• Subscribe to the 2017-18 Season!
  
• This weekend: From Paris to Broadway
• Saïd Ramón Araїza's Pre-Concert Talks
  
• Welcome Amy Marshall
  
• In case you missed it: SB Independent cover story
• Music Education Center Performances
  
• Thank you Local Community Supporters
  

Classic Beauty

Full 7-series and Flex 3 and 4-series subscriptions now available!

Join us for the exciting 2017-18 season with highlights including Mozart's Requiem with State Street Ballet, Leonard Bernstein's centennial celebration, Mahler's Symphony No. 6, and returning guest artists Pablo Sáinz Villegas and Anne Akiko Meyers. Click here to view the full season programming.

Subscribe and enjoy your seats all season long while saving up to 40% over single ticket prices! Subscribers also receive seating priority, complimentary ticket exchanges and more.

Call the Symphony office at 805-898-9386 or subscribe online

Come early to your concert for "Behind the Music"

Saturday evenings 7-7:30pm
Sunday matinees 2-2:30pm

Hosted by Saïd Ramón Araїza, 'Behind the Music' is a fun, lively and informative pre-concert talk. Mr. Araїza’s extensive musical background, insights, presentation skills and humor will take you on a journey of discovery about each spectacular concert, bringing each work and its composer to life in a whole new way. 'Behind the Music' begins 1 hour before every Classical Series concert at the Granada Theatre.

"Behind the Music" is sponsored by Marilynn L. Sullivan and The Chalfant Family Trust

Free Community Talk

Saïd Ramón also gives free talks directly to the community the Friday before every Classical Series concert weekend.  

Friday, May 12, 3-4pm
Valle Verde Retirement Community
900 Calle de los Amigos
Santa Barbara, CA

Saïd Ramón’s talks at Valle Verde Retirement Community are generously sponsored by the residents of Valle Verde and Santa Barbara Symphony Past President Charles R. Greene, Ph.D. and Barbara B. Greene.

SB Symphony Names Amy Marshall Director of Development

Santa Barbara, CA — Amy Marshall, an arts administration professional with broad experience across a range of performance disciplines, has been named director of development for the Santa Barbara Symphony. Her appointment was effective April 14. 

Ms. Marshall earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre arts at Marquette University before beginning her career at the Florentine Opera Company, also in Milwaukee, serving first as production assistant and later as production director. After being named company manager of the Milwaukee Ballet in 2000, she was rapidly promoted to the positions of operations director and then executive director of that organization. In 2007 she was appointed managing director of the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland, a position she would hold for seven years. Ms. Marshall most recently served as director of development at Austin Opera, where she successfully managed all fundraising efforts, including working with the Opera Guild’s 250 members.

Music Education Center Community Concert on April 29, 2019 at Page Youth Center

Written by Charles Donelan
Photos by Paul Wellman

Saturday, April 29, at the Page Youth Center was like any other Saturday at the city’s most popular destination for parents and school-age children. The parking lot overflowed with family cars, SUVs, and vans, and the bases of the ball fields were loaded by Little Leaguers. Yet something was different; there was an unusual new sound coming from inside the big main room of the recreation center. Instead of the squeaking of athletic shoes on polished wood, the steady rhythm of basketballs being dribbled, or the sporadic applause of a crowd following a close volleyball game, there was music. Classical music. 

Entering through the center-left door between the bleachers, I saw a large half-circle of folding chairs set up on the court and, seated in them, close to 200 young people between the ages of 8 and 18 holding and playing musical instruments. What’s more, while the majority of the spectators sat facing the action in the bleachers, just as they would at a sporting event, there were several dozen parents and siblings who had chosen seats alongside the players in this jumbo-sized orchestra. They were on the court with their children instead of cheering them on from the sidelines. 

Local Community Supporters are local business owners who love and support the Santa Barbara Symphony. Look for the sticker proudly displayed when you shop local and thank them for their support!

If you are interested in becoming a Local Community Supporter, contact Eleanor Linton at eleanor@thesymphony.org