Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra—February 5, 2019—CAMA's International Series at The Granada Theatre—Centennial Season

After 32 years, the Los Angeles
Philharmonic returned to the
Granada stage for what would
be the highlight of the 2008
season and conductor Esa-Pekka
Salonen’s final Santa Barbara
performance.
Photo by David Bazemore
The exterior of the Granada Theatre as it stands today. CAMA Archives
Finally, near the end of 2005, decided this is a commitment I was willing to
ground was broken and the Granada make.”
went dark. Peter Frisch was executive With construction costs escalating,
director of the project; Phillips Metsch complications of a required earthquake retrofit,
Sweeney Moore was the architectural firm;
Roger Morgan was the theater consultant; and
David Conant of McKay Conant Hoover, Inc.
was brought on as acoustician. In December,
and specific requests from potential tenants,
who included the Santa Barbara Symphony,
Opera Santa Barbara, State Street Ballet,
Community Arts Music Association (CAMA),
the News-Press reported that Sara Miller and Music Academy of the West, the price
McCune, founding publisher and chairman of
SAGE Publications, had donated another $2.5
million to the cause. McCune said that she,
like many other art lovers, had been frustrated
by the inadequacy of local performing arts
facilities. “Both our local arts organizations
and touring artists deserve better,” she said. “I
tag for the project soared as well. In the end,
that tag reported a whopping $60 million,
but Santa Barbara had a spacious, first-rate,
beautifully renovated, technologically updated
new performing arts center. And best of all for
CAMA, the enlarged stage and the intricate
architectural/acoustical system designed by
architect Roger Phillips and acoustician David
Conant would assure that no orchestra would
ever again complain that they were playing into
a pillow!
On March 6, 2008, the Granada threw open
its doors for a Spanish-themed patron’s gala.
Santa Barbara Independent reviewer Charles
Donelan reported that from the red carpet
outside to the grand staircases that flank the
lobby, the space was packed with well-heeled
supporters sipping wine and greeting one
another enthusiastically. The opening night
performances of the Santa Barbara Choral
Society and Santa Barbara Symphony, as well
as that of renowned pianist Warren Jones, who
arrived on stage together with the Granada’s
brand new Steinway via the giant open elevator
of the orchestra pit, left the audience enthralled.
After intermission, Opera Santa Barbara and
State Street Ballet’s collaboration on the opera
Carmen was dazzling. “With the opening of this
Granada, a star theater has been born,” wrote
Donelan.
In February, Donelan had reported that
Stephen Cloud, who programmed for both CAMA
and the Lobero Theatre, believed that May 3
would be the real acid test for the room’s acoustics.
“Dave Conant, the principal acoustician,” Donelan
had said, “feels confident that the acoustic bumps
added to the walls and the oversized orchestra
shell will offset any issues raised by the structure
of the theater as a whole.”
Conant’s confidence was not overblown.
After the Los Angeles Philharmonic returned
to the Granada Theatre for the first time in
32 years on May 3, Donelan opined, “[It] was
easily the most anticipated event of the 2008
season thus far, and it more than lived up to
some very high expectations.” Not only was
this the first time the Philharmonic performed
at the new Granada, it was Music Director Esa-
Pekka Salonen’s last performance in Santa
Barbara. Donelan lauded the program devoted
to two monumental works, the Piano Concerto
No. 2 of Johannes Brahms and three selections
from Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner, and
ended by saying, “The piece, the orchestra, the
soloist, the conductor, and the room all came
together for an unforgettable experience….
The Granada is back, and the Los Angeles
Philharmonic has shown what majesty there is
to look forward to.” •
22 CENTENNIAL SEASON CELEBRATION CAMA AT THE GRANADA THEATRE - PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA 23