Conductor Heiichiro Ohyama
The Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, a critically-acclaimed chamber orchestra that has performed well-known classical repertoire and hosted world-class soloists since 1978, will return to its home in the Lobero Theatre after the theatre underwent almost a year of renovations.
The Lobero Homecoming Celebration Concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20 at the Lobero Theatre on the corner of Anacapa and Canon Perdido streets.
Music Director and conductor Heiichiro Ohyama will lead the chamber orchestra in Mozart’s last symphony, Symphony 41 “Jupiter” K551 in C Major, followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” Op. 55.
“We are thrilled to come back to our home theater and perform downtown Santa Barbara again,” said Joe Campanelli, chair of the SBCO board. “The two charming and joyful symphonies from Mozart and Beethoven portray the celebration perfectly.”
Both symphonies feature lively first movements and intricately-wrought finales that audiences found—and continue to find—immensely satisfying. Mozart’s “Jupiter” has come to be celebrated as exemplifying the ideals of the Classical form, while Beethoven’s “Eroica” is lauded for pushing the boundaries of that form.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his final three symphonies in the summer of 1788, presumably intending them to be performed in Vienna during the subsequent concert series—though there is no evidence that these performances ever actually happened. The first score to bear the name “Jupiter” was published in 1823, 35 years after it was written. The name originated with the London concert promoter Johann Peter Salomon, who also commissioned Haydn’s 12 “London” symphonies.
As Ludwig van Beethoven worked on his Symphony No. 3 in 1804, he was acutely aware of the symphony’s potential significance. Impressed by the republican ideals of the French Revolution, he originally named the symphony “Bonaparte,” but when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, the disillusioned composer tore up the title page and eventually settled on calling his work “Heroic symphony composed to celebrate the memory of a great man”—though this “great man” was an idealization rather than a particular person. Now this “heroic” symphony is commonly known by the nickname “Eroica.”
Prior to the concert, SBCO will host a Supper Club. The Supper Club features a hot, buffet-style dinner and wine tasting starting at 5:30 p.m. on the patio behind the Lobero Theatre. It is a place to make new friends, chat with old friends and engage with other chamber orchestra music aficionados. This homecoming Supper Club will feature an Artist Spotlight and live interview with Concertmaster Amy Hershberger.
To purchase tickets to the concert, call the Lobero Theatre box office at 805-963-0761 or visit www.lobero.com/tickets/. A 2-for-1 Mother’s Day promotion is available. To order tickets to the Supper Club ($40), call the SBCO office at 805-966-2441.
For more information, visit www.sbco.org.
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The Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra strives to maintain the highest artistic quality possible, produce the finest music heard in Santa Barbara and perform well-known repertoire as well as music written in this century. Conducted by Heiichiro Ohyama, the Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1978 by then-conducting student Jeffrey Evans. Current and past SBCO musicians perform with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Symphony, and Santa Barbara Symphony.