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, […]

Nicks of Time 
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 9, 2024

Fleetwood Mac’s former heroine Stevie Nicks is still active on the road – the 75-year-old singer-songwriter having booked a series of dates starting in February. But none of those shows announced so far are west of Texas, so perhaps a close approximation will have to do. Diana Grace’s turn as the star of Stevie Nicks […]

 

Recently Trending

More from Montecito

Musical Moments of 2023: Catching up, Concert-wise
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 9, 2024

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 […]

Symphony’s NYE Host Lipke: Time Is on His Side
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 2, 2024

Andrew Lipke makes his Santa Barbara Symphony debut Sunday night as guest conductor for the annual New Year’s Eve concert, but he’ll be doing much more than waving the baton around to close out 2023. The composer, arranger, conductor, guitarist, and vocalist will actually display all of those talents at the Granada in a program […]

Examining Mendelssohn, Protestant Music
By Scott Craig   |   December 26, 2023

For two decades, Siegwart ‘Zig’ Reichwald, Westmont’s Adams professor of music and worship, engrossed himself in the sacred music of German composer and performer Felix Mendelssohn. But when he came to his works written for the Berlin Cathedral in 1843-44, he was struck by how unusual they were compared to the rest of Mendelssohn’s musical […]

Back in the Saddle: Shiflett Returns to SOhO
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 26, 2023

Guitarist Chris Shiflett grew up on Santa Barbara’s Eastside just a short walk from the Santa Barbara Bowl, the local amphitheater he would eventually play with as the lead guitarist in Foo Fighters. But back in the ‘70s and ‘80s it was the bar scene and house parties for Shiflett, who went to the junior […]

Irish Tenors: Heart, Humor, and Harmonies Go On 
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 26, 2023

Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, and Declan Kelly, better known as the Irish Tenors, are all well on in years and miles on the road, but have piled into one hotel room in Plymouth, Massachusetts, like a band out on its first tour. The Tenors have a history of hits with classics from the Emerald Isle […]

Advertisement
  • Setting the Stage
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 19, 2023

    Ensemble’s Johnny Cash tribute/story-through-song musical revue winds up its run at the New Vic with a final extended weekend through December 17. The Alcazar Theatre in Carpinteria has a second and final weekend helping of its homegrown adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street featuring an all-local cast and production crew, also closing December 17, the […]

    A Joy-Filled Evening
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 12, 2023

    Westmont College fielded its full arsenal at the Granada for its 19th annual sold-out Christmas Festival. Always a great start to Yuletide, the concert Fullness of Joy was the third year at the historic State Street theater after years at the First Presbyterian Church. Ruth Lin, chair of the music department, conducted the Westmont Orchestra, […]

    Read more...

    The Beat Goes On: It Takes Three Actresses to Play Cher
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    Morgan Scott was understandably excited Monday morning over the phone from the Coachella Valley, where The Cher Show had just wound up five performances over the weekend in Palm Desert. The area is home not only to one of Cher’s famed exes, Sonny Bono, who was both mayor of Palm Springs and a U.S. representative […]

    Holiday Music Highlights of the Week
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    Christmas with The Petersens stars the pure-bred American roots music family band who have turned music of the Ozarks into a veritable family business. The bluegrass-based septet consists of four siblings (Katie, Ellen, Matt, and Julianne), their mom Karen and honorary Petersen and dear friend, Emmett Franz, who collectively play guitar, dobro, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, […]

    A Mariposa Finale
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 5, 2023

    The Music Academy staged its third and final performance of its Mariposa series at Hahn Hall with two former alumnae, Frank Huang, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, who attended the Miraflores campus in 1998, and Natasha Kislenko, who was at the academy in 2001 and has also served as a teaching artist since 2004. […]

    The Flamenco Flair
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 28, 2023

    Maria Bermudez has a metaphor she likes to employ to describe flamenco – what for her has been a lifelong passion and something hard to describe. “The beauty of flamenco is that it’s like a very big fan,” she said. “When you open a fan, it’s got all those ridges that are all equal. And […]

    Cashing In
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 28, 2023

    Back in 1961, Johnny Cash and his then-wife Vivian hired contractors to build them a home in the hills of Casitas Springs, the small town near Ojai in Ventura County. Custom designed to fit the singer’s specifications, the home even featured a wall-mounted turntable and a writing room for Cash. The country singer was going […]

    Advertisement