As we made our way along mulch laden paths that took numerous twists and turns toward St. Anthony’s Chapel at the back of the former Franciscan Seminary nestled behind the iconic Santa Barbara Mission, few of us knew exactly what to expect. The title of the concert by star violinist Jennifer Koh, “Shared Madness,” was a big hint that it might not be your grandmother’s “classical” recital, and it wasn’t. The UCSB Arts & lectures concert was part 1 of 2 featuring 13 of 32 pieces by contemporary composers designed to showcase Ms. Koh’s wide-ranging taste and skills, and her love of the work of living composers; a sharing between them and an extraordinary musician, ultimately to be shared with a wider community. The madness came in many forms beginning with a harmonic duet with a snare drum emitting an otherworldly sound created by a speaker mounted on top, composed by Sam Adams. There were many unusual sounds coming from Koh’s violin throughout, all resplendent in the perfectly reverberant 19th century chapel. There was beautiful melody, scratching, glissandi, Icelandic cool, some humor and a little birdsong. The maddest, and longest, piece was Gabriel Kahane’s “The Single Art Form is Dead,” a somewhat bizarre series of readings, each beginning with “The composer wanted me to tell you…” followed by 4 notes on the violin. There was even a breaking “news flash” dramatically delivered to Ms. Koh by A&L staff member Sarah Bennet. The concert stretched uninterrupted for 90 minutes with no applause between numbers, but there was plenty at the end.
