Santa Barbara, CA — The Music Academy of the West will receive a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help fund guest conductor residencies during the Academy’s 2011 Summer School and Festival. The grant, the first the Academy has received from the NEA since 1995, re-affirms the institution’s stature as a premier classical music training facility, according to Academy President Scott Reed.
“In addition to providing much-needed funding, this grant further validates our programmatic mission and vision,” said Mr. Reed. “Working closely with accomplished guest conductors is a vital component of our Fellows’ training experience, and we are honored to have the NEA’s partnership through this new grant.”
One of only three Santa Barbara-area groups to receive NEA support during the current grant-making cycle, the Music Academy is among 1,057 not-for-profit organizations recommended for funding as part of the endowment’s first round of fiscal year 2011 grants. All told, the NEA will distribute $26.68 million nationwide.
An independent federal agency, the NEA advances artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. “I continue to be impressed with the creative, innovative, and excellent projects brought forward by arts organizations across the country,” NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said. “Our grantees are not only furthering their art forms but also enhancing their neighborhoods by making them more vibrant, livable, and fun.”
In 2011 the Music Academy will host conductors Leonard Slatkin (music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), Nicholas McGegan (music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra), Larry Rachleff (music director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic), Daniel Hege (music director of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra), and Peter Oundjian (music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra). Festival highlights will include a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor featuring Mr. Oundjian, and Mr. Slatkin conducting Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, to close out the season. In addition, Academy faculty member Warren Jones will conduct a production of Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Barber of Seville. The Academy’s 2011 Summer School and Festival will take place June 20 through August 13
