20 Years on the Podium, on the Symphonic Case

It was 20 years ago today, more or less, that Nir Kabaretti took control of the podium as maestro of the Santa Barbara Symphony (SBS). The Israeli, then based in Italy, won the prized role after a two-year search following the departure of previous conductor Gisèle Ben-Dor.

Since taking over the music director position, Kabaretti has upped the Symphony’s game in terms of its overall artistic caliber and commitment. Along with being engaged with orchestras and opera settings around the world, with Santa Barbara as home base, Kabaretti has designed diverse and balanced season programs, collaborated with other local arts organizations and, as a personal mission, emphasized the importance of musical education and outreach to the community.

Fast forward to this week and Kabaretti will have taken charge of two significant stages in town — the Granada Theatre for the season-opening concert this weekend and, last Saturday, in the tributary spotlight at Hahn Hall, on the lavish Music Academy of the West campus. 

As a celebration of Kabaretti’s 20th year with SBS, and as a fundraising gala to boot, the formal Hahn Hall affair, dubbed “The Magic of Music,” included cameos by special guest musicians, a live and lively auction, and a post-event dinner. Most of the guests were dressed to the nines. Having neglected to read the fine print, this journalist was dressed to about the sixes.

With a stripped-down orchestral component onstage, Kabaretti kicked off the evening with Jacques Ibert’s “Divertissement,” a splash of sparking wit and spritz to begin the celebration. Hahn Hall proved to be more than just a desirable event destination, and it was also a sentimental one, as the maestro informed us that “20 years ago, I stepped onto this stage to rehearse with the Santa Barbara Symphony for the first time.”

Guest soloists for the evening came, appropriately enough, from the ranks of Symphony-connected musicians, past and present. Pianist Natasha Kislenko (who is also on the faculty of UCSB and Music Academy of the West) was given a ripe, brief showcase with the Presto from Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto in G minor, and concertmaster Jessica Guideri offered the right degrees of tango-fueled passion and precision on music from Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.” Off to the side of the classical music repertoire, principal trumpeter Jon Lewis — famous in the film music world and an ally of John Williams — graced us with an arrangement of Harold Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow.”

Two young violinists, Camille Miller and Calyssa Davidson, who once played in the Santa Barbara Youth Orchestra and are now on the international music stage, returned to perform the tandem soloist duties of J.S. Bach’s “Concerto in D minor for two violins.”

Palmer Jackson, on the Symphony board and also a skilled pop musician who has performed pop-with-symphony concerts with the orchestra, showed up to perform the Glen Campbell–popularized classic “Gentle on My Mind,” with strings attached. He offered his own toast to the man of the hour: “What I would say about Nir is that you’re not only brilliant but also generous, humble, and in my case, patient.” 

Touching into historic roots of the Symphony, former concertmaster during the Ben-Dor era, Gilles Apap showed up to spread his good, free-spirited cheer and easy-flow virtuosity. Rather than a standard audience-facing stand and deliver style of performance, Apap casually roamed the stage and checked in with fellow musicians, even leaning against Kabaretti’s back at one point, as he glided through a French Gypsy tune, “Manuel de Falla” and the traditional American tune “The Hangman’s Reel.” Avoiding conventional classical soloist behavior, eclecticism and keeping things serious-yet-loose account for the way Apap rolls. 

As he said of Kabaretti, “this man is not just a beautiful musician, but a beautiful human being.”

Tributes flowed forth from board president and Montecito Bank & Trust head Janet Garufis and the Symphony’s CEO and President Kathryn Martin. There were also celebrities in absentia, weighing in with their own video tributes — famed violinist (with Santa Barbara ties) Anne Akiko Meyers and legendary conductor Zubin Mehta, who was one of Kabaretti’s mentors. 

Mehta’s imprint was again in the house during the auction portion of the program, when the highest bid of the night — $14,000 — came in for a baton which he gave to a young Kabaretti. It had been auctioned off ten years ago, to support the Symphony, and when the owner died, it was again available for service to the organizational cause. 

Specifically, the fundraising cause on this night had to do with an education imperative, bringing young ears to hear the orchestra and have access to instruments and music education. As Garufis said about Kabaretti, early in the evening, “our community is so much richer for his artistry, his kindness, his spirit of collaboration, and his steadfast belief that every child in Santa Barbara deserves the chance to experience and to make music. Hold onto those two words  — every child. 

“As part of what we lovingly call the triumvirate — Kathryn, Nir, and I — I can tell you it’s been a truly exciting time at the symphony. We have been on quite a journey. Our attendance is up, our finances are strong, our leadership is steady, our community partnerships are deeper than ever.”