Written by Mary Dan Eades on September 2, 2016
Ode to Joy: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
Saturday, October 15, 2016; 8:00 PM
Sunday, October 16, 2016; 3:00 PM
at Granada Theatre
The Ultimate Symphony Experience
Celebrate the grandeur of music with Beethoven’s 9th, his final and most famous symphony. Our season opener unites the entire community, featuring the choruses of the Santa Barbara Choral Society, Quire of Voyces, Westmont College, UCSB, and San Marcos High School, and some of Santa Barbara’s popular soloists. Come experience the poetic thrill of what is often described as the most inspiring and influential work ever composed. This program will be performed with no intermission.
Nir Kabaretti, Conductor
Jeanine De Bique, Soprano
Nina Yoshida Nelson, Mezzo
Benjamin Brecher, Tenor
DeAndre Simmons, Bass
- Rouse: Rapture
- Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Tickets $29 to $134 available at Granadasb.org after September 15.
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.
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.
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.