Shaham in the Symphonic House, Times Two

The Santa Barbara Symphony closes out a healthily diversified and intriguing season in high style, blessed by the presence of the most celebrated soloist of its season at The Granada Theatre — and in double-header fashion. Renowned violinist Gil Shaham will be the spotlighted guest with maestro Nir Kabaretti’s orchestra for two separate programs, showcasing the Grammy-winning and lavishly accoladed violinist’s multitalented mastery.

On Saturday, May 17, the program focuses on two major and crowd-pleasing works, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. Dvořák returns on Sunday afternoon (May 18), as the tentpole symphonic finale of the concert — and season — but follows music featuring both Shaham and his violinist wife, Adele Anthony. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor serves the foundational role in the first half, followed by the West Coast premiere of another doubled-up violin piece, Israeli composer Avner Dorman’s Double Concerto.

Shaham, born to Israeli parents in Illinois in 1971, has performed internationally and with most major orchestras, and lives in New York City with his family, teaching at Bard College when not touring the globe or heading west to Santa Barbara. He has stopped here on numerous occasions, including appearances hosted by UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L), CAMA, and a rare classical event at the Santa Barbara Bowl, performing John Williams’s surprisingly complex Violin Concerto with the Music Academy of the West orchestra.

Looking ahead to the S.B. Symphony’s 2025-26 season, which is the 20th anniversary of Kabaretti’s tenure, a seven-program roster again heeds the orchestra’s mandate for variety, classical tradition, and a few left turns along the way.
For its season-opener (Oct. 18 and 19), the symphony teams up with another local performing arts group — State Street Ballet — to perform scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, on a Russian menu also featuring music of Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake suite. Mozart’s Requiem takes center stage on November 15 and 16, on a program also leaning into music of living composers, being famed composer Aaron Jay Kernis and Andrea Tarrodi’s new Double Trombone Concerto, co-commissioned by the S.B. Symphony.

Come 2026, all five Beethoven piano concertos will grace the Granada stage on January 17 and 18, while the going gets cinematic with the Valentine’s weekend Romantic Hollywood film music feast, with Richard Kaufman subbing for Kabaretti at the podium. The program dubbed Bella Italia focuses on Italian fare by Vivaldi, Puccini, and Respighi, along with the contemporary Red Ferrari accordion concerto, performed by the dazzling Hanzhi Wang, who gave a memorable recital with mandolinist Avi Avital in a CAMA-hosted show at the Lobero in 2023.

Violinist Alexi Kenney, another performer who made a strong impression locally, is featured in An American in Paris. Kenney bedazzled audiences at the Ojai Music Festival last year and then again at Hahn Hall recently with the A&L-sponsored concert by the adventurous Owls quartet. With the S.B. Symphony, Kenney will perform on Barber’s Violin Concerto. Other Americans in the mix — Charles Ives, with Three Places in New England; Gershwin’s An American in Paris; and living, thriving composer Jennifer Higdon’s Blue Cathedral.

The 2025-26 season closes in epic form, with Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. 

In anticipation of season number 20 with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Kabaretti commented, “Celebrating this milestone anniversary is an incredible privilege, and I’m honored to serve the community that has embraced my family and me with eight months of concerts designed especially for Santa Barbara.”

See thesymphony.org.