California’s Music Academy of the West announced that it has raised $11.5 million toward its goal of $17.5 million for a capital campaign to renovate its campus in Montecito, California. The renovation will begin in August 2015 and include upgrades to the recently renamed Marilyn Horne Main House. Among planned upgrades are a seismic retrofitting, replacement of early-20th-century electrical and plumbing, installation of energy-efficient options, modernized offices, and restoration of the patios, terrace, and fountains. A second phase of the project, set to begin in August 2016, will renovate and expand the practice studio building, adding large-ensemble rehearsal rooms and teaching studios, with distance-learning technology. Each summer since 1947, the Music Academy of the West has provided young pre-professional musicians with full scholarships to study and perform with its faculty, who in addition to Horne have recently included composer Thomas Adès, pianist Jonathan Biss, violinist Glenn Dicterow, and the ensemble eighth blackbird.
Posted July 9, 2015
