Piano titans join forces in Campbell Hall

Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman, two world famous classical pianists, take the stage together for a concert celebrating musical partnership and expressiveness at its finest at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 20, in UCSB Campbell Hall. Emanuel Ax is renowned for his technical gifts and his poetic temperament. Fellow Grammy Award-winning pianist Yefim Bronfman, an Avery Fisher Prize winner, is consistently praised for captivating performances. Their program includes Robert Schumann’s "Six Canonic Etudes," Claude Debussy’s "En blanc et noir," Maurice Ravel’s "La valse," and Igor Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring."

Emanuel Ax & Yefim Bronfman are presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KDB 93.7 FM Classical Music. Tickets are $50 for the general public and $17 for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show.

Camerata goes for baroque

The weekend’s concerts by the Camerata Pacifica will feature the return of baroque master, harpsichordist Corey Jamason, who will lead a program of works from the 17th and 18th centuries performed by a virtuoso ensemble that includes Zachary Isaac Carretin, Sarah Gillies, Cynthia Miller Freivogel, and Janet Worsley Strauss, violins, Suzanna Giordano, viola, Corey Jamason, harpsichord, Elisabeth Reed, baroque cello, and Shanon Zusman, violone.

The Camerata will play locally at 8 p.m. tonight, Friday, March 18, in Victoria Hall, Santa Barbara. The program will consist of G. F. Handel’s Concerto Grosso in d minor, Opus 6 No. 10, G. P. Telemann’s Concerto in E minor for Flute & Recorder, Francesco Gemiani’s Concerto Grosso "La Folia," and J. S. Bach’s "Brandenburg" Concerto No. 4 in G Major.

Tickets and other information about the Camerata are available at 884-8410.

Symphony explores classic roots

This weekend’s concerts by the Santa Barbara Symphony will comprise the last of this year’s "audition" by conductors hoping to succeed Gisele Ben-Dor as Music Director. This month’s candidate is Daniel Hege, who will conduct a program of classics and neo-classics in the Arlington at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 19, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20. The Symphony’s principal bassoonist Andrew Radford performs Mozart’s buoyant Bassoon Concerto-the composition that inspired Sergei Prokofiev to compose the concert’s opening work, Symphony No. 1, called the "Classical." The concert will conclude with one of the universally acknowledged pinnacles of the symphonic repertory, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E flat, Opus 55, known as the "Eroica."

For tickets to these concerts, call the Arlington box office at 963-4408. For tickets or information about the Symphony, call 898-9626.

Chamber Orchestra features oboist

Next Tuesday’s concert by the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra-8 p.m. March 22 in the Lobero Theater will spotlight the orchestra’s principal oboist Leslie Reed in a performance of Mozart’s Concerto for Oboe in C Major, K.285d.

The concert conducted by Music Director Heiichiro Ohyama will also include a performance of the Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor by Haydn called "Farewell," because during the last movement the players depart one by one, leaving the concertmaster (1st violinist) alone on stage performing a solo. T

The evening will conclude with Schubert’s early Symphony No. 1 in D Major, D. 82.

For tickets to this concert, contact the Lobero box office at 963-0761.

Grant Lee Phillips will Sing Like you-know-what

Grant Lee Phillips will headline the next Sings Like Hell- the devilish singer songwriter series that Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called "a valuable oasis in the middle of a pop scene too often dominated by spectacle." Opening the evening (8 p.m., Saturday, March 19 at the Lobero) will be Jake Armerding, a Boston singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who started out in the shadow of his father’s bluegrass music but soon became creatively eclectic.

Grant Lee Phillips had a successful run as the frontman and primary songwriter for the band Grant Lee Buffalo, touring the globe constantly between 1993 and 1999, when he changed directions to pursue a solo career. Grant has been workshopping his new material at Largo for the past year or so, writing songs and playing with different musicians. Both his live performances and his new record are getting rave reviews.

For tickets to this show, call the Lobero box office at 963-0761.

Spoken ‘Stories’ circle the Blarney stone

The upcoming performance of the "Speaking of Stories" group-8 p.m. Monday, March 20, in the Lobero Theater-will focus on the Emerald Isle, with readings of Brian Friel’s "Death of a Scientific Humanist," by Christina Allison, Frank O’Connor’s "The Duke’s Children," by George Bachman, Seumas MacManus’s "The Day of the Scholars," by Charles de L’Arbre, William Trevor’s "The Day We Got Drunk on Cake," by Joe Spano, and Sean O’Faolain’s " The Woman Who Married Clark Gable," by Anne Francis.

Tickets to this "Speaking of Stories" are available at the Lobero box office, 963-0761.

Courtesy Photo

Caption: Troubadour Grant Lee Phillips will play and sing at the Lobero.