50 Years of SBMC

Santa Barbara Music Club, which provides free concerts to the public, is celebrating its half century!

The organization has evolved from a private women’s club to the largest public series of classical music concerts in Santa Barbara County, and is supported wholly by membership dues, donations, bequests, and grants.

In addition to the twice-monthly concerts, which are presented October through June on Saturdays at 3 pm at the Faulkner Gallery at the downtown public library and the First United Methodist Church, for a demographic not normally seen in concerts halls, the club provides outreach concerts at senior centers and retirement homes.

“It started as a local women’s club in which ladies would gather at each other’s houses every Wednesday for musicales,” says board member Patty Volner.

“Soon the membership was broadened to include men and the club also modestly increased its roster of performers as well as the number of programs.”

In 1974 the Faulkner Gallery was used for special concerts, usually once a year, and the schedule was expanded to monthly and then bimonthly concerts.

Other concert venues have included the First Congregational Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Society, Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West, and the Presidio Chapel.

“The concerts feature instrumental and vocal soloists and chamber music ensembles, with programs displaying a wonderful diversity of historical musical periods and compositional styles, including beloved masterworks together with exciting new and seldom-heard repertoire, all of it free to the public,” adds Patty.

For more information check out www.sbmusicclub.org