Santa Barbara’s musical future will take the stage in two houses this weekend, as the Santa Barbara Symphony’s Youth Ensembles program bears spectacular fruit in two free concerts.
The symphony sponsors three main ensembles, sorted by age and experience: the Camerata Ensemble (beginners); Philharmonia Orchestra (intermediate); and Santa Barbara Youth Symphony (advanced).
In concert, the first two are often subdivided as “winds,” “strings,” “percussion,” etc.
The weekend’s first concert, shared by the Camerata Ensemble and the Philharmonia Orchestra, both conducted by Marisa McLeod, is at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, in the First United Methodist Church, 305 E Anapamu St.
To say the program is all over the map would be accurate if we allow that the map includes the known universe and the far echoing reaches of heaven.
We will hear everything from “Ode to Joy” out of Beethoven‘s “Ninth Symphony,” to selections from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by Alexandre Desplat — works as wildly disparate as the sublimely traditional “Dona Nobis Pacem” (arranged by Marty Schubert) and Richard Meyer’s Prokofiev-on-a-classical-day “Rosin Eating Zombies from Outer Space.”
The whole thing sounds like a treat to me.
The other concert, by the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony under the baton of Daniel Gee, is at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, in the Lobero Theater, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
The program, played without intermission, consists of the Opening Theme from Benjamin Britten‘s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Opus 34” (1946); the 1st movement “Vivace” from Johann Sebastian Bach‘s “Concerto for Two Violins in d-minor, BWV1043” (1717-23);” Wolfgang Mozart‘s “‘Exsultate, jubilate,’ for Soprano in F-Major, K. 165/158a” (1773); Johannes Brahms‘ “Tragic Overture, Opus 81” (1880); and the “March” from John Williams‘ score for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981).
Soloists in the Bach will be 2024 Youth Concerto Competition winners, violinists Alex Zhang and Sophie Saleh; soprano Ava Kimmel, guest soloist from Westmont College, will sing the Mozart.
Now, of course, the “Opening Theme” of Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide” was not written by Britten but by Henry Purcell, as the second movement “Rondeau” from the incidental music he wrote for a 1695 revival of Aphra Behn‘s tragedy “Abdelazer; or, The Moor’s Revenge” (1676).
Behn (1640-89), was one of the first English women to make a living by writing. Very much a figure of the Restoration, she was a good friend of the notorious libertine and drunk John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and she was recruited as a spy and sent to Antwerp by Charles II.
She was famous more for her comedies like “The Rover,” and in fact, “Abdelazer” was her only tragedy.
She toned down the overt racism of the earlier versions of the plot, and gave a much more positive spin to the Moorish characters.
It had a decent run when it first went on the boards, but despite Purcell’s great score, the 1695 revival was a flop, and the play disappeared from the stage, never to be seen (or heard) again.
Then Britten found it among some scores he was editing and used it as a basis for the “Young Person’s Guide,” which has the subtitle “Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell.” Now, it is part of the “permanent repertory” — that is to say, immortal.
None of the other works on the program requires either explanation or justification, especially the Williams, who has won more Oscars than anyone but Walt Disney. Movie music is real music; John Williams is a real composer. It is getting to be a tiresome argument.
Information about the symphony’s education programs, including the Youth Ensembles program, is available on their website.