Tag archives: music

Montecito culinary wizard Philippe Sautot‘s resurrected rock career continues apace. Last year, as a I reported in this illustrious organ, Philippe performed his first concert in four decades with old bandmates Sloane at a 450-guest gala in the charming Provencal town of St. Remy, which raised $52,000 for cancer research. He is just back in […]

Violinist-composer-vocalist Caroline Shaw – who became the youngest Pulitzer Prize winner for composition at the age of 30 years ago for her vocal piece “Partita” – has guested at Music Academy of the West (MAW) every summer since 2016, first as a visiting artist, then a composer in residence, and now Mosher Guest Arts, which […]

It was a case of High Cs on the high seas when bubbly Condor Express owner Hiroko Benko hosted her fourth annual two-hour opera cruise on the popular whale-watching vessel. The sell-out floating fest had 127 guests, with Hiroko putting it down to the growing popularity of opera and the need to get out on […]

Sudama Mark Kennedy doesn’t talk a whole lot about his past, but his background includes the fact that his father, a career diplomat who had posts in Yemen, Beirut, Lebanon, and elsewhere, was one of the hostages who became famous in the Iran-Contra Crisis back in 1979. By then, Sudama was already traveling and following […]

Come Saturday and Monday, opera will be busting out all over the place at Miraflores. Rather than staging OperaFest – nee Opera Scenes – in its entirety in the cozy confines of Hahn Hall, where the Music Academy of the West (MAW) vocal Fellows are normally accompanied only by a single pianist, vignettes will be […]

While catching up on some MJ reading, I thought it important to comment on J.B.’s “Editor’s note” at the end of Mr. [Dale] Lowdermilk‘s letter (“Drinking the California Kool-Aid,” MJ #24/23), in which J.B. wrote: “Mr. Sanders’s brilliant economic plan to give every U.S. resident $15,000 a year for doing… nothing.” Excuse me, but where […]

Santa Barbara native Carisa Carroll began her dance training with Montecito School of Ballet at the age of 7. She started her professional career with American Dance & Music’s Carrie Diamond, and trained with State Street Ballet, performing in every work in the company’s repertoire during the 2012-13 season, including tours, and appearing in the […]

How do you top a 70th anniversary season that featured the culmination of a four-year partnership with the venerable New York Philharmonic featuring music director Alan Gilbert leading the orchestra for the final time in a monumental concert at La Playa Stadium, in what was Santa Barbara biggest single classical musical event in its history? […]

PATH – People Assisting the Homeless – hit a definite home run with its second Making It Home tour, a sell-out event with 260 supporters taking a tour in eight trolleys – two more than last year – of four of our rarefied enclave’s toniest properties and raising around $75,000 for the nonprofit formed three […]

More than one of the long-time staffers at the Live Oak Music Festival told me that their favorite part of the three-day musical mash-up that serves as public radio station KCBX’s second-biggest fundraiser of the year was the feeling of being part of a family. Considering that I was forwarded four different names of people […]

Barbara Burger and Susan Aberle have been elected to Opera Santa Barbara’s board of directors. “Both Barbara and Susan have many years of service to the community and will be a great asset to our organization,” says Kostis Protopapas, artistic and general director. Barbara has a lengthy career in public relations and marketing primarily in […]

I am most jazzed to report The Sanderlings’s first LP release show Friday, June 8, at the Breakfast Culture Club downtown. The LP appropriately named Self Titled LP, demonstrates a huge progression in their music since Woody Locke formed the band in 2016. My preview of the songs in sum: he has a lot to […]

Dianne Gayoski Duva is the latest member of the Music Academy of the West’s board. Duva is a founding partner of the Santa Barbara wealth management firm Arlington Financial Advisors and co-hosts the weekly radio show Money Talk on AM1290. She currently serves as a member of the board for the SB Public Library Foundation, […]

Jazz and blues legend Alberta Hunter – who reigned from the 1920s-1950s – did what would be almost unthinkable nowadays, setting aside her life as an artist at the peak of her career to become a hospital nurse shortly after her mother died. But when she was forced to retire at age 70 (though she […]

It would be sheer folly to expect a linear conversation when interviewing Nellie McKay. The British-American singer-songwriter and actress may be sharp as a tack in creating diverse albums that range from her brilliant 2004 debut Get Away from Me – a double-album from a 21-year-old that was full of clever and original pop songs […]

This Sunday, May 27, at 8 pm, KEYT will air the Teens Sing for Santa Barbara sold-out concert that took place on March 9 at the Marjorie Luke Theatre. The concert raised $65,000 for the Unity Shoppe Santa Barbara and Montecito Disaster Survivors Fund and featured the talents of local teens, as well as Montecito […]

The UCSB Department of Music annual Spring 2018 Concert Series – in which nearly all of the student ensembles perform for the public from Sunday, May 27, to Friday, June 8, to close out the academic year – is perhaps putting its best foot forward with the opening offering this weekend. The University Wind Ensemble […]

To say it’s a new day for live concert music fans is clearly true. By the use of holograms with audio, many great classic rock to metal musicians who have passed away are being “reunited” on stage with their original band mates for an almost all-live concert. This surreal experience was tested at the Wacken […]

When the mud and debris from the mountains coursed through Montecito back on January 9, Robert Cassidy immediately felt the need to support the victims and the community in some way. “Like so many people, I wanted to help, but I didn’t really know what I could do,” said Cassidy, a classical pianist who only […]

One not to miss live is singer-songwriter, musician’s musician Johnny Irion, no stranger to his love of writing music and performing live. His bigger-than-Texas heart of gold is returning happily and with deep affection to our town, with a live concert at the Lobero Theatre on Tuesday, May 22, to celebrate the launch of his […]