Famed Met Tenor Eduardo Villa performed with the Choral Society at its 50th Anniversary concert in 1998

THE SANTA BARBARA CHORAL SOCIETY -- 60 YEARS OF MAGNIFICENT MUSIC!

Brief Historical Timeline from 1948-2008:

1948 - SBCS formed following a performance of “Elijah!” - Jeffrey Harris, conductor. The group consists of 32 Sopranos, 19 altos, 7 tenors, 2 baritones/ 4 basses. First season included Bach “Mass in B Minor” and the “Messiah”. Until 1961, the Principal underwriter for the Choral Society was Santa Barbara County Adult Education Program.

1951- Dr. Harold Einecke takes the baton as conductor. He initiates collaborative programs with the Santa Barbara Bach Festival and the Pacific Coast festival, including a concert with Leopold Stokowski conducting. The SBCS also began to work with the Santa Barbara Symphony under Erno Daniel, with works such as “Psalmes Hungaricus” by Kodaly, and “Magnificat” by Alan Hovaness.

1961-66 – Dr. Stanley Krebs, UCSB faculty member , composer and expert on Contemporary Russian music, becomes Music Director of SBCS. He initiates engagements with Westmont College and Santa Maria Symphony. The Society takes on “Boris Godunov” in Russian – prompting a number of altos to leave because they objected to “communist music.”

1966-67 – Dr. Roger Chapman, also of UCSB, is at the helm having inherited a huge challenge as the number of chorus members sinks to its lowest ebb with only 31 singers.

1967-68 – William Hatcher, music director at SB High School and chorus master for opera productions at the Music Academy of the West, takes over and there is a “growth spurt” for the chorus, now at 80 singers. SBCS is named one of 59 choral groups in the nation to win funding from the National Endowment of the Arts. The group sings Gilbert & Sullivan, Mozart and Shubert, as the Society’s solvency and enthusiasm bounce back.

1968 – Collaboration begins with the Music Academy of the West – singing the Mozart “Requiem” as well as Ernest Bloch’s “Sacred Service.” Bloch was with the Music Academy at that time.

1969-71 – Under the direction of UCSB’s Michael Livingstone and later, Albert Campbell (1971-81) the Choral Society entered a period of stability and maturity, allowing ambitious programming like the West Coast Premiere of a jazz oratorio, “The Light in the Wilderness” by SB resident, Dave Brubeck.

1981-93 –The attraction to the unconventional that marked the time of Livingstone and Campbell was coupled with a new culture of musical excellence with the choice of Steven Craig Townsend as Music Director of the SBCS. In addition to its own concerts, SBCS participated in the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion with the Japanese Philharmonic, with the SB Symphony at the UCSB Collegiate Chorale and with MAW in productions of Manon, La Boheme and Henry Purcell’s “King Arthur” to great acclaim at the Ojai Music Festival. Broadway “classics” were also a favorite Townshend program.

1993- Present – SBCS hires its first female Music Director, JoAnne Wasserman. She brings new professionalism to the organization by instituting a policy of paid section leaders and member auditions. Milestones during this 14-year term include: 2 international concert tours, participation in the worldwide “Rolling Requiem,” growth of a student scholarship program, participation in Opera Santa Barbara Gala Opera Festivals, ongoing involvement with the Santa Barbara Symphony in the performance of major choral works, and in May 2008, SBCS’ move to the newly-renovated Granada Theater as a Resident Company and collaboration in a world premiere of a new ballet production of “Carmina Burana” with State Street Ballet.

The organization has grown to 125 singers continuing the legacy of community contribution and setting a standard for musical excellence !