Virtual Spring Video
Saturday, April 3, 2021 – 5:00 p.m. PT
Free Online Video Premiere
“How Can We Keep from Singing?”
A Message of Resiliency and Hope from The Santa Barbara Choral Society
We have never missed a performance season since our founding in 1948. Despite wildfires and mud slides, the show has always gone on, and we’re determined that even during a worldwide pandemic, the 2021 season will be no exception. We are pleased to present our first offering of the 2020-2021 season, a Virtual Spring Video.
Join us Saturday, April 3, at 5:00 pm PT, for How can we keep from singing? Featuring SBCS singers performing the “Amen” chorus from Handel’s Messiah and the American folksong “How Can I Keep From Singing,” our newest video also tells the story of how we have adapted and grown during this period of enforced isolation.
“With group singing prohibited during the pandemic, we’ve had to find ways to nurture our chorus and sustain and improve their musical skills. Weekly Zoom chats and virtual rehearsals brought our singers together and gave them a lifeline of support and opportunities for growth,” said Artistic Director Jo Anne Wasserman, adding: “We have created a program that recognizes the talents of our singers and includes messages of support from collaborators, including choral composers Morten Lauridsen and Christopher Tin, as well as SB Symphony Artistic Director Nir Kabaretti.”
Performers will include:
- SBCS Singers
- SBCS Staff, Board Members, and Donors with brief video messages
- Morten Lauridsen and Christopher Tin, Composers
- Nir Kabaretti, SB Symphony Artistic Director
Click Here to watch the Video on YouTube
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.