Tag archives: SB Symphony

Santa Barbara Symphony Music and Artistic Director Nir Kabaretti channels his Italian heritage in this weekend’s pair of concerts at the Granada entitled Bella Italia. The program boasts a four-century journey through Italian masterworks, bookended by the “Winter” movement from one of the defining Baroque concertos in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons opening the concert, and […]

The thing about symphonic pops concerts is that while you need to be super serious about how the orchestra performs the music, you also have to recognize that pops concerts are supposed to be fun. This isn’t Mahler, after all.  That’s no issue with Stuart Malina, who will be making his local debut wielding the […]

It’s doubtful anybody will be dropping LSD or getting silly on psilocybin, at least not on stage, at the third annual concert collaboration between Santa Barbara–based classic rock band Doublewide Kings and the Santa Barbara Symphony. But it might be easy to imagine you’re at the Fillmore in San Francisco circa 1969 during Psychedelic Symphony, […]

The Santa Barbara Symphony marks a major milestone with its 2025-26 season as Music & Artistic Director Nir Kabaretti notches his 20th year at the helm – which translates to his SBS tenure accounting for more than a quarter of its 72-year history. The typically diverse series of seven concerts begins with a joint season-opening […]

Forced by COVID to find ways to bring the music to a house-bound audience, the Granada Theatre teamed up with the Santa Barbara Symphony to create intimate podcasts that both illuminated and entertained. Out of this collaboration grew the idea of presenting cross-genre performances, the first one being Moondance which featured the music of Van […]

Gil Shaham, former concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony, wrapped the current season at the Granada this weekend with works by Brahms, Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 8” and Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto.” The Sunday concert had Shaham duetting with his wife Adele Anthony and the West Coast premiere of Avner Dorman’s “A Time to Mourn and a […]

The Santa Barbara Symphony’s adventurous 2024-25 season comes to a close this weekend with another unusual entry, as the pair of concerts represent the first time the organization has booked a soloist – in this case the very estimable violinist Gil Shaham – to perform different repertoire in the Saturday and Sunday concert. The Grammy-decorated […]

Santa Barbara Symphony under veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti debuted its new eponymous chorus at the Granada with Brahms’ “German Requiem” which took the composer nearly three decades to complete. Joining the voices was the Westmont College Choir in Brahms’ poetic work from the Bible and the Psalms along with Gustaf Mahler’s haunting Rückert-Lieder. Soloists were […]

Howard Jay Smith has just published his latest musical work Viva Violetta & Verdi following two years of diligent research and 18 months of writing. Howard’s research also included many interviews with the late local Metropolitan Opera tenor Eduardo Villa, who shared a lifetime of working in opera and performed 18 of Verdi’s operas in […]

The audience for Santa Barbara Symphony’s latest concert at the venerable Granada was certainly ore-struck! The musicians – under Grammy-winning guest conductor Lucas Richman, music director of the Bangor Symphony, and backed by a giant movie screen – played the score from Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 film The Gold Rush, whose story was based on the […]

A triple tribute celebration launched Santa Barbara Symphony’s new season at the Granada with Tchaikovsky Immersion featuring the Russian composer’s majestic Fourth Symphony. The event marked the return of renowned classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas performing the greatest of all guitar concertos – Rodrigo’s haunting “Concierto de Aranjuez” as part of his weeklong artist residency […]

Santa Barbara Symphony president Kathryn Martin has been honored with the 2024 Executive Leadership Award by the Association of California Symphony Orchestras.  The prestigious accolade will be presented at the organization’s annual conference in San Francisco at the end of this month. Kathryn’s dynamic leadership has been instrumental in bucking national trends through improved community […]

Montecito-based music makers Doublewide Kings have had a pretty busy summer. But their attention is also focused on the fall, as the country/classic rock band is once again headed to the grand stage at the Granada Theatre. One year after The Kings and the Santa Barbara Symphony rocked our world with the Van Morrison tribute […]

There have been moves afoot at the Santa Barbara Symphony with a new head of development and marketing and three new board members. Paul Bradford brings 30 years of sales and marketing experience to his new role, as he aims to boost sales and donations through patron growth and engagement Previously he served in key […]

Santa Barbara Symphony concluded its latest season commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue @ 100: Jazz Comes to the Symphony” concert at the Granada. The show also featured fan favorite The Marcus Roberts Trio, part of a residing artist collaboration with the nearby Lobero Theatre. Marcus Robert also performed his Gershwin-inspired composition […]

Proud as they are of the ever-increasing quality and innovative nature of the Santa Barbara Symphony’s concerts at the Granada, the folks at the organization often rave even more about their education program. The periodic performance component of those programs takes place this weekend as Camerata Ensemble & Philharmonia Orchestra kick things off on Saturday […]

Santa Barbara Symphony wrapped its 71st season on a high note at the Granada with Mahler Meets Klezmer: Titans of Sound. The concert, conducted by veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti, featured Grammy and Juno-nominated clarinet soloist, band leader and composer David Krakauer. The entertaining musical journey started with Mozart’s Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, […]

The musician was shredding on his solos, fingers flying all over the instrument as the notes emerged with spectacularly blazing speed. The player’s face contorted and his body bent and swayed as he soared up to high notes that seem to defy the instrument’s capabilities. A rock guitarist raging at a local club? No. It […]

Santa Barbara Symphony’s law-firm sounding April adventure makes its connections through klezmer, the traditional Jewish & East European music that often doesn’t get a lot of orchestral opportunities. After the concert opens with Mozart’s “Overture to Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384,” his first opera written in Vienna, David Krakauer takes another star turn as the […]

Santa Barbara Symphony maestro Nir Kabaretti hosted a Jazz & Juice party at the Montecito aerie of Chuck and Merryl Zegar. The sunset soirée featured New York-based singer Kristen Lee Sergeant, a certified sommelier working in Manhattan’s top eateries who founded a wine label with Grammy Award winning saxophonist Ted Nash, called Two Notes, now […]