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, […]
Amada Cruz has been appointed the new Robert and Mercedes Eichholz director and CEO of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, succeeding Larry Feinberg, who is retiring in November after 15 years at the helm. “We are grateful to the more than 100 stakeholders, including members of the community, employees, trustees, and donors who participated […]
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Valerie Banks, the dynamic force behind the Dream Foundation’s Flower Empower program, is retiring after nearly 15 years. Since assuming leadership in 2008, Valerie has grown the popular program from humble beginnings at Santa Barbara’s Saturday Farmers Market, forging partnerships with local growers and flower wholesalers, while rallying dozens of volunteers. Today the enthusiastic helpers […]
Music Academy solo piano fellow Priscila Navarro is the $5,000 grand prize winner of the Innovation Institution’s 2023 Fast Pitch competition. Her new venture, Peru Piano, an anthology for inclusive education, was one of eight stellar pitches evaluated by a distinguished jury – Angelica Cortez, Executive Director Suzuki Association of the Americas; Music Academy alumnae […]
Ubiquitous photographer David Bazemore, a shutterbug and videographer in our Eden by the Beach for 26 years, has become an FAA certified unmanned aircraft pilot. The certification means David can used a DJI Air 2S drone, which can film stunning 5.4k video and can snap 20-megapixel photos. “If a client’s imagination is ready to take […]
A bountiful bevy of parasol-carrying anthophiles and phytologists turned out for Lotusland’s sun-soaked sold-out annual fundraiser gala with 500 guests raising a hefty $800,000 towards sustainability and plant conservation programming. The fun fête at the 37-acre botanical paradise dubbed Lotusland Celebrates: Where the Wild Things Grow, organized by Merryl Brown Events and designed by Mary […]
Social gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum when it hosted its annual La Fiesta del Museo for 220 guests raising around $100,000 for the popular institution with all tickets selling out in two hours. Ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri emceed the bustling bash and conducted the auction, with an etching by cowboy artist […]
A profusion of creative and colorful tony tête toppers packed the stands at the Santa Barbara Polo Club for the annual Ladies Day. As usual, I had the difficult job of judging the mélange of magnificent millinery, having learned my “craft” donning my top hat and tails attending the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot races […]
It wasn’t quite the exotic occasion I envisaged when I celebrated the 20th anniversary of my half century last week, but a fun event nevertheless at Ca’Dario on Coast Village Road. Having not been able to fly to Marrakech, Morocco, for the past few years because of pandemic restrictions, my plans were to join an […]
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My congratulations to three good friends, philanthropists Brooks and Kate Firestone and author Fannie Flagg, as well as one of my favorite theater companies, Ensemble, who have been chosen as Granada Theatre Legends. They will be honored at a glittering 7th annual gala at the iconic State Street theater on September 16. The highly anticipated […]
Tony Morris has begun his second year of a two-year term as president of Montecito Rotary Club as the organization celebrates its 70th anniversary. Joining Morris on the board are president-elect Kim Stone, secretary Roger Davis, and treasurer Kurt Koenig. From volunteering at the Montecito Fire Department’s annual July 4 pancake breakfast and continuing its […]
My item last week on the historic Lobero Theatre being chosen as one of the world’s 11 most beautiful by society glossy Town & Country prompted a call from Montecito philanthropist Anne Towbes saying that another of the theaters on the list, Steinmetz Hall in Orlando, Florida, was designed by Montecito architectBarton Myers, 88. The […]
Society gadabout Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey Nowak, bubbly founder of the La Boheme dance company, hosted their 4th annual Viva La Fiesta bash at Fieldside, the popular Santa Barbara Polo Club restaurant, for 200 gloriously garbed guests. The fun fête featured Teresa’s colorful dancers who led our Eden by the Beach’s Summer Solstice parade, […]
Italian composer Puccini’s beloved opera La bohème took on a whole new tone at the Granada as part of the Music Academy’s 76th annual Summer Festival. Instead of Paris’ Latin Quarter in the 1830s, as in the original 1895 work, the setting was Brooklyn and Manhattan in 2011, a time of restless energy and a […]
