Music Academy Masterclass Sampler Rescheduled for July 10
For Immediate Release July 3, 2008
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – The Music Academy of the West will present its 2008 masterclass sampler at 7:30 pm on Thursday, July 10. The event had been scheduled to take place July 2, but was canceled due to a local power outage. Featuring violinist Zvi Zeitlin and pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Warren Jones, each an Academy faculty member, the event will take place in the Music Academy's newly renovated Hahn Hall. Mr. Jones, who directs the Academy's vocal piano and interpretation program, will devote his segment to working with Academy Voice Fellows. Tickets cost $18.
The masterclass concept is beguilingly simple: An Academy Fellow performs before an audience, a teacher critiques the performance, and the Fellow refines his or her performance accordingly. For Fellows, the masterclass combines the rigors of learning with the intensity of public performance. For audience members, the masterclass provides intimate insight into the subtleties of great music-making. The Music Academy offers more than 100 public masterclasses each summer – many of them free. Vocal and solo piano classes are offered as discounted series with reserved seating.
Warren Jones, who frequently performs with many of today's most acclaimed artists, has been a guest performer with the Juilliard, Borromeo, and Brentano string quartets, and is principal pianist with Camerata Pacifica. This season Mr. Jones made his debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, as well as the festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Caramoor. His international appearances include the Salzburg Festival, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, and Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. He has been invited to the White House to perform at concerts honoring the president of Russia and the prime ministers of Italy and Canada, and has thrice appeared at the U.S. Supreme Court as a specially invited performer for the justices and their guests. Mr. Jones has been a member of the Music Academy faculty since 1993, and serves on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music.
Jerome Lowenthal has been a prominent presence in the international piano world for more than a half-century. A student of three legendary musicians – William Kapell, Eduard Steuermann, and Alfred Cortot – he has performed a voluminous repertoire that includes 63 different concerti. Mr. Lowenthal has recorded for numerous record labels, including RCA, Columbia, and Arabesque. He has performed in a large number of chamber music festivals and collaborated in concerts with violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Nathaniel Rosen, and pianists Ronit Amir and Ursula Oppens. He has given masterclasses in North America, Europe, and Asia, and has been a faculty member at Juilliard since 1991. A recent recipient of an honorary doctorate from Cleveland Institute of Music, Mr. Lowenthal has been a member of the Music Academy faculty since 1970.
A member of the Music Academy faculty since 1973, Zvi Zeitlin has performed the entire violin repertoire with most of the world's great orchestras under such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Christoph von Dohnányi, James Levine, Pierre Boulez, and Igor Stravinsky, and has frequently toured Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. Mr. Zeitlin premiered the Schöenberg Violin Concerto in Buenos Aires (1964), also recording it for Deutsche Grammophon with conductor Rafael Kubelik. He premiered the Berg Violin Concerto, both in São Paolo (1975) and Shanghai (1994), and has recorded all of Stravinsky's violin and piano works, as well as two CDs of works by American composers Copland, Reynolds, Foss, Druckman, Adler, and Rochberg for the Gasparo label. Mr. Zeitlin is a professor of violin at the Eastman School of Music, where he was named the first Kilbourn Professor in 1974 and Distinguished Professor of Violin in 1998.
The Music Academy will present the West Coast premiere of William Bolcom's opera A Wedding, as well as performances by conductor Peter Oundjian and pianist Christopher Taylor as part of the Academy's 61st Summer Festival. The Academy will present 188 events over the course of its 2008 Summer School and Festival, which began June 23 and will conclude on August 16. Additional highlights will include performances by the Canadian Brass and the Takács Quartet, and conducting turns by George Manahan, Anne Manson, Nicholas McGegan, and Daniel Hege. 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.
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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