CAMA’s Goodbye to Gustavo and Visit to Venice

The opening concert in the International Series segment of CAMA’s 107th season represents the continuation of its long association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  This early date for the annual performance also represents the end of an era, as maestro Gustavo Dudamel leads the orchestra in his final Santa Barbara appearance before departing to assume Music & Artistic Director duties with the New York Philharmonic. The October 3 concert finds Dudamel wielding the baton for the local premiere of John Adams’ 18-minute “shorty symphony” Frenzy, commissioned by the LA Phil and premiered only 18 months ago, along with two of Stravinsky’s most famous orchestra works in The Firebird and The Rite of Spring. 

The International Series at the Granada also boasts the return of the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra, with a new Principal Conductor in Finnish dynamo Santtu-Matias Rouvali; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra reuniting with Riccardo Muti just three years after his 22-year tenure ended (and 53 years after his CSO debut!) for a rare on-tour appearance that includes Ravel’s Boléro (we’ll see if they can top the MAW Academy Festival Orchestra’s astounding performance earlier this month at the same venue); and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with conductor Fabio Luisi and featuring pianist Hélène Grimaud and soprano Sofia Fomina. 

CAMA’s Masterseries at the Lobero mixes solo recitals and chamber music ensembles over a quartet of concerts this season. Pianists Louis Lortie performs an all-Ravel program while Emanuel Ax plays Chopin and others in November and February. Violinist-conductor Gianpiero Zanocco and the Venice Baroque Orchestra celebrate their home city’s glittering Carnivale with their spirited February program “A Venetian Duel of Bows”, which rekindles the rivalry and virtuosity of 18th-century masters Vivaldi, Veracini, Tartini and Locatelli (Venetian masks and cloaks welcome). Lastly, violinist Randall Goosby (a Mosher Guest Artist at MAW this summer) reunites with the returning Sphinx Virtuosi to perform its “Visions of Peace” program in March. Visit www.camasb.org.