CAMA’s 2024/2025 Masterseries at the Lobero Theatre promises a thrilling season showcasing the artistry of world-renowned virtuosos. Prepare for a musical journey that begins with the captivating sounds of violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, whose program includes the New Chaconne by minimalist music icon Philip Glass. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson, perhaps the world’s foremost interpreter of Chopin, returns with an all-Chopin program. Local and international favorite violinist Gilles Apap makes his long-overdue Masterseries debut. And the series concludes with pianist Yefim Bronfman, who brings his masterful technique to a program of Mozart, Debussy, and Tchaikovsky. Each performance offers a unique and unforgettable encounter with some of the greatest living classical musicians in the intimate setting of the historic Lobero Theatre, which in 2023 celebrated its 150th Anniversary and was named one of “The 11 Most Beautiful Theaters in the World” in Architectural Digest and Condé Nast Traveler.
Additional Support from The Lobero’s John C. Mithun Foundation Community Access Fund
2024/2025 Concert Season
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2024, 7:30PM
Anne Akiko Meyers
violin
Fabio Bidini
piano
Anne Akiko Meyers is one of the world’s most esteemed violinists, celebrated for her expressive depth and technical prowess. She has collaborated with today’s most important composers, conductors, and orchestras, creating a remarkable collection of new violin repertoire for future generations, including Arturo Márquez’s Fandango, a violin concerto written for her in 2021, which received a 2024 Grammy® Award nomination for her recording with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Meyers’ CAMA recital debut program will include Philip Glass’s New Chaconne, as well as Márquez’s Danzón No.2, arranged by the composer. Anne Akiko Meyers will play the exquisite 1741 “ex-Vieuxtemps” Guarneri del Gesù, considered by many to be the finest sounding violin in existence for its powerfully luxuriant sound and mint state of preservation. Joining Anne Akiko Meyers is Italian pianist Fabio Bidini, a distinguished faculty member at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.
PROGRAM:
CORELLI, arr. POXON: “La Folia” Sonata
GLASS: New Chaconne
BEETHOVEN: Sonata No.5 in F Major, “Spring” (Frühlingssonate)
LAURIDSEN, arr. LAURIDSEN: “Sure on This Shining Night” and “Dirait-on”
MÁRQUEZ, arr. MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No.2
Exclusive Sponsors:
Marta Babson and Bitsy Becton Bacon
SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2025, 7:30 PM
Gilles Apap
violin—and Friends!
Gilles Apap, violin
Inna Faliks, piano
Xiaoli Cioffi, erhu
Gap Tooth Mountain Ramblers
Peter Feldmann, mandolin
Jim Wimmer, fiddle
Gilles Apap, fiddle
Tom Wolverton, banjo
Michael Mendelson, guitar/fiddle
Phil Salazar Bluegrass Band
Phil Salazar, fiddle
Gilles Apap, fiddle
Roger Phillips, banjo
David Jackson, string bass
Tom Corbett, mandolin/guitar
with Peter Feldmann, mandolin
Transylvanian Mountain Boys
Gilles Apap, violin
Chris Judge, guitar
Brendan Statom, string bass
Few musicians have achieved the balance and breadth in their careers that French violinist Gilles Apap has. He is a world-renowned and sought-after classical soloist, an innovative crossover artist and group leader, and a long-time musical hero in Santa Barbara, where he settled in 1986 at just 22 years of age, soon serving as the concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony for over a decade. He is known internationally for his ongoing musical journey, marked by collaborations with musicians and orchestras from around the world, delivering distinctive performances that combine classical repertoire with his love of traditional music—from Europe to India to America—such as Romani, Irish, swing, or bluegrass. The result is a unique merging of the borderlines between musical styles and the skill to bring joy to every concert hall. CAMA looks forward to Gilles’ homecoming to Santa Barbara and to the beloved Lobero “…for old times’ sake."
PROGRAM: “…for Old Times’ Sake”
Gilles Apap, violin and Inna Faliks, piano
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924):
Berceuse, Op. 16
Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962):
Praeludium and Allegro (In the style of Pugnani)
Georges Enescu (1881–1955):
Impressions d'Enfance, Op. 28
Ástor Piazzolla (1921–1992):
Escualo (“Shark”)
Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840), arr. Franz Liszt (1811–1886):
Grandes Études de Paganini, S. 141, No. 3, “La Campanella”
(Inna Faliks, piano solo)
Gap Tooth Mountain Ramblers
Tunes from the Old-Time tradition of Appalachian music.
Gilles Apap, violin and Xiaoli Cioffi, erhu
Traditional Chinese and Tibetan Folk Music
Transylvanian Mountain Boys
Music blending Eastern European Romani melodies, Moldovan folk music, Django Reinhardt-style jazz, and 1940s big band jazz standards.
Phil Salazar Bluegrass Band
Instrumental favorites of the great American music.....BLUEGRASS!
⸻
Sponsors:
Anonymous
Mahri Kerley
Co-Sponsors:
Jill Felber Bambach & Paul Bambach
Edward S. DeLoreto
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2025, 7:30PM
Yefim Bronfman
piano
Celebrated pianist YEFIM BRONFMAN returns to CAMA’s Masterseries at the Lobero Theatre for the first time in over 25 years with a program of pianistic fireworks! Renowned for his technical brilliance and profound musicality, he is an international keyboard legend and considered one of the greatest pianists of his generation. The opportunity to hear him in recital doesn’t come around very often, so his performances attract an eager crowd of dedicated keyboard fans. Born in 1958 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Yefim Bronfman immigrated from the Soviet Union to Israel in 1973 and later to the United States, where he honed his musical skills at prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music (where he is now a faculty member). Over the past five decades, he has built a distinguished international career featuring collaborations with the world’s premier orchestras and conductors. His artistry has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize and a Grammy® for his recording of Bartók’s three piano concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
PROGRAM:
MOZART: Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K. 332
SCHUMANN: Arabeske in C Major, Op.13
DEBUSSY: Images, Book II
TCHAIKOVSKY: Grand Sonata in G Major, Op. 37
Sponsors:
Alison & Jan Bowlus
Michele Neely Saltoun
Co-Sponsors:
Beth Gates Warren & Bob Boghosian
Nancy Wood, in honor of the CAMA Women’s Board
GARRICK OHLSSON
© Dario Acosta
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2025, 7:30PM
Garrick Ohlsson
piano
Since his historic triumph at the 1970 Chopin Piano Competition, Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as one of the great American piano masters of the past 50+ years, a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. He commands a vast repertoire spanning the entire piano literature, with noted mastery of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and the Romantic composers, as well as works of the 21st century. His comprehensive recordings of Chopin have received international acclaim, cementing his reputation as one of the composer’s greatest living interpreters. He will be returning to the CAMA Masterseries (with an all-Chopin program) for the first time since his virtuosic all-Brahms recital at the Lobero in March 2019, as part of CAMA’s historic 100th Anniversary Season.
ALL-CHOPIN PROGRAM:
CHOPIN:
Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15, No. 1
Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9, No. 3
Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60
Fantasy in F Minor, Op. 49
Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39
Impromptu in F-sharp Major, Op. 36
Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58
Principal Sponsor:
Robert Castle
Sponsor:
Alison & Jan Bowlus
Co-Sponsors:
Nancy & Byron K. Wood
Concert Partner:
Beth Gates Warren & Bob Boghosian
Maureen & Les Shapiro