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SANTA BARBARA, CA — October 2, 2026 – The Santa Barbara Chamber Players open their 2026 season on Saturday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 909 N. La Cumbre Road, with a program featuring acclaimed Santa Barbara cellist Jakub Omsky performing Dmitri Shostakovich’s powerful Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 107. Daniel Gee will conduct.
Omsky is an important part of Santa Barbara’s musical community. Born in Warsaw, Poland, he began studying cello as a prodigy and became the youngest student in the history of the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy. He later studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and USC’s Thornton School of Music. Omsky won first prize in the 2000 International D’Angelo Young Artists Competition in Strings—the first cellist in the competition’s history to receive the honor. He was also named Music Maker of the Year by the Santa Barbara Independent in 2000 and recognized as a Local Hero in 2001.
The Story Behind Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto
Written in 1959, Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto was created specifically for legendary Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who was a close friend and one of the composer’s most trusted musical collaborators. Shostakovich completed the work during the summer of 1959, and Rostropovich learned the extraordinarily demanding solo part from the piano reduction in only four days.
The concerto premiered in Leningrad on October 4, 1959, with Rostropovich, the Leningrad Philharmonic and conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky. Only a month later, Rostropovich performed the American premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, with Shostakovich himself in attendance. The four-movement concerto is celebrated for its virtuosic cello writing, rhythmic energy, dark humor and deeply expressive slow movement.
The program also includes Fanny Hensel’s Overture in C major and concludes with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550.
Event Information: Sunday, October 10th at 7:30pm at Trinity Lutheran Church, 909 N. La Cumbre Road in Santa Barbara. Admission is $30, 18 and younger are free. Go to sbchamberplayers.org for tickets and more information.
