Artistic Staff
The Choral Society employs an artistic staff including an Artistic Director/Conductor, Assistant to the Conductor, Accompanist and Section Leaders. Soloists and musicians are hired, as needed, for performances.
JOANNE WASSERMAN, Artistic Director & Conductor
JoAnne Wasserman is in her 30th season as conductor and artistic director of the Santa Barbara Choral Society.
She has worked with an impressive list of outstanding choral and orchestral conductors, including John Alexander and Lawrence Christensen and participated in master classes with Paul Salamunovich, the late Robert Shaw, and Roger Wagner. She has also participated as a Master Class Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival under Helmut Rilling.
Ms. Wasserman has been Chorus Master for Opera Santa Barbara, has served on the faculty of California State University, Northridge and conducted the Women’s Chorale at Westmont College.
She has conducted the Choral Society’s International Performance Tours of Mozart’s Requiem in Eastern Europe, Haydn’s Theresiennemesse and Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna in Italy and Bavaria, Mass at the High Altar at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and Faure’s Requiem in Spain, and in Italy with legendary composer Morten Lauridsen.
Local highlights include conducting Choral Society’s acclaimed performances at The Granada Theatre Santa Barbara of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Verdi Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and LoveLoveLove, a Tribute to the Beatles with Sir George Martin.
She conducted both the Worldwide Rolling (Mozart) Requiem performance on the first anniversary of 9/11 in 2001 and the 10-year anniversary performance In Remembrance in 2011.
In the Masterworks at San Roque series, she conducted the Bach B Minor Mass in 2011 and in 2012, the West Coast premier of the Rain Sequence by noted African-American composer Dr. Rollo Dillworth.
In celebration of her 20th Season, she conducted the chorus and her son, concert pianist Alexander Wasserman, in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and a special tribute to American composer, Morten Lauridsen, performing his Lux Aeterna at the Lobero in 2013.
Ms. Wasserman’s dedication to music education, the development of emerging young artists, and her philosophy of increasing cultural awareness has enlivened the Santa Barbara Choral Society’s 76-year long commitment to sharing excellence in choral music with the arts community both locally and internationally.
ARTISTIC SUPPORT STAFF
MI-YOUNG KIM, REHEARSAL PIANIST
GREGORY DAVIES, ASSISTANT TO THE CONDUCTOR
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.
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.
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.