The Iration Nation
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 23, 2022

Iration’s most recent album is called Coastin’, described as a record about being thankful for the moments that we have. The reggae/alt.rock band’s current tour, in which Iration co-headlines with the Minneapolis based underground hip-hop act with the cheery name of Atmosphere, is dubbed Sunshine & Summer Nights. So Iration’s lead singer-guitarist-songwriter Micah Pueschel understands […]

Alcazar’s Concise Community-centric Comedy
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 9, 2022

Last summer, the community theater company at Carpinteria’s Alcazar Theatre launched Laugh Out Loud, a one-weekend summer series of several short comedic plays, both to keep its actors and the community engaged, and to test the waters of producing live theater during the pandemic.  Audiences responded, filling up more than half of the seats at […]

 

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Directing Fellow Craig Carves Her Career Path
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 9, 2022

The Music Academy created its first-ever directing fellow position this summer, and chose Canadian Sawyer Ann Craig, who has a degree from McGill and credits as both a singer and director all over Canada. Craig had the chance to work alongside the directors of each of the vocal performance events, including Sara Widzer, Peter Kazaras, […]

Santa Barbara Symphony
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 2, 2022

The Santa Barbara Symphony is proud of its upcoming 2022-23 season, which marks the organization’s milestone 70th anniversary. Understandably so, as the season’s nine concerts boast an impressive list of guest artists including pianist Alessio Bax, jazz saxophone legend Ted Nash, Sinatra crooner Tony DeSare, and two different Grammy-nominated violin soloists in Guillermo Figueroa and […]

Building Context and Style with Jessie Montgomery
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 2, 2022

Composer-violinist Jessie Montgomery is no stranger to Santa Barbara, having performed several times in the intimate Mary Craig Auditorium at the downtown Museum of Art with the Catalyst Quartet, the Grammy Award-winning string foursome from the Sphinx Organization she spearheaded from 2012-20. But that was before George Floyd, and the Black Lives Matter-spurred reckoning with […]

The Zombies in Ojai: Back From the Undead
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 26, 2022

It’s one of those strange quirks in rock ‘n’ roll history that The Zombies had already broken up by the time their second studio album, the Beach Boys/Beatles-influenced psychedelic-chamber pop classic, Odessey and Oracle, became a big bestseller on the back of the hit “Time of the Season” in 1968. They’d scored before with the […]

Come to the Cabaret… With an Open Mind
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 26, 2022

Don’t walk into the Music Academy’s Cabaret at Hahn Hall next Thursday, July 28, expecting to see a knockoff of the 1966 Kander and Ebb Broadway musical or Bob Fosse’s 50-year-old film adaptation. While both are set in Berlin’s cabaret culture during the Weimar Republic, the Academy event is an originally devised cabaret with a […]

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  • Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’ at the Granada
    By Steven Libowitz   |   July 19, 2022

    With all due respect to Opera Santa Barbara, the opera event of the year may well take place this weekend when the Music Academy (MA) mounts an original and fully-staged production of Tchaikovsky’s popular and beloved opera Eugene Onegin at the Granada on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Especially if Peter Kazaras’ direction comes close […]

    A Crescendo of Dance
    By Steven Libowitz   |   July 5, 2022

    Arianna Hartanov, who moved to Santa Barbara to join State Street Ballet (SSB) in 2016, has danced lead roles in the company’s productions of Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, among others. But ballet isn’t her only bailiwick.  As a choreographer for SSB’s Evenings and Modern Masters events, she indulged her contemporary side back in 2019 […]

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    Titan Lintu
    By Steven Libowitz   |   July 5, 2022

    The Music Academy (MA) represents a bit of a beachhead for Hannu Lintu, the Finnish conductor who has extensive experience leading orchestras and opera performances in his homeland and across Europe and the Eastern U.S. but has rarely ventured to the Western states. Helming the Academy Festival Orchestra for this weekend’s concert at the Granada […]

    Special News Edition: Laura B. Whitmore and Annual NAMM Report
    By Joanne A Calitri   |   June 28, 2022

    Launching the Women’s International Music Network (WiMN) 12 years ago to create a support system for women in the Music Industry (MI), and the She Rocks Awards in 2012, Laura B. Whitmore believes we have a lot more to do to level the playing field. “We are making progress by asking the difficult questions and […]

    A Shapeshifting Solstice Performance
    By Steven Libowitz   |   June 28, 2022

    Shapeshifting, in mythology and folklore, is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, or sorcery, Wikipedia says. Metaphorically, at least, and leaving out the part about demonic manipulation, that pretty much sums up Santa Barbara’s The ShapeShifters, the new supergroup/house band hosts created by Randy Tico.  “It’s about changing […]

    Pursuing a Love, Talent for Opera
    By Scott Craig   |   June 28, 2022

    Westmont senior Sibongakonkhe (“Sibo”) Msibi joins an elite group of 20 Fellows this summer at the Vocal Institute at the Music Academy in Santa Barbara. The first Westmont student to achieve this honor, he aspires to become “one of the best opera singers out there.” Chosen from an international pool of talented applicants who seek […]

    The Sound of Cipullo
    By Steven Libowitz   |   June 28, 2022

    For Tom Cipullo, MAW’s 2022 composer-in-residence, collaborating with two other faculty members in putting together an evening of his vocal works sung by the Academy’s fellows has been both a challenge and a joy. “There are 14 singers in all vocal ranges, and we have to give everybody an experience that fits them and also […]

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