Santa Barbara Symphony Hosts Free Season Preview Event

 The Santa Barbara Symphony is inviting the community to a FREE Season Preview event on Thursday, September 7 at the Lobero Theatre. A welcome reception on the promenade will begin at 4:30 p.m. and the program will begin inside promptly at 5:00 p.m. The public will hear all about the upcoming 2023-24 season while enjoying musical performances and behind-the-scenes conversations with the Symphony's artistic team and renowned guest performers.

From Beethoven to the Oscars, Mahler to jazz, and Dvorak to opera, the Santa Barbara Symphony is for everyone! Music & Artistic Director Maestro Nir Kabaretti has assembled a spectacular season of diverse talent and repertoire to create a fantastic symphonic journey October 2023 - May 2024.

This celebratory Season Preview event is hosted by Music & Artistic Director Nir Kabaretti, and attendees will be treated to performances, stories and behind the scenes inspiration - all aimed at creating connections to the music, musicians and the organization creating only-in-Santa-Barbara experiences:

• Performances by some of the locally-based guest artists that will join the Symphony this season, including Natasha Kislenko, Principal Pianist of the Santa Barbara Symphony, and Christina Pezzarossi Ramsey, Mezzo-Soprano from Opera Santa Barbara

• What’s involved in bringing four local choruses together for Beethoven 9

• How jazz, film music, opera, and pop all belong in a Santa Barbara Symphony season

• Why guest artists love performing for our Symphony audiences

• Background and historical context on the music you’ll hear this season

• The Symphony’s participation in the statewide California Festival

The Symphony’s Season Preview Event is free to attend, and no RSVP is required. For additional information about the Santa Barbara Symphony's 2023-24 season and upcoming events, please visit TheSymphony.org.

The 2023-2024 Season includes:

• A Grand Season Opening — With more than 150 singers from Santa Barbara-based choruses joining the orchestra on stage, we open with the epic Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9—an Ode to Joy and to our community!

• Exceptional Guest Artists Dazzle — This Season has a record-breaking number of guest artists (23!), including 8 vocal soloists, 4 choral groups, 2 trios and 1 guest conductor! The high-energy, Grammy®-winning, string trio Time for Three performs Contact, by acclaimed American composer Kevin Puts; international superstar David Krakauer dazzles in Marhulets’ Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet; and the great Marcus Roberts Trio truly innovates on Rhapsody in D.

• Vital Collaborations — The Symphony builds vital collaborations on and off the stage with arts and cultural organizations including Jazz at The Lobero series, the Granada’s Synergy Series and the statewide California Festival: A Celebration in New Music; and Opera Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Choral Society, SBCC Quire of Voyces, Westmont College Choir, and Santa Barbara Gay Men’s Chorus.

• Abundant Classical Favorites — Highlights include Mozart, Mahler, Dvořák, Beethoven and Ravel, and we honor outstanding women in February with rising star violinist Sirena Huang, and a work by pioneering French composer Louise Farrenc.

• Epic Glitz, Glamor & Opera — opera’s “fan favorites” including Wagner, Verdi, Puccini & more, and a program of epic film scenes with live orchestra from Hollywood’s Golden Age of Oscar®!

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