Cruising Tunes

Supporters of the Santa Barbara Symphony have been making a splash with a Cruise for a Cause on the River Danube from Vienna to Budapest.

Montecito Bank & Trust, which has sponsored the trip, is donating a portion of the proceeds to the symphony.

More than 64 MClub and symphony Crescendo members were onboard the AmaWaterways AmaViola river ship enjoying classical-themed concerts along the way.

The group was accompanied by Janet Garufis, chairman and CEO of the bank, and symphony board chair and MClub director Maria McCall, maestro Nir Kabaretti, president and CEO Kathryn Martin, and Juli Askew, symphony development manager.

Nir, who graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, known as the City of Music, also organized a private concert of Bösendorfer pianos, known as the Rolls-Royce of the keyboard, a tiara’s toss from the famed Musikverein, home to Vienna’s Philharmonic orchestra and a classical evening concert at the Hofburgkapelle.

In Hungary the group attended the opera Aida at the Budapest State Opera House, conducted by Nir’s good friend Carlo Montanaro.

Clearly a trip of high note…