The Santa Barbara Symphony, under the baton of Maestro Nir Kabaretti, will perform two of the world’s most cherished piano masterworks with the help of German-born virtuoso Markus Groh Nov. 19 and 20 at the Granada Theatre, 1214 State St.
Groh will join Symphony Principal Natasha Kislenko for Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos before tackling Tchaikovsky’s famed Piano Concerto No 1. Kislenko will be the featured soloist for Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain to open both concerts.
Performances begin at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20. Tickets are now available.
“This is an especially enticing program for those who love and appreciate great piano music, including two masterpieces that we all adore,” said Maestro Kabaretti, now in his 11th season as the Santa Barbara Symphony’s music director. “It isn’t every day that our audiences have the opportunity to enjoy a double concerto, much less one featuring a world-class soloist teamed with the Symphony’s brilliant Natasha Kislenko.”
Making his Santa Barbara Symphony debut, Groh is hailed as one of his generation’s most versatile pianists. He rapidly rose to prominence upon becoming the first German to win Belgium’s prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1995.
He has performed with the London Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra, and others. His chamber music collaborators have included Claudio Bohórquez, Julia Fischer, Maximilian Hornung, Albrecht Mayer, and the legendary Peter Schreier.
Groh received Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” honors for his all-Liszt CD released by Avie Records.
A member of the Santa Barbara Symphony since 2010, Kislenko has concertized extensively to critical acclaim in Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Paraguay, and across the U.S. She is a faculty member at the Music Academy of the West and UCSB.
The Santa Barbara Symphony’s 2016-17 season will continue with a Nov. 26 family concert performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf featuring storyteller Michael Katz. The Symphony’s popular New Year’s Pops Concert will include an appearance by the aerial performance troupe Cirque de la Symphonie.
On Jan. 28 and 29, guest conductor David Lockington will lead orchestral accompaniment for screened scenes from Walt Disney’s beloved Fantasia films, as well as performances of Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.
On Feb. 11 and 12, the Symphony will present the West Coast premiere of American composer Jonathan Leshnoff’s Clarinet Concerto, along with Copland’s iconic Symphony No. 3.
Additional highlights include a pairing of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, with guest violinist Philippe Quint on March 18 and 19; and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 and Grieg’s Piano Concerto, featuring guest soloist Lilya Zilberstein on April 15 and 16.
Scheduled for May 13 and 14 is a celebration of Paris, including Mozart’s Symphony No. 31, Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto (with guest artist Zuill Bailey), Liszt’s Les préludes, and Gershwin’s An American in Paris.
Complete season program information is available online at www.thesymphony.org.
Tickets start at $29 and can be purchased at www.granadasb.org or by calling 899-2222. Group sales discounts of as much as 20 percent are available. Patrons ages 20-29 can buy $20 tickets; students with valid ID can buy $10 tickets. Seating in both cases is confined to selected sections of the Granada Theatre.
The Santa Barbara Symphony is led by Nir Kabaretti, who was named the orchestra’s music director in 2006 and its artistic director in 2008. Maestro Kabaretti has conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, to name a few.
The Nov. 19 and 20 concerts are supported by Casa Dorinda, Jo Beth Van Gelderen and Karen Quinn, the Elaine F. Stepanek Foundation, and JoAnne Ando.
— Tim Dougherty for Santa Barbara Symphony.