Opera Santa Barbara Board Member Daniel Reicker has died. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Reicker worked for one of Santa Barbara’s top law firms. He became a member of Opera Santa Barbara’s Board of Directors for 25 years, serving as the company’s in-house legal counsel, and as a member of the {…}
A series of budget bills signed on July 1 restores the $11.5 million for the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund that Governor Newsom proposed to cut in the May revise. This funding will now go to small budget nonprofit performing arts organizations across the state for payroll subsidies to support arts jobs. Over $40 million in applications were received for {…}
Opera Santa Barbara has announced its 2025-26 season. First up is “Cavalleria Rusticana,” starring Sarah Saturnino, Xavier Prado, and Todd Thomas. Artistic and General Director Kostis Protopapas conducts, and Layna Chianakas directs. Cast Change (6/17/25) – The company announced that Sarah Saturnino, who is expecting, is no longer performing the role of Santuzza in these performances. In her stead, Max {…}
Opera Santa Barbara announced a special bequest and a new grant. First up, the organization revealed a new program funded by Philanthropists Sarah and Roger Chrisman. The “Chrisman Emerging Artists Fund” will replace the Studio Artists program, which finances the advancement of the careers of alumni of that program and other young artists through principal roles in mainstage operas. Additionally, {…}
(Photo credit: Dune Alford & Fay Fox) Opera Santa Barbara has released its lineup for the 2024-25 season. All productions are held in the Lobero Theatre. Tenor Robert Stahley and soprano Alaysha Fox star as Canio and Nedda in “Pagliacci.” The new production is inspired by neorealist Italian cinema by Octavio Cardenas and Daniel Chapman, the creative team behind “Zorro” {…}
Opera Santa Barbara has announced that it will give free tickets for audience members ages eight to 18 for its upcomng season, which includes four productions. Per an official press release, audience members ages eight through 15 must be acompanied by a paying adult. Additionally, there will be two free Young Patron tickets for each paying adult. Meanwhile, attendees aged {…}
Opera Santa Barbara has announced its 2023-24 season. “As we look forward to our 30th anniversary season, nothing makes me happier than to be able to announce that we will be returning to a two performance schedule for our Mainstage operas”, said Artistic and General Director Kostis Protopapas in an official press statement issued by the comapny. “While the environment {…}
Opera Santa Barbara has announced that two board members will be stepping down. The company said that Mary Tonetti Dorra is retiring after six years, and Joan Rutkowski is taking a year off due to board term limits. Dorra, originally elected to the board in 2016, is also an author and former University of California instructor who has supported numerous {…}
Opera Santa Barbara closes its 2022-2023 season with “The Valkyrie” (“Die Walküre”) on April 23, 2023, at the Lobero Theater. The opera from Wagner’s epic Saga, “The Ring of the Nibelung,” will be presented in an abridged version created by composer Jonathan Dove and stage director Graham Vick. The opera will be sung in German with a translation projected on {…}
On February 18, 2023, Opera Santa Barbara will present the California premiere of “An American Dream” by Jack Perla and Jessica Murphy Moo. Set in the Pacific Northwest during World War II, the work follows the lives of two women, one is a Japanese American removed from her home, the other a German Jewish immigrant concerned for those she left {…}
Opera Santa Barbara has announced the addition of a musical to its 2023 season. The company will now present four performances of “The Light in the Piazza” on March 23-26, 2023. The production will star Matthew Greenblatt and Brooklyn Snow. It will be directed by Layna Chianakas, who previously directed “Speed Dating Tonight” last season as well as “Tosca.” Principal {…}