Tag archives: symphony

The Santa Barbara Symphony launches into 2025 with yet another first for the increasingly adventurous 72-year-old ensemble: a pair of weekend performances January 18-19 where the program is entirely different on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The prolific classical composer Mozart is the focus of affection for the weekend of wonder, which highlights four concertos […]

Philadelphia-based South African conductor Andrew Lipke was in fine form when he led the annual Santa Barbara Symphony New Year Pops concert at the Granada featuring a mix of film scores, pop, rock and other hits, with Lipke even swapping his baton for an electric guitar. Symphony board member Robert Weinman returned as honorary maestro […]

A triple tribute celebration launched Santa Barbara Symphony’s new season at the Granada with Tchaikovsky Immersion featuring the Russian composer’s majestic Fourth Symphony. The event marked the return of renowned classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas performing the greatest of all guitar concertos – Rodrigo’s haunting “Concierto de Aranjuez” as part of his weeklong artist residency […]

Santa Barbara Symphony, under maestro Nir Kabaretti, previewed its latest season with a champagne reception at the Lobero Theatre. One of the highlights is a two-day Mozart Marathon with eight masterworks, a two-concert performance by the legendary violinist Gil Shaham with Pink Martini singer Storm Large, and Brahms’ “Requiem.” “It’s a rich and culturally empowering […]

Violinist Jessica Guideri, concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony, and Amy Tatum, the orchestra’s principal flutist, head half a block south of their normal Granada Theatre venue to play a series of pop-up performances in the galleries of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on August 25. The pair of musicians will play a combination […]

Santa Barbara Symphony president Kathryn Martin has been honored with the 2024 Executive Leadership Award by the Association of California Symphony Orchestras.  The prestigious accolade will be presented at the organization’s annual conference in San Francisco at the end of this month. Kathryn’s dynamic leadership has been instrumental in bucking national trends through improved community […]

Montecito-based music makers Doublewide Kings have had a pretty busy summer. But their attention is also focused on the fall, as the country/classic rock band is once again headed to the grand stage at the Granada Theatre. One year after The Kings and the Santa Barbara Symphony rocked our world with the Van Morrison tribute […]

There have been moves afoot at the Santa Barbara Symphony with a new head of development and marketing and three new board members. Paul Bradford brings 30 years of sales and marketing experience to his new role, as he aims to boost sales and donations through patron growth and engagement Previously he served in key […]

Santa Barbara Symphony concluded its latest season commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue @ 100: Jazz Comes to the Symphony” concert at the Granada. The show also featured fan favorite The Marcus Roberts Trio, part of a residing artist collaboration with the nearby Lobero Theatre. Marcus Robert also performed his Gershwin-inspired composition […]

It seems every orchestra and their third cousins are playing Rhapsody in Blue this season to mark the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s once-controversial 1924 musical composition that combined elements of classical music with jazz piano – billed back then as an Experiment in Modern Music. Our own Santa Barbara Symphony is no exception. But […]

Proud as they are of the ever-increasing quality and innovative nature of the Santa Barbara Symphony’s concerts at the Granada, the folks at the organization often rave even more about their education program. The periodic performance component of those programs takes place this weekend as Camerata Ensemble & Philharmonia Orchestra kick things off on Saturday […]

Santa Barbara Symphony wrapped its 71st season on a high note at the Granada with Mahler Meets Klezmer: Titans of Sound. The concert, conducted by veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti, featured Grammy and Juno-nominated clarinet soloist, band leader and composer David Krakauer. The entertaining musical journey started with Mozart’s Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, […]

The musician was shredding on his solos, fingers flying all over the instrument as the notes emerged with spectacularly blazing speed. The player’s face contorted and his body bent and swayed as he soared up to high notes that seem to defy the instrument’s capabilities. A rock guitarist raging at a local club? No. It […]

Santa Barbara Symphony’s law-firm sounding April adventure makes its connections through klezmer, the traditional Jewish & East European music that often doesn’t get a lot of orchestral opportunities. After the concert opens with Mozart’s “Overture to Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384,” his first opera written in Vienna, David Krakauer takes another star turn as the […]

Santa Barbara Symphony maestro Nir Kabaretti hosted a Jazz & Juice party at the Montecito aerie of Chuck and Merryl Zegar. The sunset soirée featured New York-based singer Kristen Lee Sergeant, a certified sommelier working in Manhattan’s top eateries who founded a wine label with Grammy Award winning saxophonist Ted Nash, called Two Notes, now […]

The Golden Days of Hollywood were remembered when the Santa Barbara Symphony under guest conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos, general director of the New York Grand Opera, performed an Oscar-themed concert at the Granada hosted by the vivacious Leslie Zemeckis. Leslie, a bestselling author and award-winning documentarian, as well as being a near Montecito neighbor and fellow […]

If you find yourself still craving Academy Award-winning cinematic splendor on the big screen, the Santa Barbara Symphony has just the ticket. In its return to the Granada – following a forced move to the Lobero last month due to water damage at The G – the symphony builds on the Oscar buzz with its […]

For the Santa Barbara Symphony, the 2023-24 season expresses a number of the outreach efforts in its mission: to enrich residents’ lives by producing and presenting the highest quality musical experiences, performed with artistic excellence and accessible to the entire community – as well as inspire a passion for symphonic music in the next generation […]

The last concert of the year, ending just two hours before midnight on December 31, found the Santa Barbara Symphony rocking out to close out 2023, a far cry from its usual New Year’s Eve pop concert fare as guest conductor/host Andrew Lipke led the chamber-sized orchestra-plus (with electric bass, drum kit, and Lipke’s own […]