Conducting a Tour Through the Santa Barbara Symphonic Season

As has become a tradition, the Santa Barbara Symphony gave the community a free, brief, and thorough tour through what’s to come in its 2026-27 season. Officially, the season opens its round of monthly concerts at the Granada Theatre on October 24 and 25 (Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, a traditional pairing), with the crowd-pleasing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto, No. 2, and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, continuing through seven main concerts and a handful of ancillary programs and appearances. 

But the first introductory salvo of SBS’s 2026-27 season unfolded over this hour-plus Lobero preview presentation. A pre-event reception featured the Symphony’s Music Van, giving visitors, young and otherwise, a chance to try out instruments. 

Maestro Nir Kabaretti, about to embark on his 20th season at the helm of the orchestra, was the principal tour guide, joined by the Symphony’s President and CEO Kathryn Martin, and with contributions from State Street Ballet’s Megan Philipp, addressing the season finale (May 22 and 23), a collaboration of the two organizations for Brahms and Balanchine. 

The program centers on Berlioz’s famed Symphonie Fantastique, along with music by Debussy and Poulenc. “If you don’t like French music, this is not the concert for you,” Kabaretti joked. 

“People tell me that 20 years ago I had darker hair. As I have been working with the Symphony Orchestra and worked with unions, that’s what happened,” Kabaretti said, pointing to his gray coiffure, making a reference to a recent four-year deal between the Symphony and the Musicians Union. 

“When I compare my first season 20 years ago with what we are about to start, it’s completely different. I was coming from a European tradition, having studied in Vienna, whereas the orientation now moves beyond the traditional boundaries. And I believe music is a way to have a dialogue. There’s a dialogue between our musicians and the guest artists, between the musicians and the audience. And this dialogue, the feedback, the energy from the audience comes back to us on stage.”

In the upcoming season, “There’s a dialogue between music and other art forms. So, you will hear music from ballet and from opera, from film. We have visuals and images. There are theater components, vocal music. I think it is probably the most versatile season we’ve ever presented.”

To illustrate his point, he walked through the season’s programs, including projected 4-D space images for Holst’s The Planets (January 23 and 24) — also featuring violinist Anne Akiko Myers performing Michael Daugherty’s Blue Elektra, a rare contemporary work on the roster. Opera has its spotlight on April 24 and 25, with music from Boito’s Mefistofele and a dramatized Homage to Maria Callas, with script by former Ensemble Theater director Jonathan Fox. 

Film goes to the top of the Hollywood game, with another evening tribute to John Williams (February 13 and 14); an added SBS-linked attraction is that many musicians in these ranks work closely with Williams on his scores. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, returns to the SBS agenda on March 20 and 21, alongside Manuel Ponce’s guitar-featuring Concierto del Sur.

Among the ancillary dates on the roster are a Youth Symphony concert as part of the upcoming “Brave New Work” symposium (October 6 at Hahn Hall), “Psychedelic Symphony” program (November 7) with the Doublewide Kings, the live-to-film program “OCEAN in Concert” (December 9 at the Granada), and pops concerts such as the traditional New Year’s Eve wingding and a return to the lavish compound of Bellosguardo on July 4.

In general, one theme Kabaretti and Martin emphasized was widening the symphony’s audience beyond experienced symphony-goers — a democratizing viewpoint. “Our mission is not just to produce those wonderful concerts and all of the music education programs that we do that you’ll hear about today. Our mission is to create the impact that happens in those moments that reverberates through the audience and spills out into our community,” said Martin.

Kabaretti seconded that emotion, commenting that, “we all at symphony believe that symphonic music is for everyone. If you just turn on the TV, you will hear a film that features a symphony orchestra. If you go to a theater piece, you may hear a symphony. On the radio, there are all kinds of possibilities to hear symphonic music — and most people don’t even know what it is.

“So, when I say it’s for everyone, it means that we are versatile and we are accessible. We are welcoming new people.”

See season information at thesymphony.org.