Written by Mary Dan Eades on May 10, 2019
Join us on Saturday, May 18, at Rockwood Woman’s Club, for our annual Gala. This year’s theme is “Springtime in Paris,” featuring live and silent auctions, a choral concert, French cuisine, music by The Ideomatiques, and dancing! Listed below are the live auction items for your consideration! All proceeds from this event support the music and mission of the Santa Barbara Choral Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Online reservations are now closed.
Live Auction Items
Ultimate Chef’s Table California Dinner Party for 10
minimum bid $2,200
Five-course tasting menu including canapes, for 10 guests.
Prepared by a professional chef with more than 7 years of
experience at a Michelin star or equivalent restaurant
and served by your private waiter in your own home.
Price is for Los Angeles area; San Francisco Bay area
and surrounding wine country; South Bay and Long Beach;
Orange County; and San Diego County.
Santa Barbara County is an additional $250.
Luxury Mexican Vidanta Resort
7-night stay for 2 adults (+2 kids under 11)
minimum bid $2,100
Choose Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas,
Acapulco, Puerto Peñasco, or Mazatlán,
Travel NOT included. Christmas / New Year weeks,
and the week before and after Easter are not available.
Romantic Vacation in Paris
5-night stay for 2 adults
minimum bid $1,500
Overlooking the romance-soaked streets of Paris’ iconic 8th
Arrondissement, the five-star Hotel du Collectionneur Arc de
Triomphe Paris sits steps from the famed shops and gardens of the
Champs-Élysées and the emblematic Arc de Triomphe.
Excludes taxes/resort fees. Travel NOT included.
Date Night at L.A.’s Hottest New Restaurant: Rossoblu
dinner for 2 and 1-night stay
minimum bid $1,200
Five-course Italian dinner with wine pairings and one night in
Los Angeles for two adults in a standard guest room
in hotel accommodations such as the
Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Luxe, or comparable.
Take the Baton
minimum bid $1,000
Conduct the Santa Barbara Choral Society Chorus
and orchestra in the “Hallelujah” chorus.
LIVE onstage at the Lobero, December 14-15, 2019.
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.