In the 1930s, conductor Otto Klemperer and soprano Lotte Lehmann, former colleagues from the Hamburg Opera, emigrated to Southern California to escape Nazi Germany. After World War II, they were among a group of iconic leaders who sought to establish a premier training program for musicians in Santa Barbara. Chamber music, orchestra concerts, opera, and public masterclasses have been a cornerstone of the Academy’s curriculum since the 1940s.

Klemperer was the fourth music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Lehmann, an international opera star, inspired new generations to rise from the Music Academy through her teaching and left an indelible impact on the community.

In 1947, Lehmann gave a benefit recital at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara to help establish funding for what has evolved into a continuous training program for young artists and summer festival experience for passionate audiences. Lehmann’s championship of the art of lieder (song, in German) was passed on to her students including mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, who was the Academy’s Vocal Program Director from 1997-2018.

Many additional prominent musicians and philanthropists helped to burnish the Music Academy’s brilliant reputation over the decades by supporting full scholarships for all students and offering them opportunities to perform. In 2018, this generosity extended to the founding of a children’s chorus, Sing!, available free of charge to all local elementary students.