Music Academy of the West, Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara Public Library and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History have teamed up to inspire reading and discovery about the Civil War for adults and space exploration for families.
The Music Academy’s presentation of the West Coast premiere of Cold Mountain and the London Symphony Orchestra Voyager Family Concert led to the citywide offering of six book club discussions at Santa Barbara Public Libraries, as well as film screenings of the Oscar award-winning Cold Mountain; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; and Space Cowboys.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History offers events to learn more about space sciences.
Cold Mountain is the first opera by Music Academy of the West composer-in-residence and 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon.
An American odyssey of love, honor and redemption at the close of the Civil War, based on the National Book Award-winning novel by Charles Frazier, the opera was recognized with a 2016 International Opera Award.
Directed by Princess Grace Award-winner James Darrah, creative director of the Vocal Institute, and featuring the Academy Festival Orchestra under the baton of Daniela Candillari, who has been showcased at Chicago Lyric Opera and Opera Philadelphia, the academy’s production will be Aug. 2 and 4 at the Granada Theatre.
To prepare to sing the opera’s leading roles, vocal fellows will receive coaching in a dedicated Vocal Masterclass (July 10) from mezzo-soprano and Mosher Guest Artist Isabel Leonard and tenor Jay Hunter Morris.
Leonard and Morris created the roles of Ada and Teague in Cold Mountain’s world premiere at Santa Fe Opera in 2015.
The Music Academy has collaborated with Chaucer’s Books and Santa Barbara Public Library to inspire discovery of the novel and film Cold Mountain, including book club discussions, film screenings and related events.
Music Academy information will be on display in the Central Library during July. Chaucer’s Books, 3221 State St., is the official bookseller of the Music Academy of the West 2019 Summer Festival, selling copies of Cold Mountain and providing raffle boxes for chances to win free tickets.
Cold Mountain the movie will be screened in a free event, 1 p.m. Friday, June 7, at the Central Library. The romantic and epic Civil War drama stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger, and is directed by Anthony Minghella.
Zellweger won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the film and it was nominated for Best Actor, Best Original Music Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing.
» Montecito Library Book Club, 11 a.m. Saturday, June 8, free.
In 1997, Charles Frazier’s debut novel made publishing history when it sailed to the top of the NY Times best-seller list for 61 weeks, won numerous literary awards (including the National Book Award), and went on to sell some 3 million copies.
» Romance Book Club, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 2, at Central Library, free. Alyssa Cole’s An Extraordinary Union.
“A freed black woman with a photographic memory goes undercover as a slave in a Confederate senator’s home, where she meets a rakish fellow Union spy who grates her nerves, aids her cause, and steals her heart.” – Alyssa Cole, author.
» Fiction Book Club: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 9, Central Library, free. Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain.
“Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic odyssey, hugely powerful, majestically lovely, and keenly moving.” — National Book Foundation
» Exploring Art: 5:15 p.m. Thursday, July 11, Central Library, free. Artistic Visions of a Growing America 1826-1900.
A living artist views surroundings with an immediate and thoughtful eye. The result on canvas is a historical record that’s informative and provocative, at times disturbing and cautionary, revealing the growing pains of a society rushing to its future.
» Cancer Center Book Club: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11, free . Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, 540 W. Pueblo St., resource library.
» O, Brother Where Art Thou? Film screening: 1 p.m. Friday, July 12, Central Library, free.
Like Cold Mountain, O, Brother Where Art Thou? was influenced by Homer’s The Odyssey. The Coen brothers crime comedy stars George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson.
The Appalachian music soundtrack produced by T Bone Burnett won a Grammy Award for album of the year.
» Social Justice Book Club: 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 16, Central Library, free. Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo.
“The story of Lewis’ capture in West Africa, and how he was sold to slavers and taken to Alabama more than 50 years after Congress had outlawed the slave trade, in the “last deal in human flesh.” — New York Times.
» Carpinteria Library Book Club: 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 29, Carpinteria Library, free. Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain.
» Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 4, Granada Theatre. Cost: $10, $58, $80, $100.
For more information, contact: Kate Oberjat, Music Academy of the West, koberjat@musicacademy.org; or 805‐695-7908.
— Kate Oberjat for Music Academy of the West.