Summer Festival Continues

As the 72nd Music Academy of the West summer festival nears its conclusion, the Santa Barbara Bowl was the place to be on an idyllic evening for a community concert with the historic London Symphony Orchestra and the Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Daniel Harding, music director of the Orchestre de Paris.

The sold-out show, in memory of the late Baroness Leni Fe Bland, kicked off with Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, concluding with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor.

The magnificent concert wrapped with Oscar-winning composer John Williams‘ Star Wars theme as an encore.

Just 48 hours later it was a considerably smaller venue at the Lobero for the Festival Artists Series with Dahl’s Music For Brass Instruments, Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C Minor with Margaret McDonald on keyboard, and Mozart’s String Quartet No. 3 in C Major with violinists Martin Beaver and Amy Semes, violists Richard O’Neill and Qian Hui Ho, and cellist Soyoon Park.

Enchanting evenings both…