Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra to Welcome Alan Chapman for Music & Dialogue

Popular radio host Alan Chapman will join several members of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra for an intimate evening of chamber music and related discussion at the University Club of Santa Barbara on Tuesday, April 5. Featuring a performance of Felix Mendelssohn's brilliant String Quintet No. 2, Op. 87, the program will begin at 7:30 pm. Wine and dessert will be served. Tickets cost $100.

Mendelssohn was age 36 and in deteriorating health when he composed the second of his string quintets in 1845. Inspired in part by Beethoven's early quartets, the work is by turns exuberant and foreboding, and today ranks among his most remarkable achievements.

Mr. Chapman hosts and produces three regular programs on Classical KUSC, the nation's largest and most-listened-to public radio and nonprofit classical music station. Currently a member of the music theory faculty at Colburn Conservatory, he was a longtime member of the music faculty at Occidental College and has been a visiting professor at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. His analytical work has appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and in The New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, winner of the Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on music. Well known as a pre-concert lecturer, Mr. Chapman has been a regular speaker on the L.A. Philharmonic's Upbeat Live series since its inception in 1984. He also works closely with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Los Angeles Opera, and Pacific Symphony. His lectures have been presented by virtually every major performing organization in Southern California, and he can be heard globally as programmer and host of the inflight classical channel on Delta Airlines. Mr. Chapman also is active as a composer/lyricist and frequently appears in cabaret performances with his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 and performed at Lincoln Center in 2006.

Representing the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra will be Sooah Kim and Carrie Kennedy (violin), Maestro Heiichiro Ohyama and Erik Rynearson (viola), and Paula Fehrenbach (cello).

Now in his 33rd year as the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra's music director and conductor, Mr. Ohyama also has served as principal violist and assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; principal chief conductor of the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in Fukuoka, Japan, and the Osaka Symphony Orchestra; artistic director of La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; and music director of the Nagasaki Music Festival. Also a professor of music at the University of California from 1973 to 2003, he received the 1991 Gruber Award for Excellence in Chamber Music Teaching in Los Angeles.

The University Club is located at 1332 Santa Barbara Street in Santa Barbara. Concert tickets can be purchased at the Lobero Theatre Ticket Office, 805-963-0761, or by calling 805-966-2441. Additional SBCO ticketing details are available at sbco.org/concerts/tickets.

The SBCO's 2015-16 season will conclude with a concert featuring pianist Alessio Bax at the Lobero Theatre on May 17. Additional information is available at sbco.org/concerts/season.

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