Plan Your Visit
Many voices, one sound. It might seem to be a given, but it takes a community, including our audience to create the chemistry that makes live performance so engaging.
When you come to your first Choral Society concert, we want you to have the optimal experience. We perform at several venues around Santa Barbara and they usually share a similar characteristic: great natural acoustics! This is key because The Choral Society is rarely amplified. Whether you’re attending an orchestral concert or one accompanied only by piano, we rehearse with the intention of being heard all the way to the back of the concert hall. So most of the seats are good ones, especially a bit further from the stage, where the sound from voices and instruments blend.
We perform at a variety of venues, and all are wheelchair accessible. Please refer to the venue websites for accessibility information, and contact us if you require special seating or request assistance.
A few of our venues, like the Lobero Theater, have architecture that obstructs the view in a few seats. If you have a friend in the chorus, find out what vocal part they sing so you can request a seat with a good view of him or her. The chorus has four main vocal parts. Facing the stage, the sopranos are the women on the left side, singing the highest parts. The basses and baritones are the men behind the sopranos, singing the lowest parts. The altos are the women on the right side, and sing the lower women’s parts. The tenors are the men behind the altos.
You’re not expected to dress up for Choral Society concerts in general, although some people do.
During our performance we expect that you not talk and do your best to not make other noise for the enjoyment of all and because we frequently record our concerts. Some of our venues allow refreshments inside; you can always bring candies to share with children, but do take off noisy wrappers ahead of time.
Photos and social posts are encouraged before and after the concert (tag #sbchoral). We ask you to mute your phone, but feel free to use it to take photos (without flash) and view The Choral Society web mobile program when available.
Please review the Health & Safety policies of the concert or event venue.
Feel free to applaud after a solo is sung, if it is not part of a solemn Mass or Requiem. Also do applaud at the end of each piece in the concert program. And of course, lots of clapping is encouraged at the end of the concert. If the concert is a collaboration with other arts groups, leaders from each organization will be called to the stage for a bow at the end of the performance. Applause is again welcomed. You can be sure we’ll be smiling behind our masks!
After the performance, as singers, musicians and soloists leave the venue, feel free to offer your thanks for their contribution to the event.
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.