Tag archives: CAMA

CAMA Kicks Off
By Richard Mineards   |   February 7, 2023

CAMA’s first concert of the New Year and its 104th season at the Granada was an absolute cracker! Chicago’s 132-year-old symphony under renowned Italian maestro Ricardo Muti, which first visited our Eden by the Beach at the Arlington 58 years ago, was in rare form with not a single seat available in the 1,553-capacity auditorium. […]

CAMA
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 24, 2023

Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara, aka CAMA, is deservedly well-known and cherished for its commitment and ability to bring the finest classical musicians from around the world to Santa Barbara, a cultural coup of musical riches that would normally be beyond the means for such a small community.  It helps that it all […]

Merry Mariachi 
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 6, 2022

The Arlington Theatre, our town’s largest indoor venue, hosts Santa Barbara’s first-ever Mariachi holiday concert produced by a local organization, in this case UCSB Arts & Lectures. The incomparable José Hernández will lead Mariachi Sol de México in a festive musical tribute to Mexico’s Christmas traditions, offering holiday favorites in a December 7 performance that […]

A Birnam Birthday
By Richard Mineards   |   November 8, 2022

Social gridlock reigned at the Birnam Wood Club when real estate investor and inventor Ray Winn, 88, hosted a birthday bash for his partner of 34 years Peter Kavoian, who was celebrating the 16th anniversary of his half century, and Peter’s mother Anna who is 92. The tony twosome, who split their time between their […]

CAMA Kicks Off
By Richard Mineards   |   October 25, 2022

CAMA – the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara – kicked off its 104th concert season in grand style at the Granada Theatre with the City of Birmingham Symphony and its dynamic conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, who last appeared in our Eden by the Beach 34 years ago. She succeeded British conductor Sir Simon Rattle, […]

Coming Full Circle with CAMA
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 11, 2022

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, whose history dates back to just one year after CAMA hosted its first concert with the brand-new Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1919, reached international fame under British conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who was recently in town himself to lead the London Symphony Orchestra at the Granada Theatre for the […]

Isabel’s Bella Tune
By Richard Mineards   |   May 3, 2022

It was an evening of decidedly high note when Lebanese-born soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian performed in a Glorious and Free concert at the Lobero, part of CAMA’s – the Community Arts Music Association – Masterseries. The performance of Romani-inspired songs and operetta arias featured works by Dvorak, Brahms, Lehar, Salman, and Yvain sung effortlessly by the […]

Clapping to the Sound of Four Hands
By Richard Mineards   |   May 3, 2022

It was certainly a hands-on performance when Berlin-based piano twosome Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg sharing the keyboard performed the world premiere of 62-year-old Austrian Richard Dunser’s composition derived from the work of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms with the Santa Barbara Symphony for Romance in a New Key at the Granada. Dunser dedicated his […]

Baroque Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   April 26, 2022

Multi Grammy winner Sir John Eliot Gardiner, founder and music director of the English Baroque Soloists, was in fine form when the 44-year-old orchestra performed at the Granada as part of CAMA’s 103rd international concert series. Playing two works from Mozart – “Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major” and “Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major” – […]

CAMA by the Sea
By Lynda Millner   |   April 19, 2022

As CAMA’s (Community Arts Music Association) women’s board chair Deborah Bertling said, “After two years, we finally get to have an event: Spring Sunset by the Sea.” It was a full house at the new Cabrillo Pavilion with everyone enjoying the view, silent auction, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres. The Pavilion is truly beautiful and a […]

Edward S. DeLoreto is CAMA-ing on Board
By Richard Mineards   |   April 12, 2022

CAMA – the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara – which is celebrating its 103rd concert season, has elected Edward S. DeLoreto to its board of directors. A CAMA subscriber for 35 years, and a donor for two decades. DeLoreto is passionate about Baroque music.  He has supported the organization through sponsorship of concerts, […]

A London Rattle
By Richard Mineards   |   April 5, 2022

After the pandemic played havoc with plans for the 118-year-old London Symphony Orchestra to perform in Santa Barbara, not to mention scrapping well laid plans for Music Academy of the West fellows to perform with the U.K. musicians at their home in the Barbican, the two major institutions are back in action in a big […]

Hamilton by the Sea
By Richard Mineards   |   April 5, 2022

It was a case of Broadway meets the classics when the 71-year-old CAMA Women’s Board hosted a Spring Sunset by the Sea bash at the newly renovated Cabrillo Pavilion with Julian Reeve, music director of the multi-Tony Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda musical Hamilton, talking about his career with the show, which debuted on the Great White […]

Grosvenor’s Sublime Return
By Tim Buckley   |   March 29, 2022

Two years ago, British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor was set to launch his first U.S. tour, including a concert at the Lobero Theatre for CAMA, the Community Arts Music Association. But the pandemic put paid to that with all venues being closed and Grosvenor flying back to the U.K., having not played one note. Now, with […]

From MAW to LSO
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 24, 2022

The pandemic sure played havoc with the Music Academy of the West’s (MAW) landmark transcontinental partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), postponing both the orchestra’s second appearance in 2021 and nixing the opportunity for fellows who won the annual Keston MAX competition to travel to London to a week with the LSO for the […]

A CAMA Quintet
By Richard Mineards   |   March 15, 2022

CAMA – Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara – hosted the first concert of its Masterseries at the Lobero with international Grammy winning string player Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations. For Spaniard Savall it was his fourth appearance in our Eden by the Beach having performed in 2008, 2010, and 2016. Playing […]

The Appeal of Beal
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 17, 2022

Few things have been more terrifying in the world of streaming fictional TV than House of Cards and the inexorable march of Francis Underwood toward the American presidency without regard for any person, place, or thing in his path – except perhaps later in the same series when his wife Claire ascended to the office. […]

In the Clouds
By Richard Mineards   |   February 8, 2022

CAMA – Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara – hosted the second concert of its international series at the Granada with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has visited out Eden by the Beach more than 144 times since the venerable venue was built in 1924. Both organizations are celebrating their 103rd anniversaries. Under guest […]

CAMA Comeback Kicks Off
By Richard Mineards   |   January 25, 2022

CAMA – Community Arts Music Association – kicked off its 103rd season with its first performance in 22 months at the Granada with one of the world’s leading orchestras, the 75-year-old Royal Philharmonic from London under the trusty baton of Russian music director Vasily Petrenko, who took charge less than a year ago. Our tony […]

MAW-LSO Tickets Go on Sale
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 18, 2022

Tickets for the unprecedented and thrilling three-concert residency of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) with the Music Academy of the West this March go on sale Monday, January 18. The divergent programs under the leadership of LSO Music Director Sir Simon Rattle culminates on March 27 with a community concert featuring 39 MAW alumni playing […]