Tag archives: CAMA

The Bell of the Ball
By Richard Mineards   |   April 16, 2024

Our Eden by the Beach’s Community Arts Music Association ended its 105th International Series on a particularly high note when the U.K.’s 66-year-old Academy of St. Martin in the Fields – under the directorship of legendary Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell – played a sold-out concert at the Granada. The wonderfully entertaining show featured the […]

The Symphonic Sphinxes
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2024

CAMA, the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara. hosted its last concert of its current Masterseries with the 18-member Sphinx Virtuosi at the Lobero. The talented ensemble was founded in Detroit in 1997 to champion black and Latinx composers and musicians to bring more diversity to the arts. The tony troupe performed four commissioned […]

The Granada Is Back
By Richard Mineards   |   March 19, 2024

Just six weeks after its disastrous sprinkler mishap the venerable Granada Theatre was back to its sparkling self when the 27-time Grammy winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performed as part of the CAMA Masterseries. Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann, music director since 2022 and only the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra, joined Chinese […]

Grimaud on Key
By Richard Schultz   |   March 5, 2024

French pianist Hélène Grimaud made her third CAMA Masterseries appearance at the Lobero and, true to form, was at the top of her game. In the penultimate show of her U.S. tour, Grimaud, 54, played the “B” list with works including Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major,” Brahms’ 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117 and […]

Symphonic Triplets
By Richard Mineards   |   January 30, 2024

Magnificent classical music reigned supreme with three impressive concerts in our Eden by the Beach, two at the venerable Granada and one at the Music Academy’s Hahn Hall. Kicking off the week was the Community Arts Music Association’s first concert of the new year with London’s 79-year-old Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko, […]

CAMA’s Night of Magic and Music
By Richard Mineards   |   November 28, 2023

British pianist Stephen Hough, making his fifth appearance with the Community Arts Music Association, mesmerized in a Masterseries concert at the Lobero. Hough, 61, who was recently knighted by King Charles, received a Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School in New York, was clearly at the top of his game with his Yamaha grand piano […]

Moving Mariposa Tunes
By Tim Buckley   |   November 21, 2023

Violinist Frank Huang is deep into his ninth year as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, but the joys of performing as part of much smaller ensembles has never strayed far from his heart. “Before I got into the orchestra world, I was pursuing life as a quartet player,” shared Huang, who was the first […]

Virtuoso Duo
By Richard Mineards   |   October 31, 2023

The launch of CAMA’s Masterseries at the Lobero with two virtuoso musicians, Avi Avital on mandolin and Hanzhi Wang on accordion, was a heady combination. Israeli Avital, who has performed with the Community Arts Music Association twice – with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2018 and Les Violins du Roy 2021 – was in […]

Classical Corner: More Seasons Commencing 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

CAMA Masterseries’ 40th anniversary season opens with a recital by a somewhat left-of-center duo, at least by instruments, as mandolinist Avi Avital and accordionist Hanzhi Wang team up to perform at the Lobero Theatre. The two are veritable virtuosos – Avital’s skill has been compared to Jascha Heifetz while Wang is the only accordionist ever […]

CAMA-ing to an End
By Richard Mineards   |   October 17, 2023

Retired lawyer Robert (Bob) Montgomery, probably the longest serving president in the Community Arts Music Association’s 106-year history, received the organization’s top Bravo! Award for his extraordinary service at a packed dinner of 70 guests at the Birnam Wood clubhouse. Fittingly enough, it was presented by former award winner Deborah Bertling, immediate past president of […]

All in the Family
By Richard Mineards   |   August 15, 2023

Musette Profant is the new Women’s Board president for Community Arts Music Association (CAMA), succeeding Deborah Bertling after four years, who is now chair of the organization’s board. Profant continues a proud family tradition as her grandmother Mabel Profant was a founding member of the CAMA Women’s Board and served on the board of directors […]

Photographer Takes Flight
By Richard Mineards   |   August 8, 2023

Ubiquitous photographer David Bazemore, a shutterbug and videographer in our Eden by the Beach for 26 years, has become an FAA certified unmanned aircraft pilot. The certification means David can used a DJI Air 2S drone, which can film stunning 5.4k video and can snap 20-megapixel photos. “If a client’s imagination is ready to take […]

Bravo Gustavo
By Richard Mineards   |   June 13, 2023

The venerable Granada was not surprisingly sold out when the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Venezuelan maestro Gustavo Dudamel performed for the last concert of CAMA’s 104th season international series. It was one of the last chances to see Dudamel, 42, at the orchestra’s helm – he took over from Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen who had […]

Osmo in the CAMA Cosmo
By Richard Mineards   |   May 30, 2023

CAMA, Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara, left one of its best for last when Philadelphia’s Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, former maestro of the Minnesota and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, performed the penultimate show of its 104th international series season at the Granada with Russian pianist Yefim Bronfman playing Schumann’s “Concerto […]

A Bacharach Boogie
By Richard Mineards   |   May 16, 2023

Songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, who died in Los Angeles in February at the age of 94, was commemorated in energized fashion when the Brooklyn, New York-based Mark Morris Dance Company performed to his many hits at the Granada, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series. The “Look of Love” show, a music collaboration […]

Happening Hadelich
By Richard Mineards   |   May 9, 2023

Italian violin genius and Grammy Award-winner Augustin Hadelich, making his fifth CAMA appearance since 2015, played a rapturous performance at the Lobero as part of the organization’s Masterseries. Bach featured prominently in the delightful program, launching with “Partita for Unaccompanied Violin No. 3 in E major” and ending with “No. 2 in D minor,” with […]

New Members for CAMA Board
By Richard Mineards   |   May 9, 2023

CAMA – Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara – has elected four new directors to the board. The musical quartet are Laurel Abbott, a real estate entrepreneur, Robert Castle, with 35 years in managing information and telecommunications companies, Patricia Kaplan, skilled in real estate and community service, and Ben Pringle of Northern Trust in […]

Stradivarius, Sunset, and the Sea
By Richard Mineards   |   April 4, 2023

CAMA Women’s Board threw its second annual Sunset by the Sea at the Cabrillo Pavilion, where London-based luthier and co-founder of The Open String, Robert Brewer Young, 56, talked about the famed 17th century Italian violin and cello maker Stradivarius, whose instruments have sold for millions of dollars. Young, who received traditional French training in […]

Sunset by the Sea: The $5 “Stradivarius”
By Musette Profant   |   March 21, 2023

How does it compare to the original? Listen to both violins on Monday, March 20, at the Cabrillo Pavilion during Sunset by the Sea, an annual event sponsored by the Community Arts Music Association Women’s Board. The fundraiser for CAMA will host wine and hors d’oeuvres from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and feature the fascinating […]

Los Romeros Rock Lobero
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2023

It was certainly a family affair when Los Romeros, a guitar quartet featuring family members – Celin, Pepe, Angel, and Lito Romero – performed at the Lobero, part of the CAMA Masterseries. The family was celebrating its 60th anniversary and the historic theater its 150th birthday. The dynasty settled in Santa Barbara after legendary Spanish […]