The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is one of the world’s finest chamber orchestras, renowned for fresh, brilliant interpretations of the world’s greatest orchestral music. Named Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 2011, Joshua Bell is the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958 and gave its first performance in its namesake church in November 1959. With over 500 releases in a much-vaunted discography and a comprehensive international touring program, the name and sound of the Academy are known and loved by classical audiences throughout the world. Today, the Academy led by Joshua Bell retains the collegiate spirit and flexibility of the original conductorless ensemble, which has become an Academy hallmark. Under Bell’s direction, the Academy continues to push the boundaries of play-directed performance to new heights, presenting symphonic repertoire and chamber music on a grand scale at prestigious venues around the globe. Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin, with a François Tourte 18th-century bow.

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Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Granada Theatre

Founded in 1997 in Detroit, but with nationwide reach, the Sphinx Virtuosi is a dynamic and inspiring professional self-conducted chamber orchestra and serves as the flagship performing entity of the Sphinx Organization—the leading social justice non-profit dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Comprised primarily of Black and Latinx artists, a critical aim of the Sphinx Virtuosi is to evolve and transform the face of classical music through artistic excellence, pioneering programming, and impassioned community engagement. Its members serve as cultural and diversity ambassadors for audiences and communities around the United States during national tours, and perform annually at Carnegie Hall where The New York Times has praised the group as “…top-notch…more essential
at this moment than ever…a vibrant, assured performance.”

Sphinx Virtuosi

Lobero Theatre

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO)is a world-class ensemble and winner of 27 Grammy® Awards that offers live performances, media initiatives and learning programs that unite, educate, and enrich the community through the power of orchestral music. Nathalie Stutzmann, named ASO Music Director beginning with the 2022/2023 season, is the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra and is one of the outstanding classical musical personalities of our time with Sir Simon Rattle expounding: “She is the real thing with so much love, intensity, and sheer technique. We need more conductors like her.” Haochen Zhang won the 13th Van Cliburn Piano Competition in 2009 and since has captivated audiences worldwide with his musical sensitivity and spectacular virtuosity.

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

French pianist Hélène Grimaud is a deeply passionate artist who strongly believes that music dignifies the human experience by giving voice to thoughts and feelings. She believes that each concert must be an emotional event presented with an intense commitment, sustaining a mood from piece to piece, so that audiences feel pulled into a narrative. With an original and probing mind, she takes no note for granted in her performance—equal parts agile, independent, and elegant—that highlight her breathtaking musical intuition and inventiveness. Her multiple talents extend far beyond the instrument she plays with such passion and focus. She has also established herself as a committed wildlife conservationist, compassionate human rights activist, and writer. Her prodigious contribution to and impact on the world of classical music were recognized by the French government when she was admitted into the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (France’s highest decoration) at the rank of Chevalier (Knight). She returns to the Lobero by popular demand with a commanding program of major works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach.

Hélène Grimaud, piano

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is recognized as one of the UK’s most in-demand orchestras, an accolade that would have pleased Sir Thomas Beecham, who founded the Orchestra in 1946. With the dynamic Vasily Petrenko now in place as Music Director and the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales, the RPO’s mission is to foster deeper engagement with communities across the globe to ensure that live orchestral music is accessible to as inclusive and diverse an audience as possible. British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her CAMA orchestral debut performing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3. She was the recipient of both the coveted Leonard Bernstein Award and an Opus Klassik award for best young artist, and in 2022/2023 stepped into her role as Artist in Residence with the RPO. In November 2021, along with her cellist brother Sheku Kanneh-Mason, she released her first duo recording entitled Muse, beautifully demonstrating the siblings’ musicality and refined skill borne from years of playing and performing together.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

One of the world’s leading conductors, Zubin Mehta, has been an influential and beloved artistic leader for the Los Angeles Philharmonic over the past seven decades. He was honored with the title of Conductor Emeritus during its 2018/19 Centennial season. He first conducted the orchestra in Los Angeles in January 1961 at the age of 25 before serving as their Music Director from 1962 to 1978—a 16-year period during which he actually conducted the LA Phil for CAMA in Santa Barbara an astounding total of 50 concerts. His tremendous sense of social responsibility has taken his music around the world, and he is a vivid symbol of today’s cross-cultural world, living proof of the power of music to bridge different cultures and to break social and political barriers.

Joining the Maestro for this historic concert will be young piano virtuoso Seong-Jin Cho performing the Schumann Piano Concerto. A native of Seoul, South Korea, he garnered world attention in October 2015 when he won First Prize at the renowned Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Our CAMA audience may remember his stunning performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic back in November 2016.

