Santa Barbara Music Club Free Concerts

On SATURDAY, May 5 at 3 p.m. the SANTA BARBARA MUSIC CLUB will present another program in its popular series of concerts of beautiful Classical music. This concert will be held at First United Methodist Church, 305 East Anapamu (at Garden), Santa Barbara. Admission is free.

One of the highlights of Santa Barbara Music Club’s concerts is the opportunity for audiences to hear great music from a variety of historical periods, with a diversity of musical forms, performed by excellent artists. This concert features music for violins, oboe, flute, and piano by Jean Marie Leclair, J.S. Bach, Henri Vieuxtemps, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Theobald Bohm, Claude Debussy, and Rhonda Larson.

Violinists Andrea Lárez and Marie Hebert will perform Jean Marie Leclair’s Sonata for Two Violins in E Minor, Op. 3, No. 2. Ms. Lárez will follow with two movements from J. S. Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B minor for Solo Violin.

Adelle Rodkey performs Henri Vieuxtemps’ Capriccio in C Minor, Op. 55. Originally written for solo viola, the work has been transcribed for oboe by Jessica Wilkins. Ms. Rodkey will also perform Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s Study No. 3.

Flutist Tracy Harris and pianist Svetlana Harris then take the audience to France and Germany, performing Claude Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie and A Beautiful Evening Star’s Farewell (Beau Soir), arranged for alto flute and piano by Todd Harris, and Theobald Boehm’s Grand Polonaise. The melody for Rhonda Larson’s Be Still My Soul is familiar to music lovers as the hymn used by Jean Sibelius in Finlandia. The melody is present throughout, though sometimes hidden in the texture.

The mission of the Santa Barbara Music Club is to contribute to the musical life of our community through the following:

•Presentation of an annual series of concerts, free to the public, featuring outstanding solo and chamber music performances by Performing Members and invited guests;
•Presentation of community outreach activities, including bringing great music to resi-dents of area retirement homes;
•Aiding and encouraging musical education by the disbursement of scholarships to tal-ented local music students.

For information on this or other Santa Barbara Music Club programs and performing artists, visit SBMusicClub.org.