In one of the most dramatic annual transformation moments in town, the Music Academy of the West (MAW) has sprung to life this week. The formerly sleepy and idyllic Miraflores campus in Montecito, home of the Academy for nearly eight decades, has become host to a bustling roster of activity and summer encampment for hundreds of boldly gifted student “fellows” from around the world. They have been carefully chosen, tuition-free, to engage in a cherished program often compared to similar summer events in Aspen and Tanglewood.
But what happens on campus doesn’t stay on campus. That’s where we, the spoiled music fans, benefit from the Academy’s summer harvest.
Santa Barbara music lovers get to know these temporary citizens, who will show their wares publicly, in Saturday night orchestra concerts at The Granada Theatre, in on-campus Hahn Hall, and elsewhere, alongside an impressive list of classical music artists of global repute. The parade begins with what has become a festival-opening tradition, the arrival of the much-acclaimed Takács Quartet, which leads the string quartet seminar at the beginning of the Academy schedule and gives the first major public concert of the festival. This year, their Lobero Theatre concert, on Friday, June 20, comes during the quartet’s milestone 50th year in existence.