Like so many other schools and arts organizations, the Music Academy of the West faces a major challenge during the indefinite period of social distancing currently dictated by the global coronavirus pandemic. When Governor Newsom ordered Californians to shelter in place back in March, the Academy was not yet in session, but the wheels were already in motion that bring over a hundred young musicians and faculty members to the organization’s Montecito campus every June for eight weeks of intensive instruction, rehearsal, and performance. Wonderful, ambitious concerts had been planned, not only for the academy’s Hahn Hall performance space, but also for Santa Barbara’s premier venues: the Lobero, the Granada, and the Santa Barbara Bowl. While it’s not a certainty that all of those large public events will have to be canceled for 2020, it is a likelihood that Music Academy President and CEO Scott Reed and his team have had to face in the intervening weeks.
As of now, the academy plans to reconstitute itself as the Music Academy Remote Learning Institute for at least the first month of its season. There will be an announcement on May 15 as to whether conditions have been met that would allow at least some of the planned public concerts and in-person instruction scheduled for the program’s second four weeks to go forward.
I spoke with Reed last week by phone. The transcript that follows has been edited for clarity and length.