When in Rome Gala – Review
Rome at Home
May 2016
Santa Barbara Choral Society hit a high note at the Rockwood Woman’s Club with its annual fundraiser, When in Rome.
The Italian themed sold-out bash for a record 190 guests, which raised around $50,000 for the popular vocal group, was most appropriate as the choir launches its two-week performance tour of Italy, including Florence, Pisa, Milan, Rome and Naples, on June 14.
The gala, co-chaired by Mary Dan Eades, Kate Rees, and Marylove Thralls, featured veteran director JoAnne Wasserman conducting piec- es from the forthcoming tour, including the world premiere of a choral version of “Santa Barbara,” a piece composed in 1980 by Jeanette Vacca, sister of local artist Mara Abboud, who flew in from Boston with her family for the occasion.
After noshing on a buffet dinner of risotto, lasagna, and gelato by eatery Via Maestra 42, the ubiquitous Andrew Firestone showed off his abundant auction skills with trips to Provence, Tuscany, Hawaii, and New York among the lots, while choir treasurer, Jim Robbins, emceed.
Among the music lovers attending were Brooks and Kate Firestone, Ralph and Diana MacFarlane, Eric and Nina Phillips, Stefan and Christie Riesenfeld, Pat and Ursula Nesbitt, Dan and Mary Secord, Peter and Deborah Bertling, Geonine Moriarty, Ivana Firestone, Gene Sinser, Dolly Granatelli, Arlene Montesano, and Barbara Burger.
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.