Santa Barbara Symphony Presents Beethoven's EROICA And A Reimagined Brahms

The Santa Barbara Symphony kicks off the second half of its 2019-2020 season with Beethoven's "Eroica" on January 18th and 19th at the Granada Theatre. The evening begins with Michael Torke's Ash, followed by world-renowned Israeli pianists Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg performing a unique arrangement for piano four-hands and strings based on Johannes Brahms' G minor Piano Quartet, Op. 25. The program will close with Beethoven's revolutionary "Eroica" Symphony, conducted by Music & Artistic Director, Nir Kabaretti. The program has been made possible by the generosity of selection sponsors JoAnne Ando, Hans Koellner and Karin Jacobson, and Dr. Robert W. Weinman.

During this January Symphony Concert Week, Symphony donors who contribute $5,000 or more to the Annual Fund are invited to a special Prelude Event. This Prelude Event is scheduled for Friday, January 17th and will be hosted by Symphony Board Member Sarah Chrisman and her husband Roger. Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served, and Music & Artistic Director Nir Kabaretti will introduce Sivan and Gil before the duo treats attendees to a preview of their masterful playing together on the Chrismans' two grand pianos. Please contact Anaïs Pellegrini, Vice President of Advancement, at 805-898-0107 for more information about this event and annual giving opportunities at the Symphony.

Silver and Garburg will present a special arrangement of Brahms' beloved Piano Quartet, Op. 25, created expressly for the duo by contemporary Austrian composer Richard Dünser, who combined Brahms' two original versions of the quartet. After 20 years of playing together, Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg have established themselves at the top echelon of the music world. The duo has delighted audiences and critics alike on five continents with visually stunning and emotionally evocative performances.

"As a piano duo, it's easy to make effects with virtuosity. But that alone is far too little," the duo explains on their website. "We want to move our listeners emotionally and bring them to the core of the music."

Honoring Beethoven's 250th birthday, the symphony will close the evening with the intensely emotional Symphony No. 3 "Eroica." Groundbreaking and heroic, Beethoven's "Eroica" stretched the boundaries of form, length, and harmony. Commenting on the influence of Beethoven's confessional and confrontational composition, American composer William Flanagan said, "The appearance of no single work has so completely and irretrievably altered the face of art."

The Symphony will also be Michael Torke's performing Ash, a winner of the American Prix de Rome as well as grants and prizes from the Koussevitzky Foundation, among others. Torke is one of a handful of American composers supporting himself entirely through his compositions. Ash was commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been described as "eclectic with energy, a gleaming modernization of the dynamic motor rhythms that drive the Baroque masterpieces of Johann Sebastian Bach."

Beethoven's "Eroica" will take place on January 18th and 19th at the landmark Granada Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online at thesymphony.org, granadasb.org, or by calling the Granada Theatre Box Office at 805-899-2222.