Tag archives: Classical Music
Berets abounded and everyone was getting an Ei-ffel when Santa Barbara Choral Society hosted its annual gala Springtime in Paris at the Rockwood Woman’s Club. The fun French-themed fête, co-chaired by president Karen Williams and Debra Stewart, attracted 120 guests and raised $60,000 for the popular group. Before dinner, catered by Via Maestra 42, veteran […]
At the Granada it was time for the tony triumvirate of violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and pianist Jeremy Denk to shine, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures program. The talented threesome were in glorious harmony playing works by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. A blockbuster show… Like Father, Like Daughter CAMA […]
Santa Barbara Quire of Voyces performs a pair of “Cathedral Classics” concerts May 18-19 at St. Anthony’s Chapel, closing out its 25th anniversary season… Earlier that same Saturday afternoon, the Santa Barbara Music Club presents the first of two free concerts featuring winners of the 2019 Scholarship Awards at First United Methodist Church, 305 East […]
If chamber music were an Olympic sport, one could hardly imagine a more formidable dream team than the trio of violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and pianist Jeremy Denk. The three are each considered among the elite on their instruments as recitalists and symphonic soloists as well as other formats, and in many ways […]
A tony triumvirate of new members have joined the board of CAMA – Community Arts Music Association –, which is completing its centennial year. The trio are renowned soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, retired internist George Messerlian, and local arts benefactor Marta Babson, who lives in Montecito and Chicago. “We’re very pleased to have these talented and […]
Veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti has signed a multi-year extension as conductor of the Santa Barbara Symphony, which is celebrating its 66th season. Nir has been with the orchestra since 2006, when he was chosen from a pool of 300 candidates for the position. Since then he has used his considerable experience and talent in symphonic […]
There’s just one piece on the program for Santa Barbara Symphony’s pair of concerts this weekend, but it’s a big one: Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 6 (“Tragic”). The 112-year-old, nearly 90-minute work scored for more than 100 musicians is finally making its debut with the Symphony 64 years after the ensemble was founded and a […]
Also on the horizon before the opening of the Music Academy’s impressive eight-week 2019 Summer Music Festival in mid-June is the recital featuring the 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano and pianist Andrew Sun at Hahn Hall on May 24. The singer joined the Oper Frankfurt studio last September two months after […]
Sophiko Simsive, who won the Music Academy of the West’s second annual Solo Piano Competition last summer, was a little bit shaken when she answered the phone on Monday afternoon. She’d just learned of the fire at Notre Dame, and had yet to come to terms with the ongoing devastation. That personal connection might seem […]
UCSB Arts & Lectures supporters, Richard and Annette Caleel, opened the doors of their magnificent modern and tribal art filled Birnam Wood home for a reception for violinist Jennifer Koh, who later performed to a sold-out audience at St. Anthony’s Chapel, her second consecutive year, featuring works by Philip Glass, David Lang, Bryce Dessner, Andrew […]
The Granada stage was positively heaving when the Santa Barbara Symphony, accompanied by 150 singers from local choirs, performed a rousing concert of Verdi’s Requiem under conductor Nir Kabaretti. Featuring the Santa Barbara Choral Society, City College choirs, and the North County Chorus, I sat in at a rehearsal earlier in the week at the […]
CAMA – Community Arts Music Association – hosted a centennial season subscriber dinner at Opal just before the last performance of this season’s international series with the debut of the 128-year-old Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Danish music director Thomas Sondergard at the Granada. Kicking off with Symphony No.7 in C major by Finnish composer […]
Rock singer Ronnie Platt had been making most of his money as a truck driver in Chicago for the better part of 25 years – singing along to Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son” on classic rock radio in the cab – when someone forwarded him the press release indicating that […]
Social gridlock reigned at the Coral Casino’s La Pacifica ballroom when CADA – the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse – hosted an underwriting party for its annual Amethyst Ball at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara next month. The beachside bash attracted 90 well heeled guests and raised around $100,00 to cover costs associated with the glittering […]
Local dance lovers are in for a treat this week when the Joffrey Ballet, the veteran company considered among America’s elite, returns to the Granada for the first time in more than half a decade for two different programs spanning seven works. That’s a tall order even for one of the country’s most revered troupe […]
Baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert was one of the few Music Academy of the West vocal fellows to span the changeover from Abravanel to Hahn halls in 2007-08, and his approach to his own career underwent a simultaneous metamorphosis during his MAW tenure. Sure, Herbert found his time on Mirafloras campus “enjoyable and fun” and made […]
Paula Poundstone is the first to admit to a penchant for long-winded speeches, a tendency toward stream of consciousness rambling that would be confirmed by her colleagues on one of her longest-running gigs as a panelist on NPR’s top-rated show, the weekly comedy news quiz known as “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” So the veteran […]
Music lovers packed the Granada for the Santa Barbara Symphony’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” concert featuring works by Johannes Brahms and Modest Mussorgsky. The first half of the performance, conducted by veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti, was an all-Brahms affair with his Tragic Overture and Concerto in A minor, featuring the symphony’s principal cellist Trevor Handy […]
“They are excellent, they sing really well,” David Crosby tweeted last October, hours after seeing The Brother Brothers open for I’m With Her at the Lobero Theatre. The folk-rock icon surely wasn’t the only music lover who was pleasantly surprised, as the sustained applause and cheers proved that many were basically blown away by the […]
After the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra ceased operation in 2017, chamber music, with veteran maestro Heichero Ohyama, was back on the Lobero stage. The affable conductor, who led the 40-year-old orchestra from 1983 to 2017, returned to inaugurate a new Chamber Music Project with three concerts, the final two taking place next month. Last weekend’s […]