Los Angeles Philharmonic

One of the most distinctive artists of his generation and a longtime CAMA favorite, Sir Stephen Hough is a true Renaissance man, combining a distinguished international career as a pianist with those of composer, writer, and painter. Named by The Economist as one of “Twenty Living Polymaths” (a person of great learning and varied expertise), he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022 and was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius Grant”) in 2001. Sir Stephen brings his trademark eloquence and precision to what will be his fifth Masterseries recital appearance at the Lobero, with music by composers close to his heart. From the mysterious and mystical realms of Mompou and Scriabin to the evocative imagery of Debussy and Hough’s own Partita, Hough leaves his stamp on all of this repertoire. His recital closes with a suite of pieces selected from the second volume of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage—the famous “Petrarch Sonnets” as well as the astounding “Dante Sonata.”

Sir Stephen Hough, piano

CAMA’s Masterseries season opens with a very special evening with Avi Avital and Hanzhi Wang, two virtuoso musicians performing together on instruments not normally expected to be part of a classical music recital. Mandolinist Avi Avital has been compared to Andrés Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to Jascha Heifetz for his incredible virtuosity. A passionate and explosively charismatic performer, his two exhilarating past performances for CAMA with the LA Chamber Orchestra (2018) and Les Violons du Roy (2021) confirmed that he is “a musician who recognizes no boundaries except those of good taste, and who has the artistry to persuade listeners to follow him anywhere.” (New York Times)

Acclaimed for her staggering virtuosity, Chinese-born Hanzhi Wang is the only accordionist ever to win a place on the roster of Young Concert Artists in its 60-year history and be named Musical America’s “New Artist of the Month.” A groundbreaking artist, she is an ambassador for her instrument and has been praised for her captivating stage presence and her masterful performances that display both passion and finesse.

Avi Avital, mandolin & Hanzhi Wang, accordion

Gustavo Dudamel, the charismatic Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, whose fiery baton has made him one of classical music’s most recognizable figures, will be departing his post at the LA Phil in September 2026 to become the new Music Director of the New York Philharmonic beginning September 2026. Don’t miss the upcoming opportunity on May 28 to experience Gustavo Dudamel’s dynamic presence on the podium as he leads the LA Phil in the closing concert of CAMA’s 2023/2024 International Series season.

The May 28 concert will feature Gustavo Dudamel conducting Ludwig van Beethoven’s high-spirited Symphony No.7 in A Major, Op.92, plus two world premieres of works by noted American composers Ellen Reid and Gabriella Smith, with cellist Gabriel Cabezas as soloist in Smith’s Lost Coast, inspired by her reflections on climate change.

CAMA (in partnership with the Music Academy) is pleased to announce an upcoming Community Access Concert with Philadelphia’s exuberant Curtis Symphony Orchestra at the Granada Theatre on May 18 at 7:30PM. This special concert provides the perfect opportunity for the broader Santa Barbara music audience to come out for an evening with their families to experience and hear a masterful program of world-class symphonic music.

Curtis Symphony Orchestra

Augustin Hadelich is one of the great violinists of our time. Often referred to by colleagues as a musician’s musician, he was named Musical America’s 2018 “Instrumentalist of the Year,” and is consistently cited worldwide for his phenomenal technique, soulful approach, and insightful interpretations. Hadelich won a 2016 Grammy® Award for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo.” Born in Italy to German parents, Augustin Hadelich is now an American citizen. He holds an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School and received the Gold Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009), a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011), the Warner Music Prize (2015), and was appointed to the violin faculty at Yale School of Music. Augustin Hadelich plays the violin “Leduc, ex-Szeryng” fashioned by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in 1744 and generously loaned to him by a patron through the Tarisio Trust.

Augustin Hadelich, solo violin

Legendary Spanish guitarist Celedonio Romero left his native country in 1957 when his artistic freedom was jeopardized under the Fascist regime of Generalisimo Franco. The Romero family secured permission to travel to Portugal to visit a sick relative, and quickly booked passage from Lisbon to New York, then on to Los Angeles, eventually settling in Santa Barbara. In June 1958 Celedonio made his United States recital debut at the Lobero Theatre, returning the next year with his three sons, Celín, Pepe and Angel, each performing solo guitar works. Then, in April 1961, the family performed together at the Lobero as Los Romeros, the first guitar quartet on the international concert scene. In 1990, Celín’s son Celino joined the quartet, when Angel left to pursue a solo career; and in 1996, Angel’s son Lito joined following Celedonio’s death that year. Thus three generations of the Romero musical dynasty have come to be celebrated worldwide over the past 60+ years as The Royal Family of the Guitar. Los Romeros’ voluminous discography spans the entire repertoire of the classical guitar from the works of its earliest composers to those of today’s masters. For their 60th Anniversary Concert all living members of Los Romeros—Celín, Pepe, Ángel, Lito and Celino—will come together on the Lobero stage!

