Written by Mary Dan Eades on June 3, 2015
Merriment and Money – by Richard Mineards, Montecito Miscellany
To celebrate its forthcoming production of Carl Orff’s spectacular Carmina Burana – based on 12th century poems – with the Santa Barbara Symphony [and State Street Ballet] on its 63rd opening night at the Granada in October, the Santa Barbara Choral Society hosted “In Taberna: A Night of Medieval Merriment” gala at the Music Academy of the West’s Lotte Lehmann Hall.
The colorful bash, with most of the 137 guests garbed magnificently in medieval mode, was co-hosted by Marylove Thralls and Mary Dan Eades and raised around $20,000 for the popular group.
Treasurer Jim Robbins, dressed as a court jester, bells and all, emceed the Plantagenet party, which featured the State Street Ballet’s Professional Track Dancers under director Megan Philip, the Rollick recorder musicians playing traditional music, Valerie Saint Martin on the harp and the Pacific Sword Company and the Bowler Boys, regular performers with the Santa Barbara Revels, doing energized Morris dancing.
The ubiquitous KEYT journalist, John Palminteri, conducted the auction, which included a week at a villa in Provence, a river cruise on the Danube, a stay in Hawaii and a 12-diamond gold ring. Among those making musical, as well as Middle Age merriment, were Brooks Firestone, Debra Stewart, SB Chamber Orchestra director Kevin Marvin, Dan Secord, Kate Rees, Karen Williams, Pam Enticknap, Barbara Burger, Erica DiBartolomeo, Candy Stevenson, Deborah Bertling, Kathleen Stinnett, Julian Nott, dashing as Robin Hood, Anne Luther, symphony director David Pratt, and former symphony president Stefan Riesenfeld.
Carmina Burana has not been performed in our Eden by the Beach since 2008, so the October 17 show should be an absolute cracker.
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.