A look at the real estate market compared to this time last year

Then came COVID.

Instead of picnics amid the flowers and fig trees flourishing on the academy’s Miraflores campus cooled by ocean breezes followed by masterclasses and concerts in myriad halls both historic and new, everybody is

Back in January, 2020 was looking to be a pretty exciting year for the Music Academy of the West. Not only had the summer music institute respected around the world just hired Jamie Broumas, the former Director of Classical and New Music Programs at Washington’s famed Kennedy Center, for the newly created position of Chief Artistic Officer, but MAW had also received an alltime high in the number of young musicians applying to audition for the summer festival. Exactly 2,020 candidates, in fact, had vied for the 139 available fellowships, and the ones selected represent 23 different countries and almost half of the USA’s states, with just 26 returnees joining the 113 new faces.

by Steven Libowitz Stir it Up: Music Academy’s MARLI Offers Positive Vibrations

Chief Artistic Officer Jamie Broumas helped shift MAW’s in-person summer session to MARLI: the Music Academy Remote Learning Institute

sheltering at home, hoping to avoid contracting the coronavirus that has caused more than 100,000 deaths in the U.S. alone, and more than 400,000 deaths globally.

MAW’s staff had to pivot so fast

Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to the Montecito Journal for more than 10 years.

they probably left multiple divots on the lush lawns and gardens adjoining Channel Drive. Suddenly more than 200 public events were canceled, and, what’s more, everything at all slated to be held onsite had to be somehow reconfigured, including training for the young fellows (who range in age from 18 to 34) – a training that many alumni have considered so rigorous and thoroughly wide-ranging that it stayed with them throughout their careers.

Given that there are, as yet, no online formats that allow for live musical collaboration, where MAW landed necessarily means a vastly different festival for 2020, with, obviously, no in-person events, but also no live streaming at all for the public to enjoy. In its place, however, is an opportunity for the fellows to not only still get some semblance of the program via remote private lessons and other musical adventures, but also the chance to get exposed to wildly innovative ideas about how to make music from their own homes.

Welcome to MARLI: the Music Academy Remote Learning Institute.

Beginning Monday, June 15, the 134 full-scholarship fellows (five dropped out) will participate in a four-week curriculum of private lessons and studio classes with their regular Music Academy faculty artists, while MARLI – true to MAW’s nature as an attractive site for the summer for top name professionals – has also engaged an impressive list of more than 45 experts and industry leaders to serve as guest artists and speakers in Innovation/ Career-Building Seminars that take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday over the four weeks. The roster includes conductors Marin Alsop, soprano Julia Bullock, Spektral Quartet violist Doyle Armbrust (MAW ’01, ’03), flutist Claire Chase, arts activist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, London Symphony Orchestra managing director Kathryn McDowell, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec, Alliance Artist Management founder Rob Robbins, San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas, and many others.

That’s all followed by a two-week Creative Extension offering competitions and audition opportunities with cash awards, including the Fast Pitch Awards (new project ideas), the new MARLI Digital Challenge (individual video projects), and the Keston MAX auditions with the London Symphony Orchestra.

The Academy’s faculty and administration are coordinating solo, collaborative, and large ensemble performance opportunities with plans for a multi-layered orchestral recording led by conductor Christian Reif, plus solo and layered-recording collaborative piano projects, and a showcase by the Vocal Institute and other instrument groups. MAW’s perennially popular Picnic Concerts are also going virtual and will largely consist of fellows-driven performance submissions as well as contributions from the faculty.

The Vocal Institute fellows will also enjoy coaching and acting workshops with Vocal Institute Creative Director James Darrah, vocal and vocal piano private lessons and special seminars, and much more, including participat

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