An Ode to SBS

More than 250 musicians and singers packed the sprawling stage of the venerable Granada when the Santa Barbara Symphony, under veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti, kicked off its 71st season with An Ode to Joy, Hope and Community.

It was the symphony’s first performance of Beethoven’s 9th – marking the 200th anniversary of the German composer’s work – in seven years, with singers from the Quire of Voyces, Santa Barbara Choral Society, the Adolfos Ensemble, and the Westmont College Choir with four talented soloists – Johanna Will, soprano; Christina Pezzarossi Ramsey, mezzo-soprano; John Matthew Myers, tenor; and Cedric Berry, bass-baritone.

The concert also featured Aaron Copland’s The Promise of Living, capturing the essence of 1930s rural America, and Liszt’s tone poem Les Préludes, a symphonic work of sweeping melodies and dramatic mood shifts.

A monumental tour de force experience…