Tag archives: Prince Harry
A sea of colorful hats proliferated in the stands at the Santa Barbara Polo Club when, for the 15th consecutive year, I had the onerous task of judging the mélange of magnificent millinery. Sorting out the torrent of tony tête toppers and choosing three winners was not the easiest of jobs given the sheer number […]
Professional polo player, philanthropist, and movie producer Sarah Siegel-Magness is selling her 61-acre Carpinteria estate for $50 million. Sarah, a regular patron at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with her Dundas team and partner in Smokewood Entertainment, bought the property, a tiara’s toss or two from Bella Vista, the sprawling estate of polo playing hotel […]
As its 75th anniversary season winds down, the Music Academy’s Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Stéphane Denève was in fine form at the Granada. The entertaining concert featured Ravel’s masterpiece “Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2” and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3.” Frenchman Denève, music director of the St. Louis Symphony and the Brussels Philharmonic, was […]
We were all clearly in the right aria when the Music Academy staged Tchaikovsky’s classic Eugene Onegin at the Granada, directed by Peter Kazaras, head of Opera UCLA. With the orchestra under Slovenian-born conductor Daniela Candillari, Yale-educated baritone Samuel Kidd as Onegin, and soprano Johanna Will as his lover, they were absolutely superb in the […]
How fitting that Hannu Lintu, a graduate of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, should be conducting the Finnish composer’s The Oceanides with the Academy Festival Orchestra at the Granada, part of the Music Academy’s 75th anniversary summer festival celebrations. Lintu, 54, chief conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, was in extraordinary form for […]
Zach Mendez, Opera Santa Barbara’s Director of Operations and member of the organization’s team since 2018, and a member of the chorus before that, is leaving to dedicate his talents full time to his photography business. “Zach has been my closest partner, deputy, confidant, and friend for over four years, and every area of our […]
Cultural gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Club when UCSB Arts & Lectures held its new 63rd season reveal party with 150 guests. “It has all been very challenging,” said Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci. “There have been many unknown hurdles during the pandemic. But we are now standing on the other side. We […]
Racketeers were out in force at La Arcada on State Street when the Santa Barbara School of Squash threw a colorful Viva Las Vegas! bash at the Eleven14 Sports Bar with 100 guests raising more than $50,000. But, laments executive director Robert Graham, it is a squash club without any courts given its regular facility, […]
Prince Harry and his Los Padres team were in fighting form at the Santa Barbara Polo Club before winging to London with his wife, Meghan Markle, and family, Archie, 3, and Lilibet Diana, who turns one on Saturday, for his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth’s four-day Platinum Jubilee Pageant. The Duke of Sussex’s team hoisted the Lisle […]
A new exhibit at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum celebrates the region’s hiking trails and public lands through historic photographs, paintings, and historic items from the museum’s collections. Take a Hike, Save the World is a visual journey through our Eden by the Beach’s most scenic areas, as seen by artists and photographers beginning in […]
Former actress Meghan Markle “came from nothing” and “trampled on others to get to the top” like a politician or a tycoon, her acid-penned biographer has revealed. “Victims” of the Duchess of Sussex, 40, are telling all in a new book by British investigative journalist Tom Bower, 75, he claims. Bower, speaking to GB News, […]
Prince Harry may not be appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with his actress wife Meghan Markle after the Trooping of the Color ceremony next month, but he was definitely front and center at the Santa Barbara Polo Club playing in the final of the Folded Hills Pope Challenge final on Sunday. The closely […]
Call it the Prince Harry effect! Since it was announced that Queen Elizabeth’s 37-year-old grandson would be playing regularly in the 12-goal matches at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with his old friend Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras, the club’s telephone has been ringing off the hook and the website deluged with viewers. […]
Santa Barbara Polo Club is now by royal appointment! Prince Harry is going to be playing regularly on the Los Padres team with his good friend, Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras, in the 12-goal tournament at the lush Carpinteria equestrian facility. “Prince Harry is an avid polo enthusiast and player, and has played […]
Munificence reigned supreme when the Santa Barbara Education Foundation held its annual Hope Awards at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum honoring Montecito uber philanthropist Sara Miller McCune and Frank Stevens, who has been involved with the organization for its entire 37-year history. Tributes were paid to the dynamic duo by Barbara Keyani, former executive director […]
It was certainly a hands-on performance when Berlin-based piano twosome Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg sharing the keyboard performed the world premiere of 62-year-old Austrian Richard Dunser’s composition derived from the work of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms with the Santa Barbara Symphony for Romance in a New Key at the Granada. Dunser dedicated his […]
After tough times during the pandemic, which saw the Santa Barbara Symphony lose $250,000 in concert ticket sales last year, the outlook is considerably brighter given many restrictions being lifted, according to president and CEO Kathryn Martin. With a $3 million annual budget, Martin told major supporters of the Crescendo Society at a bash at […]
An old friend, Joe Woodard, who used to be a regular entertainment contributor to the Santa Barbara News-Press and now writes for The Independent, is facing the music rather than writing about it. He has just released a faux folk album Goleta Electric of his “own humble mixes.” Last year, master engineer-musician-vibe king Jesse Rhodes […]
Montecito entrepreneur Ann Winn, who with her husband, Alastair, recently bought Santa Barbara’s Public Market with partners for $7.65 million, has opened Village Needlepoint in the former premises of bling king Bob Bryant, just a tiara’s toss from Tecolote. Her love for the art started in her early 20s and she started building her influential […]
After two years of pandemic restrictions, the Mary Craig Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art echoed to the strains of music again when the Paris-based Arod Quartet, a Fab Four of players in their 20s, entertained. They shot to global fame – winning the coveted first prize at the ARD International Music Competition […]
