The Santa Barbara Symphony opened its inaugural season at the restored Granada Theatre over the weekend, with Beethoven, Mahler and the dazzling young Perlman-Schmidt-Bailey Trio.

The orchestra, led buy conductor and artistic director Nir Kabaretti, performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56, then topped it off with the Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major, known as the Titan. The works were performed Saturday night and at the Sunday matinee.

Beethoven’s concerto was interpreted joyfully by the piano trio that has gained a devoted following: Navah Perlman on piano, Giora Schmidt on violin, and Zuill Bailey on cello.

Some in the audience remembered the younger Schmidt winning the Concerto competition at the Music Academy of the West several years ago. A violin string snapped just as he was completing his competition piece, and he won first place in spite of it. Cellist Bailey is also an academy alumnus, having developed a devoted following during his appearances at the renowned school. After joining with Perlman, the three young musicians have made several appearances in concerts at the academy.

Beethoven’s concerto has been well loved since its initial performance during Beethoven’s middle period. He surrounded the piano’s featured part with elaborate lines that allow the violin and cello to shine.

If the trio was a tough act to follow, Mahler’s First Symphony was quite equal to the task. It’s a stunning piece of work, supposedly inspired by three love affairs Mahler experienced before his tumultuous marriage. That may be, but the music — composed in the 1880s — has qualities that almost seem to foretell the 20th century to come.

The orchestra’s sections were put to particularly good use in the first movement, which has a springlike flavor enhanced here by the reeds, brasses and low strings. As always with Mahler, the music has an undercurrent of, if not dread, then anxiety.

In the second movement, Mahler’s Austrian origins are apparent. It is based on the folk dance form called the Landler. Again, woodwinds and strings carried the bulk of the music.

The third movement features a mocking rendition of the folk song Frere Jacques, followed by an even more sardonic “funeral march” inspired by a woodcut in a children’s book of Mahler’s time, How the Animals Bury the Hunter.

The final movement proceeds with a good deal of sturm und drang, including a compelling passage for the string basses. It resolves with stunning clarity in a passage played by the horns. Under Kabaretti’s baton, the horn players stood to deliver their triumphant finale.

This concert of Teutonic splendor was begun with a piece called Fanfare: Mosaic for Orchestra by American composer Bruce Broughton. It was a world premiere for the very contemporary work by Broughton, whose music is generally devoted to TV and movie scores. He was brought on stage for a bow and vigorous applause after the piece concluded.

Margo Kline covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.