present more than 190 events over the course of this year's Summer School and Festival, which begins June 18 and concludes on August 11. Highlights will include a community concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl featuring conductor/composer John Williams and violinist Gil Shaham, an ambitious production of La Bohème, performances by baritone Thomas Hampson, violinist Gilles Apap, and the Takács Quartet, and conducting turns by David Robertson, Alexander Lazarev, and Jeffrey Tate.
For information, call 969-8787. Information is also available online at www.musicacademy.org.
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 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 students receive full scholarships. Academy alumni are members of major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university and conservatory faculties throughout the world. Many have established themselves as prominent solo artists. Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 175 public events annually, including performances by faculty, visiting artists, and students; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
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