While many students rush to leave UCLA during the summer to
return to their homes, a select group of talented musicians from
all over the world await their turn to arrive on campus.
These people are the 85 professional musicians chosen to be part
of the Henry Mancini Institute’s four-week Summer Education
Program and the Free Summer Music Festival, held primarily at UCLA.
Concerts will be held at Royce and Schoenberg halls, and are
scheduled from July 22 to August 12.
Composer Jack Elliott founded the institute in memory of Henry
Mancini in 1997. Mancini was nominated for 72 Grammys and 18
Academy Awards, winning 20 and four respectively, for his work in
composing music for film and television. He was also a pianist and
concert conductor. Both Elliott and Mancini desired to teach the
next generation of musicians the skills necessary to be successful
commercial performing artists, resulting in the formation of the
institute and its summer programs.
“It’s an important program because it helps to
expand stylistic horizons,” said Jeremy Cohen, part of the
Jazz Violin faculty at the institute and one of its string
coordinators. “It offers a great amount of exposure outside
of the traditional conservatory or music program
education.”
The highly competitive program requires that its participants,
who range in age from 18 to 33 years old, go through a detailed
audition process.
“We require high-end classical skills, which calls for
high-level auditions,” Cohen said.
Auditions are held on 18 dates in 15 different cities, but the
institute also accepts mail-in auditions. If chosen, students
receive an opportunity to study and perform with today’s most
renowned musicians. They also get the chance to perform works by
both experienced composers and Henry Mancini Institute program
composers during the Free Summer Music Festival.
“It’s fascinating to see diverse groups of varying
ages from all over the world sharing their musical influences with
each other,” Cohen said. “Participants have jazz
influences, gypsy influences, etc. It’s a bizarre combination
that allows the doors to swing wide open.”
Jill Packard is one beneficiary of the institute. In the summer
of 2002, Packard’s oboe-playing skills landed her a spot in
the program. Since then, she has become the program manager for
recruitment and alumni affairs for the institute, as well as a
freelance oboe instructor.
“It made me want to move to Los Angeles,” Packard
said. “It inspired me to continue to be a professional
musician. It showed other options for work, especially for those
who were trained with strictly classical backgrounds.”
Like Packard, Rob Schaer is returning to the program, but as a
participant. A USC graduate student, Schaer has played the trumpet
for 13 years.
“My father is a percussionist ““ a drummer,”
Schaer said. “He taught high school band. I started out
playing the drums, but I noticed in the marching band that the
drummers were always in the back, while the trumpet players were in
the front, doing all the soloing.”
He heard about the program through word of mouth, as well as
from posters on the USC campus. Schaer’s first year in the
program was in 2005.
“A lot of big studio musicians are involved with the
program, (which is) a big reason why I chose to do it over summer
festivals,” Schaer said.
However, Schaer believes that the best lesson the Henry Mancini
Institute has imparted upon him is the ability to be a versatile
musician, making him marketable to the public.
“The musician’s line of work is different,”
Schaer said. “Not that many people can make it in the music
industry if they only have one style of playing. There is a need
for classical musicians, but also the new commercial side. That
knowledge is what the Henry Mancini Institute offers its students,
over any festival.”