Los Romeros, The Romero Guitar Quartet

For more than a half century, renowned American conductor Dennis Russell Davies has conducted many of the world’s finest orchestras and opera companies and is widely considered one of the most innovative and adventurous conductors in the classical music world. In 2018, Maestro Davies became the Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the Filharmonie Brno, an orchestra with roots that go back to the 1870s, when then-young composer Leoš Janáček endeavored to establish a Czech symphony orchestra in Brno (the traditional capital of Moravia), now the second largest city in the Czech Republic after Prague. The present orchestra was created in 1956 and has been among the leading Czech orchestras in both size and importance, where the programing of works by Janáček has always been at the core of the orchestra’s repertory. Appropriately, Maestro Davies’s stimulating CAMA concert will feature an outstanding All‑Czech Program of works by three of the greatest Czech composers: Janáček, Dvořák, and Martinů. Maki Namekawa is a leading figure among today’s pianists, bringing to audiences’ attention contemporary music by international composers. In 2019 Philip Glass composed his first Piano Sonata especially for Maki Namekawa, which she premiered that year at Piano‑Festival Ruhr.

Filharmonie Brno

Consistently hailed as one of the leading orchestras in the world, the legacy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Riccardo Muti marks an extraordinary chapter in the CSO’s 132‑year history. One of the world’s preeminent conductors, Maestro Muti’s tenure with the CSO concludes in 2023, marking the thirteenth and final year of an exceptional musical partnership that has thrilled audiences in Chicago and around the world. The CSO’s talented musicians are the driving force behind the ensemble’s famous sound heard on best‑selling recordings and annually at more than 150 concerts at Symphony Center in Chicago, summers at Ravinia, and tours in the United States and abroad. Listeners around the world can hear the CSO in weekly airings of the CSO Radio Broadcast Series.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

French pianist Hélène Grimaud is a deeply passionate and committed musical artist with an original and probing mind who takes no note for granted. Her poetic expression and peerless technical control have drawn comparisons to Martha Argerich and Jorge Bolet. Her contribution to and impact on the world of classical music were recognized by the French government with admission to the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (France’s highest decoration) at the rank of Chevalier (Knight). In her role as a passionate wildlife conservationist, Grimaud established the Wolf Conservation Center in upper New York State, which offers education about wolves, their relationship to the environment, and the human role in protecting their future.

With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet—celebrating its 75th Anniversary this season—​continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by the Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works. Each performance of the Juilliard String Quartet is a unique experience, bringing together the four members’ profound understanding, total commit­ment and unceasing curiosity in sharing the wonders of the string quartet literature. Ronald Copes, former faculty member in UCSB’s Department of Music, has played with the Juilliard String Quartet since 1997. In May 2022, the Quartet named violist Molly Carr to its ensemble, filling the void left by the passing of Carr’s mentor and friend, much-loved violist Roger Tapping.

Juilliard String Quartet

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is the flagship of musical life in Birmingham—and one of the world’s great orchestras. The tradition began with their very first concert back in 1920—conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. The CBSO became internationally famous when conductor Simon Rattle took the helm in 1980. In 2016, the CBSO welcomed the appointment of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, a native of Vilnius, Lithuania, as its Music Director and now Principal Guest Conductor, following her time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a Dudamel Fellow, Assistant Conductor, and Associate Conductor. British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason became a household name in 2018 after performing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle, watched by nearly two billion people globally. Sheku’s album Elgar on the Decca Classical label made him the first cellist in history to reach the UK Top 10.

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Canadian James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most treasured violinists of international stages. Acclaimed as “a supreme virtuoso and artist of the first rank” (The Daily Telegraph), James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius (1715). His Santa Barbara debut in July 2019 at the Granada Theatre with the London Symphony Orchestra (presented by the Music Academy of the West) elicited the following glowing concert review: “Ehnes was magnificent throughout, an impressive figure on stage whose playing blazed like a laser beam, though brimming with compassion and heart” (seenandheard-international.com). Ehnes is joined by gifted collaborative pianist Orion Weiss who previously appeared in Masterseries with violinist Augustin Hadelich.

