The Miriam and Henry Schwab Academy of Music at Ventura College returns for its 6th summer season, June 29 – July 18, 2026, bringing together student musicians, professional mentors, and the broader Ventura community for three weeks of intensive training and exhilarating public performances.
Throughout the Academy’s three-week program, talented student participants receive professional-level orchestral and chamber music training alongside nationally recognized faculty and mentors. (A few spots remain.)
Concerts for the public begin July 3 and include the always exciting finals of the annual Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition, our Chamber Music Series, and the Season Finale concert featuring Dvořák’s “New World Symphony” and a celebration of American music with selections by Daniel Slatkin and Margaret Bonds.
“Miriam Schwab’s vision and extraordinary generosity made all of this possible,” says Anne Paul King, Executive Director of the Ventura College Foundation. “What she created here — this community, this opportunity for students of every age and background — is a gift that keeps giving to Ventura every summer.”
All concerts are Pay-What-You-Can and take place at the Helen Yunker Auditorium, Ventura College Performing Arts Center (4700 Loma Vista Rd.).
16th Annual Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition
- Friday, July 3 & Sunday, July 5 | 5 PM (Lobby opens 4 PM)
- Helen Yunker Auditorium | Pay-What-You-Can
The season opens with the finals of the 16th Annual Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition, featuring the Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Ashley Walters. This year’s talented finalists are Kyler Chu and Leonora Vukovitz (Competing in Category A on Friday, July 3), and Kayden Chu, Emily Zhang, Ryan Walker, and Isabella Zhou (Competing in Category B on Sunday, July 5).
Chamber Music Series
- Friday, July 10 | Saturday, July 11 | Friday, July 17 – all at 5 PM
- Helen Yunker Auditorium | Pay-What-You-Can
Students from the Academy’s Chamber Music program present three evenings of varied and engaging repertoire, from classical masterworks to lesser-known gems. Programs will be announced from the stage. The lobby opens one hour before each performance.
Season Finale: Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony
- Saturday, July 18 | 5 PM (Lobby opens 4 PM)
- Helen Yunker Auditorium | Pay-What-You-Can
The Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra closes the 2026 season with an extraordinary American-themed program, featuring three works that explore the full sweep of the American experience, from the struggle for civil rights to the vastness of outer space to the soul of a nation heard through foreign ears:
- Margaret Bonds — The Montgomery Variations (Mvts. I, V & VII: Decision / One Sunday in the South / Benediction)
- Daniel Slatkin — Voyager 130
- Dvořák — Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) was a trailblazing Chicago-born composer and pianist — the first African American soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Montgomery Variations, composed in 1963 and dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr., is rooted in the African American spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” and reflects Bonds’ witness to the Civil Rights Movement and the American struggle for freedom and justice. Long neglected, her music is now being celebrated by major orchestras across the country.
Daniel Slatkin is a Los Angeles-based composer whose work spans film, television, and the concert hall. Voyager 130 — performed by the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Detroit Symphony, and the St. Louis Symphony — is a thrilling orchestral journey inspired by NASA’s Voyager spacecrafts and the Golden Record launched into space in 1977. It is a celebration of human curiosity and our restless reach toward the unknown.
The Czech master Antonín Dvořák composed his Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”) during his time in America, drawing deeply on the spirituals and folk music he encountered here — the same musical wellspring that fed Margaret Bonds a generation later. This “New World” Symphony has become one of the most beloved symphonies ever written, with global audiences responding to both the American and the universal elements of Dvořák’s masterwork.
“We are so excited to bring this program to Ventura,” says Conductor and Music Director Ashley Walters. “Daniel Slatkin’s Voyager 130 is electrifying, vital music — and to pair it with Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations and Dvořák’s New World Symphony feels exactly right for this moment. We’re thrilled to have Daniel Slatkin in residence with us in preparation for this performance.”
Together, these three works make up a portrait of American music that is is soulful, vibrant, restless, and searching. Performed by our 2026 Schwab Academy particpants and mentors, this is a concert not to be missed! Reserved Tickets: www.ventura.vbotickets.com; General inquiries: vcschwab@vcccd.edu. More information: www.venturacollege.edu/
Still Enrolling— a Few Spots Remain!
The Academy welcomes student musicians ages 12 and up. Courses in orchestra and chamber music are available at just $71 – an extraordinary value for three weeks of professional-level training alongside nationally recognized faculty. A few spots remain. Contact Music Director Ashley Walters at awalters@vcccd.edu.
