Written by Mary Dan Eades on November 12, 2013
The sweet sounds of children’s voices will add to the delight this year in Santa Barbara Choral Society’s new holiday concert series, The Halellujah Project, at the Lobero on December 14 and 15. Joining the venerable 90-voice adult chorus and orchestra, the Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus will be featured in several numbers, including John Rutter’s charming the Colors of Christmas and Norwegian composer, Ola Gjeilo’s ethereal arrangement of Away in a Manger.
The family-friendly, fun-filled concert will showcase beloved holiday music of a variety of types, ranging from the soundtrack of the popular movie Home Alone, by composer John Williams, to the more traditional Feast of Carols by American composer Randol Alan Bass and British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ haunting Fantasia on Christmas Carols. The latter piece will welcome back the velvet voice of Music Academy alumnus, De Andre Simmons, as baritone soloist.
In a nod to our city’s Spanish roots, the repertoire will also include a set of Spanish carols, including a trio of Christmas Carols from the 16th Century, John Rutter’s Esta Noche, and Edmund Walters Buenos Reyes. SBCS is thrilled to announce that Santa Barbara favorite son and internationally-acclaimed Metropolitan Opera tenor, Eduardo Villa, is coming home for the holidays to sing the solos for these pieces.
Even the audience will get into the act, according to SBCS Conductor and Artistic Director, JoAnne Wasserman, with a round of sing-a-long carols and, as the concert name suggests, everybody’s baroque holiday favorite, Chorus No. 44 from Handel’s Messiah, better known as the “Hallelujah!” chorus. She hints that there may be even more surprises in store that will be announced soon!
What better way could there be to kick off the holidays? You won’t want to miss it!
Ticketing through the Lobero box office online or by calling 805-963-0761.
Ticket prices are $25 for section C seats, $35 for section B seats, and $45 for section A seats.
(Additional $1.50 Lobero facility fee applied to all ticket prices and convenience fee added to online ticketing by the Lobero Theatre.)
Saturday December 14 at 8 pm
Sunday December 15 at 3 pm
The Lobero Theatre
33 E Canon Perdido
Santa Barbara
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.