James Ehnes Orion Weiss

Featuring works by Brahms, Dvořák, Iradier, Lehár, Kálmán, Yvain and Gilbert  Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian has been a highly sought‑after performer at major opera houses and concert halls the world over including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, London, Paris, Vienna, Florence and Salzburg. She has toured the globe to appear with the premier orchestras, performing under the batons of renowned conductors like Seiji Ozawa, James Conlon, David Zinman, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Alan Gilbert to name a few. She was also the featured vocalist on the Grammy® Award‑winning soundtrack from the blockbuster film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Her newest recording, Armenian Songs for Children, was released in 2021 by AVIE Records, and received critical acclaim. In 2020 she also collaborated with the Grammy®‑nominated Canadian rock band Glass Tiger singing a track on their first‑ever Christmas album Songs for a Winter’s Night. When she’s not singing, Ms. Bayrakdarian teaches others how to sing at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she serves as Professor of Voice in the Music Department. She is joined by extraordinary Canadian chamber musicians Mark Fewer and Jamie Parker for this not‑to‑be‑​missed concert!

“Glorious and Free” Romani‑inspired Songs and Operetta Arias

Almost inexcusably absent from the pantheon of great conductors appearing in Santa Barbara during CAMA’s long history, Sir John Eliot Gardiner will at last grace the Granada stage directing the English Baroque Soloists, the preeminent period-instrument chamber ensemble founded by the maestro himself in 1978. Arguably the foremost living interpreter of 17th‑ and 18th‑century choral and orchestral repertoire, Sir John Eliot Gardiner is also the Founder and Director of the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. With these and other ensembles, he has recorded more than 250 albums; among them are benchmark recordings of the Monteverdi Vespers and Bach B‑minor Mass, the complete Beethoven symphony cycle on period instruments, and each and every Bach sacred cantata. In his spare time, the prodigious maestro runs an organic farm at Springhead near Fontmell Magna in North Dorset.

English Baroque Soloists

Among the greatest of all orchestras today, the legendary London Symphony Orchestra will return to Santa Barbara in March 2022 for a special 5-day residency with the Music Academy of the West led by Sir Simon Rattle who is universally recognized as one of the world’s leading conductors, having served since the early 1980’s as Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic and currently with the LSO.  Join CAMA and the Music Academy of the West for this not-to-be-missed historic Santa Barbara classical music concert collaboration. Single tickets for this concert on sale Tuesday, January 18, 2022. Subscribe today to assure seats!

London Symphony Orchestra

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor (b.1992) has been described as “the best pianist to come out of England in the last 50 years.” One only needs to listen to his playing to understand that the accolades are well deserved. Grosvenor’s promise was evident from a young age; he was the winner of the Keyboard Final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition at the age of eleven, and was invited to perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Opening Night of the 2011 BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall at age nineteen. Turned away from performance by suddenly imposed pandemic precautions while already in Santa Barbara in March 2020, CAMA is delighted to welcome Benjamin Grosvenor back for his proper Santa Barbara and Masterseries debut!

Benjamin Grosvenor

Music from the award-winning film Tous les matins du monde  Works by Lully, Marais, Couperin, Rameau, Leclair, Du Caurroy, Sainte‑Colombe, and more  Tous les matins du monde (“All the Mornings of the World”) is a 1991 French film set during the reign of Louis XIV. The film portrays the eminent musician Marin Marais looking back on his young life when he was briefly a pupil of Monsieur Jean de Sainte‑Colombe. For  his concert, legendary early music scholar and gambist Jordi Savall directs and performs with Le Concert des Nations.

Jordi Savall & Le Concert des Nations

Returning to the Granada Theatre stage for the first time since CAMA and the LA Phil’s 100th Anniversary concert on March 6, 2020, the venerated orchestra and century-long local favorite brings its trademark artistic programming featuring convincingly interpreted new works alongside the great masterpieces of the classical canon. The LA Phil will be guest-directed by Elim Chan, Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and joined by 2018 Gilmore Artist Award-winner Igor Levit as soloist in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

As the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary, its mission remains to enrich lives through orchestral experiences that are uncompromising in their excellence and inclusive in their appeal. This season the RPO is thrilled to welcome its new Music Director, dynamic young maestro Vasily Petrenko—Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, and Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. And CAMA celebrates the return of Russian-American pianist Olga Kern, now recognized as one of her generation’s great artists. Having jumpstarted her U.S. career with an historic Gold Medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—the first woman to do so in more than thirty years—she was also first prize winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at age seventeen.

CAMA

Apr 2, 2024

Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Mar 15, 2024

Sphinx Virtuosi

Mar 8, 2024

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Feb 22, 2024

Hélène Grimaud, piano

Jan 17, 2024

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

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