The Santa Barbara Symphony announced the 2011-12 season at an event held Monday on stage at The Granada.
Invited guests and the media were treated to an “orchestra’s eye-view” from the stage of The Granada to learn about the symphony’s accomplishments this past year and to get a sneak preview of the 2011-12 season.
A painting by renowned local artist James Paul Brown was unveiled, and guests were treated to a short musical performance by Camille Miller, a violinist with the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and Elizabeth Hedman, a Santa Barbara Symphony violinist.
The Santa Barbara Symphony’s 2011-12 season boasts the finest, world-class performers and conductors, including one of the world’s premiere concert violinists and renowned soloists, Anne Akiko Meyers, as well as Carlos Miguel Prieto, the dynamic conductor and music director of Mexico’s most important orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. The season will also feature violin virtuoso Alexandre Da Costa, cello soloist Lynn Harrell and Grammy-nominated recording artist and pianist Terrence Wilson.
Audiences will experience beloved works of the most legendary composers and fascinating lesser-known composers, from Ludwig van Beethoven and George Gershwin to José Pablo Moncayo and Edward Elgar.
The 2011-12 season also will feature, once again, a collaboration with the Santa Barbara Choral Society, under the direction of JoAnne Wasserman.
“We invite everyone who is interested in great music to attend our 2011 to 2012 season,” said Nir Kabaretti, music and artistic director, Santa Barbara Symphony. “With a host of international, national and top-notch local musicians of the finest caliber and composers ranging from classic to modern, there is truly something for everyone!”
The Santa Barbara Symphony’s 2011-12 season features first-class performers from around the world, the finest symphonic works and more. Season highlights include:
Fantastique Opening
Oct. 22-23
Lynn Harrell, cello soloist
John Adams, Tromba Lontana
Edward Elgar, Cello Concerto
Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique
The thrilling, romantic signature piece, Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, tells the story of a gifted artist escaping from hopeless love into fantastical opium daydreams, ending in a dramatic Witches’ Sabbath. Lynn Harrell, who holds a place in the highest echelon of today’s performing artists, will perform Cello Concerto in E Minor, a cornerstone of the cello literature.
Beethoven Emperor
Nov. 19-20
Hong Xu, piano soloist
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”
Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major is a deeply spiritual symphonic depiction of nature including a dramatic thunderstorm, and his heroic Piano Concerto No. 5 brings on stage a Promethean struggle with a triumphant finale. Music Academy of the West alumni Hong Xu, takes the stage, bringing Beethoven to life in this exciting concert.
From Bach to Ravel
Jan. 21-22, 2012
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin soloist
Ernest Bloch, Concerto Grosso No. 1
Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Concerto in A Minor
Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 83 “The Hen”
Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending
Maurice Ravel, Tzigane
Anne Akiko Meyers, one of the world’s premiere concert violinists, will perform an exquisite triptych of virtuoso signature pieces for violin and orchestra including Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor and Ernest Bloch’s Concerto Gross No. 1, a captivating flash-back from 1925 into the Baroque era. The concert will close with two very different bird portrayals by Haydn and Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ravel’s Tzigane.
Rhapsody in Blue
Feb. 11-12, 2012
Terrence Wilson, piano soloist
Chris and Dave Brubeck, Ansel Adams: America
George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue
Charles Ives, Symphony No. 2
Grammy-nominated recording artist and piano soloist Terrence Wilson performs Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, a jazzy musical kaleidoscope of America that became one of the most popular of all American concert works, an embodiment of the Jazz Age’s upbeat lyricism and dance-driven vitality. Premiered by Leonard Bernstein to rapturous applause in a 1951 New York Philharmonic concert, Ives’ second symphony marks an exciting highlight in American symphonic literature.
Latin Passion
March 17-18, 2012
Carlos Miguel Prieto, guest conductor
Alexandre Da Costa, violin soloist
Michael Daugherty, Fire & Blood
Manuel de Falla, El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Suite No. 1
José Pablo Moncayo, Huapango
Derived from the famous ballet The Three-Cornered Hat, this orchestral suite brings thrilling Andalusian folk music to the stage, and the story of a miller’s faithful wife to be seduced by a madly-in-love magistrate. With Daugherty and Moncayo, you will hear some of the most colorful and bright contemporary concert music, performed by fiery guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto famed for his dynamism, and rising Canadian violin star Alexandre Da Costa.
Mozart Coronation Mass
April 21-22, 2012
Santa Barbara Choral Society, directed by JoAnne Wasserman
Soloists to be announced
Pavel Haas, Study for String Orchestra
Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings, Opus 48
Mozart, Coronation Mass
An exciting collaboration of the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Santa Barbara Choral Society in the famous Coronation Mass, one of Mozart’s most radiating works, sparkling with color and energetic drive. Coronation Mass will be complemented by Tchaikovsky’s beautiful homage to Mozart’s serenades, and the challenging Study for String Orchestra by Pavel Haas, written during World War II in the concentration camp of Terezin.
Dvorak Symphony No. 8
May 12 & 13, 2012
Horn soloist, Teag Reeves
Osvaldo Golijov, Sidereus
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Horn Concerto No. 3
Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No. 8
Dvorak’s radiating, warm, optimistic symphonic masterpiece Symphony No. 8 is full of poetic moments and exuberant Slavic folk music. The Santa Barbara Symphony’s horn principal, Teag Reaves, will perform Horn Concerto No. 3, composed during Mozart’s final period of life, written at the height of his powers. This concert will also feature a brand new composition of Grammy-winning Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov.
All Saturday concerts will begin at 8 p.m. and all Sunday concerts at 3 p.m. with a dynamic pre-concert lecture, “Music Behind the Music,” starting one hour before the concert. Subscriptions comprised of seven Saturday concerts range in price from $185 to $525 (senior rates $170 to $295) and subscriptions comprised of seven Sunday concerts range in price from $185 to $435 (senior rates are $130 to $360). To purchase subscriptions to the Santa Barbara Symphony’s 2011-12 season, call the symphony office at 805.898.9386 or click here to order online.
— Marjorie Wass is a publicist representing the Santa Barbara Symphony.