Mirth in Venice

CAMA Brings Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra to Santa Barbara’s Granada for an ‘International Series’ Performance, Linked to a Venetian/Vivaldian Theme

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra | Photo: John Hefti

Baroque music’s sizable contingent of fans and curiosity-seekers in Santa Barbara have sometimes been an underserved community in a given season. It can seem like the special culture of baroque and early music is an esoteric side channel of classical music, rather than a formative bedrock of western musical tradition.

Not so this season, which is blessed with reasons for baroque aficionados to rejoice. Within the next three months, the concert calendar features Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (featuring soprano Julia Bullock) at the Lobero Theatre on January 21, Camerata Pacifica’s still-young baroque subplot focus, at Hahn Hall on January 17 and February 28, and, more pressingly, the acclaimed Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra on Tuesday, November 12, at The Granada Theatre — presented by CAMA.

Tuesday’s affair, also featuring the return of mandolinist Avi Avital and soprano Estelí Gomez on the thematic turf of Vivaldi and Venice, promises to be a very fine introduction to the baroque smorgasbord to come. Although the centerpiece of the program heads down the middle of baroque best-of channels, with the oft-heard chestnut of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the context becomes more inventive with the intertwining of Venetian songs popular among gondoliers through the years.

Welcome to the program with the moniker Venetian Splendor: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Gondola Songs.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra | Photo: John Hefti

This will be the Santa Barbara “threepeat” appearance by Avital under CAMA’s auspices, most recently heard last year in a fascinating duet with Chinese accordionist Hanzhi Wang.

Israeli-born Avital has a deep connection with baroque music, along with myriad adventures in various periods and genres of music.

Soprano Gomez — born in Watsonville, California, and Yale-educated — will lend her vocal services as surrogate gondolier for the evening. She arrives with the imprimatur of two Grammy Awards, for her contemporary music work with the Silk Road Ensemble and the groundbreaking vocal group Roomful of Teeth. (Roomful’s membership, incidentally, also includes baritone Dashon Burton, who recently entranced the Granada audience with his Mahler “Songs of the Wayfarer” performance at the CAMA season opener featuring the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.)

Adding festivity and scholarship to the evening, there will be a pre-concert preview at SOhO, at 6 p.m., and a free prosecco toast at the Granada at 6:30. The talk will be presented by Ben Pringle, a fine singer and “serious” musician who also has a claim to fame as a member of a less serious but nationwide famous musical ensemble, Nerf Herder.

In keeping with the Venetian vibe of the night, cloaks and masks are encouraged for all comers. As Pringle points out, “Venetian patrons of music and theater in Vivaldi’s time would often wear masks to concerts, almost six months out of the year. It’s not just a ‘carnival’ time thing that we usually think of.”

For tickets and additional information, see granadasb.org.