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.

John C. Mithun Foundation Community Access Fund Logo

Additional Support from The Lobero’s John C. Mithun Foundation Community Access Fund

2024/2025 Concert Season

Anne Akiko Meyers

ANNE AKIKO MEYERS
© David Zentz

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2024, 7:30PM

Anne Akiko Meyers

violin

 

Fabio Bidini

piano

 

Single Tickets: Sales begin Friday, September 13 through the Lobero Theatre Box Office: (805) 963-0761, lobero.org

 

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

Garrick-Ohlsson

GARRICK OHLSSON
© Dario Acosta

Title-Portrait-of-the-composer-Chopin

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
© Heritage Image Partnership Ltd

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025, 7:30PM

Garrick Ohlsson

piano

 

Single Tickets: Sales begin Friday, September 13 through the Lobero Theatre Box Office: (805) 963-0761, lobero.org

 

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 in B 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:

Bob Boghosian & Mary E. Gates Warren

Gilles-Apap

GILLES APAP
Photo Courtesy of the Artist

SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2025, 7:30PM

Gilles Apap

violin—and Friends!

 

Single Tickets: Sales begin Friday, September 13 through the Lobero Theatre Box Office: (805) 963-0761, lobero.org

 

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”

Works to-be-announced: by BRAHMS, Bartók, Enescu…and beyond!

Sponsor:

Anonymous

Co-Sponsor:

Jill Felber Bambach & Paul Bambach
Edward S. DeLoreto
Mahri Kerley

Yefim-Bronfman

YEFIM BRONFMAN
Photo by Frank Stewart

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2025, 7:30PM

Yefim Bronfman

piano

 

Single Tickets: Sales begin Friday, September 13 through the Lobero Theatre Box Office: (805) 963-0761, lobero.org

 

Twenty-six years after his March 1999 appearance in Masterseries, celebrated pianist Yefim Bronfman returns to the series with a program of pianistic fireworks. Bronfman, who immigrated from the Soviet Union to Israel and later the United States, honed his skills at prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he is now a staff member. (He performed with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra for CAMA in May 2023.) Renowned for his technical brilliance and profound musicality, Bronfman has built a distinguished international career featuring collaborations with the world’s premier orchestras. 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 in F Major, K332
DEBUSSY: Images, Book II
TCHAIKOVSKY: Grand Sonata in G Major, Op.37

Principal Sponsor:

Michele Neely Saltoun

Sponsor:

Alison & Jan Bowlus

Co-Sponsors:

Bob Boghosian & Mary E. Gates Warren
Nancy Wood, in honor of the CAMA Women’s Board