How do you follow a season that critics declared was “on a trajectory to new heights of operatic excellence”? This was the challenge for Opera Santa Barbara’s Artistic Director José Maria Condemi, who has assembled an imposing array of talent for OSB’s 2011-12 season’s three fully-staged operas: Puccini’s enduring love story, La bohème, November 11 and 13 at the Granada Theatre; Mozart’s delightful Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), March 23 and 25 at The Granada Theatre; and to close the season, a debut production of Gluck’s mythical Orphée et Eurydice, April 27 and 29 at The Lobero Theatre. Read on…

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced a $28,000 grant to Opera Santa Barbara to support 2012 production of Orphée et Eurydice

Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, today announced that Opera Santa Barbara has been recommended for a grant of $28,000 to support their April 2012 production of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice. Opera Santa Barbara is one of 3 Santa Barbara-based organizations recommended for a grant as part of the NEA’s second round of fiscal year 2011 grants. The other two local groups are the Lobero Theatre and the Contemporary Arts Forum. In total, the Arts Endowment will distribute more than $88 million to support 1,145 projects nationwide. Read on…

“LA DOLCE VITA” EVENT INSPIRED BY CLASSIC ITALIAN FILM
1960s Roman nightlife suggests theme for Opera fundraiser

Santa Barbara, CA, May 9, 2011 – Faster than you can say “Volare!” the stage of the Granada Theater will be transformed into a cabaret setting for Opera Santa Barbara’s “La Dolce Vita” fundraiser on May 22 (5:30 p.m.). Noted Santa Barbara architect Britt Jewett, owner of Studio 7 Architecture and Allied Arts, will recreate a vision of the famous Trevi fountain as a focal point of the on-stage decor. Lead architect for the restoration of the Santa Barbara Courthouse Hall of Records, Britt has provided innovative art installation set pieces for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for the past six years.
Read on…

Opera lecture series finale to feature UCLA Director of Opera

Santa Barbara, CA, April 24, 2011– On Wednesday, May 11, Opera Santa Barbara’s popular “Opera on the Go!” series concludes for this season, with a program entitled “Reinventing Opera, Reinventing Ourselves” with Peter Kazaras, Director of Opera at UCLA and Artistic Director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program.

Mr. Kazaras has worked in the opera business since 1979, when he left the practice of law in New York. He will discuss his own path of reinvention and his impressions of how the opera business and the production of opera have changed and will continue to evolve during our lifetime. The lecture will begin at 5:30 in the McCune Founders Room at the Granada Theater. Tickets for the lectures are available at the door: $15 – adults /$12 – opera season subscribers / $5 – students. For information: 805.898.3890 or the opera website: OperaSB.com.

Opera lecture series finale to feature UCLA Director of Opera

Santa Barbara, CA, April 24, 2011– On Wednesday, May 11, Opera Santa Barbara’s popular “Opera on the Go!” series concludes for this season, with a program entitled “Reinventing Opera, Reinventing Ourselves” with Peter Kazaras, Director of Opera at UCLA and Artistic Director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program. Read on…