CAMA (Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara) has announced its 104th Concert Season, featuring orchestral performances in CAMA’s International Series at the Granada Theatre, and chamber music and recitals in CAMA’s Masterseries at the Lobero Theatre.
The mission of CAMA, Santa Barbara’s oldest arts organization, is to enrich the community’s cultural life by bringing in live performances by world-renowned classical artists and orchestras, and providing creative, music education programs for individuals of all ages.
Series subscriptions are on sale through the CAMA office, 805-966-4324, or visit tickets@camasb.org, Five-concert series subscriptions run $185-$635 for the International Series, and for the four-concert for Masterseries, $160-$200. Single tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 9 through the box offices at the Granada Theatre (805-899-2222, granadasb.org); and the Lobero Theatre (805-963-0761, lobero.org).
CAMA’s International Series offers a musical time capsule featuring five orchestras with histories that span more than a century. Anchored by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO, founded n 1891) with Maestro Riccardo Muti conducting in his final season as CSO music director; and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (CAMA’s century-plus concert partner founded 1919) with music director Gustavo Dudamel performing two LA Phil-commissioned World Premieres.
The CSO concert is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, the Los Angeles Philharmonic concert is 4 p.m. Sunday, May 28, both at the Granada Theatre.
The season opens in October with the historic City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (founded in England in 1920 by Sir Edward Elgar) under the baton of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, joined by the young British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason whose televised 2018 performance at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was watched by nearly two billion people.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Granada Theatre.
Rounding out the orchestral season will be one of central Europe’s top orchestras, the Filharmonie Brno (of the Czech Republic) with roots going back to the 1870s and the Czech composer Leos Janáček, under the baton of the American conductor Dennis Russell Davies in an all-Czech program. The Filharmonie Brno concert is 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13 at the Granada Theatre.
Then CAMA will reset the musical time capsule to the future with a special concert with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, featuring 100-plus aspiring young master musicians from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music (founded 1920) under the direction of conductor Osmo Vänskä, (music director of the Minnesota Orchestra), and joined by piano master Yefim Bronfman, showcasing the virtuosity and artistry of the young music talents of tomorrow. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18.
For the full lineup of CAMA’s 2022-23 season, visit www.camasb.org.