Subscription sales have begun for Opera Santa Barbara’s 2017-18 season, which will open with a sumptuous production of Jules Massenet’s sultry Manon on November 3 and 5, followed by a sprightly staging of Gioachino Rossini’s enduring comic masterwork The Barber of Seville on March 2......
Steven Sharpe, who charted an ambitious course for Opera Santa Barbara over 11 years, spearheading the company’s first world premiere and otherwise elevating its stature through a series of new and expanded programmatic initiatives, is stepping down as general director. The company will immediately conduct......
Daniel Hone, a longtime professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara, has been elected to the Board of Directors for Opera Santa Barbara. His three-year term began in May. Born in San Francisco, Mr. Hone completed his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley before earning a......
The children’s opera Brundibár is a musical jewel for young and old despite its grim history at the showcase Nazi concentration camp at Theresienstadt (Terezín). Fred Golden details the work’s creative wonders and tragic backstory in the video below. Treat yourself and your kids to......
Opera Santa Barbara is proud to lend its voice to the tributes pouring in for the extraordinary Michael Towbes, who died early yesterday at age 87. “Michael will be greatly missed by Opera Santa Barbara,” said Board Chair Nancy M. Golden. “His loyal, enthusiastic, and......
Back by popular demand, due to a sold-out audience in March, Opera Santa Barbara is partnering with Tre Lune Restaurant to offer a second Opera Night on Tuesday, May 9. The evening features a prix fixe four-course dinner, with each course preceded by opera arias......
By Josef Woodard There is a charming “fourth wall” brand of an audience wink toward the end of Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” that lets us know that the creators — composer, singers and interpreters through ages alike — know that we know about this......
By Charles Donelan The enchanted forest of Leoš Janácek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen proved irresistible in this witty and dynamic production from Opera Santa Barbara. The expressive and engaging soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian led the chase as Vixen Sharp-Ears, with the Forester (David Kravitz) trailing......
In his second podcast of the season, Opera Santa Barbara Artistic Director Kostis Protopapas offers up a veritable seminar on Leoš Janácek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen.” Remember, OSB will present this unique and heartwarming opera at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara on March 3......
Opera Santa Barbara will offer a series of free Masterclasses, featuring professional coaches working with members of Opera Santa Barbara’s Mosher Studio Artist Program. Following this the Spring 2017 schedule: March 18: Warren Jones Faculty Member of the Manhattan School of Music, Music Academy of the......