Written by Mary Dan Eades on September 29, 2015
Once in a generation a performance comes along that is destined to be legendary. The spectacular Carmina Burana, with the breathtaking choreography of William Soleau for State Street Ballet, beautiful voices of the Santa Barbara Choral Society, and heart pounding music performed by the Santa Barbara Symphony is just such a performance. Simply exquisite!
Featuring soloists: Maria Rey-Joly, soprano; Randall Scotting, countertenor; and Nigel Smith, bass.
Santa Barbara Choral Society and State Street Ballet perform Carmina Burana in 2008.
Also on the program: Maestro Nir Kabaretti conducts the Symphony in Beethoven’s Lenore Overture #3 and Conductor JoAnne Wasserman will conduct the Symphony and Choral Society in a 50th Anniversary performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, also featuring Randall Scotting!
Co-presented by Santa Barbara Symphony, State Street Ballet, Santa Barbara Choral Society, and the Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts.
If you missed Carmina Burana in 2008, you won’t want to miss the performance this coming October 2015. And if you saw it then, you know how fantastic it will be! Almost sold out! Don’t delay!
Saturday, October 17 at 8 pm
Sunday, October 18 at 3 pm
at The Granada
Tickets: individual tickets will be available September 15, 2015 through the Granada Box office online or by calling 805-899-2222
American baritone, Ralph Cato has travelled the world extensively, telling stories in song with his warm, clarion baritone voice.
Tenor, Benjamin Brecher has performed over fifty operatic roles with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies, specializing in the high lying lyric tenor repertoire. He has performed 16 roles with New York City Opera alone. Career highlights include performances with Opera Orchestra of New York, L’Opera de Nice, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, L’Opera de Montreal, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, among many others. His orchestral solo repertoire includes Mozart, Handel, Orff, Bach, Haydn, as well as many performances of Britten. In 2000 he began performing the great Irish Tenor songs in a concert produced for him entitled A Celtic Celebration, Twenty years later, the show has become a North American hit with performances with 45 Symphonies in North America. Ben continues his discography having added his twelfth recording in 2016 Forgotten Liszt, with pianist Robert Koenig, and will record a new release in 2022 entitled “Three Centuries of Thomas Moore” including the music of Britten, Berlioz, and Sarah Gibson on MSR Classics. He is a Professor of Voice at University of California Santa Barbara, where he has served as the Head of Voice.
Born and raised in Southern California, April Amante is a versatile soprano with expertise and facility in repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary musical theater.
Tracy Van Fleet is pleased to return to the Santa Barbara Choral Society. As a soloist, she has performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Lüneburg Symphony in Germany, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río in Mexico, Pasadena Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Los Angeles Bach Festival, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic, USC Symphony and Chorus, and others. She has had many appearances with the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Opera Pacific, San Diego Opera and Opera Colorado.