Our February concert is like a box of chocolates.
There are pieces you know you like, and then there are those you are curious about.
For the Love of Music is a musical valentine offering a rich assortment of familiar works and hidden delights tucked into a program curated to appeal to a wide range of tastes.
Soothing, ethereal and light as nougat is Morten Lauridsen’s Sure On This Shining Night. Familiar as a creamy caramel—an arrangement by Rollo Dilworth of The Gift To Be Free. And for the flavor of Scottish toffees, our assortment includes Mac Wilberg’s O Whistle And I’ll Come To Ye. And like any good box of candy, there are always unexpected surprises you can’t resist once you try one.
So, who will you treat to our musical valentine?
Venue
Trinity Episcopal Church
Date
Saturday, February 18, 7:00 pm
Sunday, February 19, 3:00 pm
Tickets
$50 – VIP with post-concert reception
$20 – General admission
$10 – Student w/ID and children
Tickets at sbchoral.org or at the door.
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.
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.
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.