Rachleff To Conduct The Academy Festival Orchestra
June 28 performance will be the orchestra's first of the 2008 Summer Festival season
For Immediate Release June 16, 2008
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – Acclaimed conductor Larry Rachleff will lead the Academy Festival Orchestra in its first concert of the Music Academy's 2008 Summer Festival season at the Lobero Theatre on Saturday, June 28. Featuring Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber and Brahms' Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 73, the concert will begin at 8 pm. Tickets cost $45.
Described by the Chicago Tribune as a "take-charge maestro who invests everything he conducts with deep musical understanding," Mr. Rachleff serves as music director of both the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Antonio Symphony. He is also director of orchestras and holds the Walter Kris Hubert Chair at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in Houston. 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. In 1993 he was among four American conductors selected to lead the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall under the mentorship of Maestro Pierre Boulez.
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 of the Opera Theatre at the University of Southern California. In 1988 he served as music director of 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. In constant demand as a conductor and masterclass clinician, Mr. Rachleff is frequently invited to lead other conservatory orchestras, including those at Juilliard, England's Royal Northern College, and New England Conservatory. He has collaborated with such leading composers as Samuel Adler, the late Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Michael Daugherty, and John Harbison.
The Lobero Theatre is located at 33 East Canon Perdido Street in Santa Barbara. The concert is supported in part by Northern Trust.
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 will begin June 23 and 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. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
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