A Day of Musical Events to Celebrate ‘Zig’
By Scott Craig   |   September 26, 2023

In a public ceremony replete with orchestral and choral music, Siegwart ‘Zig’ Reichwald will be installed as the Adams professor of music and worship on Friday, September 29, at 10:30 am in Murchison Gym. The formal ceremony serves as a prelude to a day of public events that include a keynote address and chamber concert.  […]

Symphony’s Season Kick Off
By Richard Mineards   |   September 19, 2023

Veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti, who has conducted the Santa Barbara Symphony for 18 years, took center stage at the Lobero when promoting the orchestra’s 71st season for more than 600 guests, who quaffed champagne and noshed on canapés on the Lovelace Esplanade outside the theater beforehand. The new season, which kicks off at the Granada […]

 

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Benoit Brings It All… Including Charlie Brown
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 29, 2023

Jazz pianist and composer David Benoit is best known for his big-selling contemporary jazz albums of the 1980-’90s, including three Grammy nominations and a lot of hits. But the 70-year-old Palos Verdes resident whose influences include Leonard Bernstein and Bill Evans has had a much more expansive career. Here are excerpts from our conversation earlier […]

Reunion Time at SOhO 
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 29, 2023

Two of the most tenured Santa Barbara dance-party (mostly) cover bands are not only each appearing at SOhO this week, they’re also playing on the same night. Both Area 51, which has been fronted by the charismatic singer and Montecito resident Michael Andrews since its inception, now partnered on stage with Laura Schlieske, will be […]

Grammy-Winning Executive Director Is Coming to the Music Academy
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 22, 2023

The Music Academy (MA) didn’t waste any time finding a successor to Scott Reed, who announced last spring that the 2023 Summer Festival would be his last as president and CEO after 12 years at the helm. Less than a week after the final symphony concert at the Granada earlier this month, the Music Academy […]

Lois Mahalia Chases the EP
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 22, 2023

The sensationally versatile and vivacious vocalist Lois Mahalia has been performing in and around Santa Barbara and across the world in a variety of settings for decades. The Guyana-born singer-songwriter has done everything from fronting the R&B-soul-jazz family band Georgetown with her three brothers, to singing backup on many tours with Joe Walsh, to appearing […]

Sounds Around Town 
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 22, 2023

Irvine’s indie-rock sensation Young the Giant plays the Santa Barbara Bowl, with Milky Chance and Rosa Linn as opening acts for the 6 pm concert on August 18, the last before a three-week hiatus at the amphitheater. That same night also brings a SOhO date with the Long Beach Dub Allstars, who formed from the […]

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  • Ana Papakhian Appointed Executive Director of Camerata Pacifica
    By Joanne A Calitri   |   August 15, 2023

    In announcing its 2023-24 and 34th season programming, Camerata Pacifica’s founder and Artistic Director Adrian Spence delightedly shared the appointment of Ana Papakhian as its new executive director.  Papakhian is well-known in the classical music world here, and I would add nationally as well, with 27 years of experience in the field, most recently as […]

    Lintu the Groove
    By Richard Mineards   |   August 15, 2023

    Montecito’s Music Academy wrapped up its 76th Summer Festival in splendid style when Hannu Lintu conducted the Academy Festival Orchestra at the Granada. The entertaining show featured Richard Strauss’ 1898 “Ein Heldenleben” and Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” with Lintu, 55, conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, at the top of his game. The […]

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    What Patti Smith Draws From
    By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2023

    Patti Smith’s legacy as one of the most provocative, literary, and influential rock singer-songwriters in history is just part of her artistic achievement. Perhaps the only artist whose accolades include induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a National Book Award, and a Legion of Honor from the French government, Smith remains a […]

    Sounds Around Town 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2023

    After a bit of a mid-summer lull, the Santa Barbara Bowl is back in action, and exudes eclecticism in its quartet of concerts this week. The August 4 show is a conglomeration of its own as co-headliners Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Ziggy Marley are supported by Mavis Staples and the Robert Randolph Band […]

    The Rise of Watson
    By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2023

    Don’t confuse Samuel Watson with the speed climbing champion of the same name, a teenager who holds the U.S. records and international gold medals in the new Olympic sport, although Sam Watson the Music Academy fellow has also made a meteoric rise.  The 20-year-old contrabassoonist can’t scale an indoor wall in five seconds, but his […]

    A Wonderful Week at MA
    By Richard Mineards   |   August 8, 2023

    The final weeks of the Music Academy’s 76th annual Summer Festival have been the icing on the classical cake! Principal players with the London Symphony Orchestra showed their prowess at Lehmann Hall when they performed chamber works by Britten, Villa-Lobos, Perivolaris, Salzedo, Hahn, and Haydn with flutist Gareth Davies, cellist David Cohen, violinist Clare Duckworth, […]

    The Life of a Collaborative Pianist
    By Steven Libowitz   |   August 1, 2023

    Take a look at the photo in the online calendar promoting the Duo Competition taking place on July 31. The violinist is brightly lit, his facial features and instrument fully visible, while the pianist is in the background, comparatively dark and blurry with even her hair blending into the background, and no piano keys visible.  […]

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