Hallelujah Homage – Dec 2016
CONCERT REVIEW by Richard Mineards/Montecito Miscellany
Veteran music director JoAnne Wasserman was clearly in her element when the Santa Barbara Choral Society staged its fourth annual Hallelujah Project at the Lobero in memory of former board president Dr. Dan Secord, who delivered more than 6,000 new residents in a 35-year medical career. The concert, which of course included Handel’s uplifting Hallelujah Chorus conducted by former politico Brooks Firestone, was a glorious Yuletide miscellany of seasonal cheer featuring the Goleta Valley Junior High Choir and the American Riviera Children’s Chorus, with Oscar-winning Partridge Family actress Shirley Jones, narrating “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” with four of her Cassidy grandchildren, Caleb, Rowan, Lila, and Mairen.
Christmas”. Oh, what a beautiful evening.
The two-hour show kicked off with local Stephen Dombek’s Fanfare de Noel with the audience joining in the rousing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, before wrapping with “The Twelve Gifts of Christmas” – with soloists Naomi Merer, Sally Rose Bates, James Kirkland, Eric Rodkey, and Tyler Reece – and “We Wish You A Merry
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.