Rounding out the Santa Barbara Community Arts Music Association’s 100th Anniversary Season, here are some photos from two very different concerts at the Lobero Theatre. In March (oops, kinda late getting to this one…), Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra made their 4th appearance in Santa Barbara presenting another informative, entertaining and musically lovely multimedia concert, joined by Trio Arabica for “Tales of Two Cities, The Leipzig-Damamscus CoffeeHouse.” Concertgoers were taken back and forth between the great European trading center in Saxony, Germany, and the middle eastern city, one of the oldest in the world, where coffee houses were gathering places for musicians, scholars and intellectuals to perform, exchange stories and ideas, and discuss all matters of art and philosophy. Dramatically narrated by Alon Nashman.
The concluding concert of the season in May featured another favorite of Santa Barbara audiences, Latvian born Israeli master cellist Mischa Maisky accompanied by his daughter, pianist Lily Maisky. The program was a journey in time from Marcello to Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and finally, Shostakovitch. After what seemed to this listener’s ears like minor problems with intonation in Marcello’s Adagio, Maisky went on to perform with the kind of emotionally passionate interpretations and dazzling technique he is celebrated for.
