Music Academy Golf Invitational Tees Off October 20
For Immediate Release September 12, 2008
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – The 15th annual Santa Barbara Golf Invitational will take place October 20 at the storied Birnam Wood Golf Club in Montecito. A perennial favorite among area golf enthusiasts, business leaders, and philanthropists, the event is a benefit for the Music Academy of the West's full-scholarship fund.
Player registration will begin at 9:30 am. Activities will include a cocktail reception, a live auction, and an evening awards presentation and dinner featuring a performance by internationally acclaimed Music Academy alumni Zuill Bailey (cello), Monique McDonald (soprano), and pianist Orion Weiss. Their bios follow below.
"We are extremely excited to have artists of this stature participate in this important annual fundraising event. Each is a superstar in his or her own right. The Music Academy is honored to be the only nonprofit organization permitted to hold a fundraising event at Birnam Wood Golf Club," said Scott Reed, vice president for Institutional Advancement at the Music Academy.
Chairing this year's Golf Invitational is John Seiter, a former senior executive with the international investment management organization Capital Group Companies. Mr. Seiter and his wife, Linda, are title sponsors of the event. Other sponsors include Leatrice Luria and Diane and Selby Sullivan. This year's tournament is dedicated to the memory of Richard H. Schutte, a longtime supporter of the Music Academy and the Santa Barbara Gold Invitational.
For more information, contact Brooke Jacobs at 695-7917 or bjacobs@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 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 175 public events annually, including performances by faculty, visiting artists, and Fellows; masterclasses; orchestra and chamber music concerts; and fully staged opera. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
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15th Annual Santa Barbara Golf Invitational Fact Sheet
Monday, October 20
Birnam Wood Golf Club
Two Best Balls of Foursome Format
First Gross & Net Prizes
Men's & Women's Divisions
Schedule of Events
9:30-11:15 am - Player Registration
11:30 am - Practice & Pre-Tournament Contest
11:45 am - Buffet Luncheon on Terrace
12:30 pm - Foursome Photoshoot
12:45 pm Call to Carts
1 pm - Shotgun Start
5:30 pm - Cocktails by the Green
6:30 pm - Awards Presentation & Dinner, w/ Special Musical Performance
Player Packages / Price Points
Men's Eagle Package (four players) - $4,500
Women's Eagle Package (four players) - $3,500
Men's Par Package (single player) - $1,250
Women's Par Package (single player) - $950
Dinner & Performance Only - $250 (limited tickets available)
Player Packages Include
18 holes of golf at Birnam Wood Golf Club
Tee prizes
A buffet luncheon
Contest and prize eligibility
A cocktail reception by the green for players and guests
An awards presentation and three-course dinner (golf attire)
A special musical performance featuring Music Academy of the West alumni
2008 Tournament Committee
John Seiter, chair
Judy Getto, volunteer chair
Robin Schutte, catering chair
Diane Sullivan, handicaps/pairings chair
Rosalind Amorteguy
Patsy and Richard Blake
Margaret Cafarelli
Ernest Getto
Lach Hough
Lucy Hromadka
Nancy Hunter
Georgia Lynn
Betty and Max Meyer
Thomas Orlando
Hubert Vos
The 2008 Santa Barbara Golf Invitational is presented in memory of Richard H. Schutte.
Artist Biographies
Zuill Bailey, who attended the Music Academy in 1989, 1990, 1993, and 1994, is considered one of the
pre-eminent cellists of his generation. His rare combination of compelling
artistry, technical finesse, and engaging personality has secured him a place
among today's most sought-after cellists.
A consummate concerto soloist, Mr. Bailey has performed with the symphony
orchestras of Chicago, Dallas,
Ft. Worth,
Louisville, Milwaukee,
Minnesota, San Francisco,
Toronto, and Utah, among others, and has collaborated
with such conductors as Itzhak Perlman, Alan Gilbert, Andrew Litton, Grant
Llewellyn, James DePriest, and Stanislav Skrowacezewski. He has also appeared
with Leon Fleisher, the Juilliard String Quartet, Jaime Laredo, Lynn Harrell,
and Janos Starker. In his New York
recital debut, Mr. Bailey performed the complete Beethoven Sonatas at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has also appeared at the Kennedy
Center, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. Y, and
Carnegie Hall, where he made his debut performing the U.S. premiere of Miklos
Theodorakis' Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra.
