Tag archives: Orchestra
Folk Orchestra of Santa Barbara has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2016 as a one-off jam session fashioned and hosted by Adam Phillips. Back then, the former Voice and Musical Theatre major was singing tenor with Quire of Voyces, the Santa Barbara Chorale Society, and Opera Santa Barbara, and was already […]
Thousands turned out in Santa Barbara and across the country for last Saturday’s No Kings rally protesting the increasingly autocratic administration in Washington. So it feels important to point out that there are no kings in the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, meaning no music director, no artistic director, not even a conductor. Everyone who is part […]
The orchestra toured Iceland for nine days following Commencement, visiting tourist sites, including Reykjavík, the Golden Circle, Reykholt, the Ring Road waterfalls, the Blue Lagoon, Akureyri, the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, various botanical gardens and museums. They performed at Hof Cultural Center, shared a concert and dinner in Langholtskirkja with the University Choir of Iceland, learning more […]
If there were no Pee-wee Herman, there probably wouldn’t have been a Pink Martini. The official story behind the campy, cosmopolitan, globe-trotting, multi-cultural jazz jubilee/baroque pop band is that founder Thomas Lauderdale, at the time a politico who planned to run for mayor of Portland, Oregon, created the ensemble after being annoyed at the vanilla […]
It was around 15 years ago that jazz composer/arranger/bandleader Chris Walden brought his big band to SOhO for a third concert, cramming a full ensemble onto the club’s then still-tiny stage — with a couple of the musicians spilling over. That was not long after Walden had left his native Germany – where he’d started […]
It seems every orchestra and their third cousins are playing Rhapsody in Blue this season to mark the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s once-controversial 1924 musical composition that combined elements of classical music with jazz piano – billed back then as an Experiment in Modern Music. Our own Santa Barbara Symphony is no exception. But […]
The Westmont Orchestra and the Westmont College Choir join forces in May for the college’s first combined tour. Traveling from Los Angeles to Northern California, about 120 students will perform scenes from “Elijah” by Felix Mendelssohn as well as other pieces. “It’s a big undertaking and will show the breadth of music at Westmont,” says […]
Less than six years after the four-decades-old Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra played its final concert in town, a new ensemble that’s even more community-based and oriented is stepping in to fill the void with an even more ambitious approach. The Santa Barbara Chamber Players (SBCP), created by local musicians who first practiced during the pandemic […]
Taking the famed Monterey Jazz Festival out on its official tour for a third successive road trip (2020-22 were dormant) is just the latest MJF honor for pianist Christian Sands, a two-time Grammy nominee and former child prodigy who started playing professionally at 10. MJF is celebrating its 65th year as one of the world’s […]
After staging Puccini’s triumphant work Tosca at the Granada, it was time for Opera Santa Barbara to turn to comedy for its latest production, Rossini’s La Scala di Seta – The Silk Ladder – at the Lobero, a one-act vintage work from 1812. Home-grown soprano Jana McIntyre, who sang in Handel’s Semele last season, was […]
As the saying goes, Ruth Lin has some big shoes to fill as she steps into the dual role of chair of the Westmont music department and conductor of its orchestra. Her predecessor, Michael Shasberger, who retired this summer, not only served as the department’s first chair but also created both the orchestra and the […]
Violist Heiichiro Ohyama led the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra for 35 years, shepherding its growth as a training ground for classical musicians while serving as one of the finest ensembles in town that was also willing to make forays into new territories. Faced with financial challenges, the SBCO closed operations in late 2017, so Ohyama […]
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, whose history dates back to just one year after CAMA hosted its first concert with the brand-new Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1919, reached international fame under British conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who was recently in town himself to lead the London Symphony Orchestra at the Granada Theatre for the […]
The Westmont College Orchestra returns to the stage for live, in-person performances of the Fall Orchestra Concert on Friday, Oct. 22, at 7 pm and Sunday, Oct. 24, at 3 pm in Hahn Hall at Music Academy of the West. Tickets, which cost $10 for general admission (students are free), may be purchased at westmont.edu/music […]
Santa Barbara Symphony celebrated the founding members of the Crescendo Society, a group of visionary supporters who have each made a five-year pledge to support the orchestra at levels ranging from $2,500 to $100,000, with a boffo brunch at the Santa Barbara Club. This means the next four seasons of the symphony, under maestro Nir […]
Imagine stepping in to lead a fully established orchestra with your wits and a baton your only weapons to mold the symphony musicians into at least a shared vision for a performance. That’s the job of most visiting conductors who travel the world for one-off concerts. Now imagine coming to an organization where the players […]
Three of the key leaders of the Santa Barbara Symphony, president and CEO Kathryn Martin, artistic director Nir Kabaretti, and board president Janet Garufis, have committed to advancing the organization over the next half decade. It will build upon the 67-year-old organization’s programming innovation, leveraging the symphony’s new momentum and growth to look toward the […]
The 16th annual Westmont Christmas Festival, “Ris’n with Healing in His Wings,” presents a special online event this year due to the pandemic. The Westmont Music Department, led by Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship, has creatively recorded the 100 members of the Westmont Orchestra and College Choir, Chamber Singers, and Choral Union […]
State Street Ballet was the first arts organization in town to perform the pandemic pivot as the statewide orders that shut down audience events came just two days before their planned premiere of Sleeping Beauty back in March, forcing the company to come up with a new approach quickly, resulting in a studio rehearsal version […]
The Westmont Orchestra, masked up, socially distant, and with bell covers over their instruments, will perform “An Orchestral Sampler” on Friday, October 23, at 7 pm. The event, which is being recorded live outdoors, will be available for free viewing at vimeo.com/showcase/westmontmusic. Michael Shasberger, Westmont Adam’s professor of music and worship, will conduct the orchestra […]
