Tag archives: choral

Punch Bros. Bark up a New Tree 
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 16, 2023

Banjo player Noam Pikelny and guitarist Chris Eldridge of the Punch Brothers have teamed up with bassist and founding former member, Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon fame, and mandolinist Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse) to form a bluegrass bound band called Mighty Poplar. Born out of impromptu backstage jams at festivals, Mighty Poplar lets the members return […]

A Groovy Cause
By Richard Mineards   |   May 3, 2022

Baubles, bangles, beads, and bandanas were de rigueur when Santa Barbara Choral Society hosted a Groovy Gala at the Rockwood Woman’s Club, with 100 Woodstock-garbed guests raising around $50,000. Co-chairs Margo Callis and Debra Stewart gushed: “It’s so wonderful to be back. Music pulls everyone’s soul like nothing else!” Veteran music director JoAnne Wasserman, with […]

UCSB Department of Music: Cultivating Excellence
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 30, 2021

Despite the presence of a number of highly regarded professionals over the years, UCSB’s Music Department has not enjoyed a reputation as a top-notch music school on par with, say USC Thornton 100 miles south. Now, a couple of professors and directors of the school’s performing ensembles, hired since COVID first came to town in […]

Take That, COVID
By Richard Mineards   |   April 15, 2021

Since its founding in 1948, the Santa Barbara Choral Society has never missed a performance. Despite wildfires and mudslides, the show always goes on. And even during the worldwide pandemic, veteran director JoAnne Wasserman, who has conducted the talented singers for 28 years, was determined to carry on the tradition with a virtual concert at […]

Mission: Impossible Objects
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 10, 2021

Ed Lister, who is known in both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara as a skilled scenic artist with credits in the theater credits and mural making, has created a series of vibrant abstract silk screen prints, or serigraphs. They were made starting in the early 1970s while he was teaching printmaking at the Chelsea School […]

‘Open/Close’ Marks Apex of Senior’s Art
By Scott Craig   |   April 4, 2019

Eight graduating art majors will offer their capstone art projects, which span oil painting, photography, serigraphy, sculpture, assemblages, and digital painting from April 4-May 4 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free, public opening reception for “OPEN/CLOSE: Westmont Graduate Exhibition” is Thursday, April 4 from 4-6 pm at the museum. “I am most […]

On a High Note
By Richard Mineards   |   November 22, 2018

Santa Barbara Choral Society, which performs its Hallelujah Project 6 at the Lobero on December 8 and 9 with Sound of Music actress Angela Cartwright narrating ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, celebrated with a fall soirée at the Montecito aerie of Todd and Allyson Aldrich. The fun 30-guest fete, after the Thomas Fire caused the […]

O.K. Choral
By Richard Mineards   |   October 4, 2018

Santa Barbara Choral Society, which kicks off its 71st season of song in December with its popular Hallelujah Project at the Lobero, hosted a pre-season reception at the Music Academy of the West’s Marilyn Horne House. One of the highlights of the new season is Visions of Peace and Freedom, featuring Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis […]

Music for Money
By Richard Mineards   |   May 24, 2018

Santa Barbara Choral Society marked its 70th anniversary with a Sentimental Journey-themed gala at the Rockwood Woman’s Club, with 125 guests raising more than $60,000. The boffo bash, co-chaired by Marylove Thralls and Mary Dan Eades, revisited the post-war era with the Broadway musical and the Big Band sound. JoAnne Wasserman, who is celebrating her […]