His international appearances include celebrated performances with the Moscow
Chamber Orchestra in its 50th anniversary tour of Russia,
as well as concerts in the Dominican Republic,
France, Israel, Hong Kong,
Jordan, Mexico, Peru,
and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Bailey is a member of the acclaimed Perlman-Schmidt-Bailey Trio, featuring
pianist Navah Perlman and violinist Giora Schmidt. He also performs regularly
with longtime duo partner pianist Awadagin Pratt as well as with pianist Simone
Dinnerstein. Their recording of the Beethoven Sonatas for Cello and Piano has
received widespread popular and critical acclaim.
In addition to his extensive touring engagements, Mr. Bailey serves as artistic
director of El Paso Pro Musica and is a professor of cello at the University of Texas
at El Paso.
Monique McDonald, who attended the Music Academy in 1996, 1997, and 1999, has garnered numerous professional honors, including first prizes in the Eleanor McCollum Competition at Houston Grand Opera (1996), the Palm Beach Opera Competition (1997), and the Sullivan Foundation Competition (1999), and the inaugural Leonie Rysanek Award in the George London Competition (1998).
Her recent engagements have included Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos (her Seattle Opera debut); Leonore in Il Trovatore for Teatre de Mostoles in Madrid; Micaela in Carmen, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Iphigenie in Iphigenie en Tauride with New York City Opera; La Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro with Tulsa Opera; Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with Opera Delaware; Aida and Iris for the Berkshire Opera Festival; Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte and Armide in Gluck's Armide with the Juilliard Opera Center; and scenes from Andrea Chenier (Maddalena di Coigny) and Manon Lescaut (Manon) at Palm Beach Opera under the guidance of Maestro Anton Guadagno.
In 2006, following her success as Tosca with Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Italy, she embarked on a 15-city tour of Spain. That year Ms. McDonald also performed as Aida at the Luglio Musicale Festival in Sicily, and as Serena in Porgy & Bess in Detroit, recording the latter for the Decca label.
Ms. McDonald has appeared as a soloist in the Dvorak Requiem with the Berkshire Opera Festival; the Mozart Requiem with the Spoleto Festival USA; Mozart's C Minor Mass with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christopher Hogwood at the Kennedy Center; Mozart's Exultate Jubilate with the Orchestra Albert Schweitzer in Strasbourg, France; the Brahms' Requiem under the guidance of Lorenzo Muti; Dvorak's Stabat Mater with the Raleigh Oratorio Society; and both Poulenc's Gloria and Verdi's Requiem with the North Carolina Symphony. She can be heard as the soprano soloist in the Grammy-nominated recording of Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen, recorded live at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with the New York Festival of Song.
Pianist Orion Weiss, who attended the Music Academy in 2000, is among the most sought-after soloists and collaborators of his generation. His deeply felt and exceptionally crafted performances go far beyond technical mastery, winning him acclaim from audiences, critics, and colleagues across a wide range of repertoire and formats.
A native of Lyndhurst, Ohio, Mr. Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Schenly. He made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in February 1999, performing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. The following month, with less than 24 hours' notice, Mr. Weiss replaced André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He was immediately invited to return to the orchestra for a performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in October 1999. In 2004 he graduated from Juilliard, where he had studied with Emanuel Ax.Mr. Weiss has toured the United States with the Orchester der KlangVerwaltung Munich, and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. He has also appeared with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Phoenix, Rochester, Memphis, Annapolis, Louisville, and Omaha, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and Oregon Symphony, among others. In 2005 he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Weiss has appeared across the United States at venues and festivals including Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Bard Music Festival, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. In 2005 he made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall, and his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Mr. Weiss' impressive list of honors includes the Juilliard William Petschek Piano Recital Award, the Gilmore Young Artist Award, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
