Opera Santa Barbara will present three productions this season each with a different conductor on the podium. First up in November is Puccini’s enduring love story, La Boheme at the Granada. Conducted by the Artistic Director of Opera Cleveland, Dean Williamson, OSB is pleased to welcome the return of the lovely soprano 
Rebecca Davis (Mimi), who triumphed in its production of La Traviata last season, along with baritone Malcolm MacKenzie (Marcello) who earned rave reviews as Germont in that same production.
In March, Opera Santa Barbara presents The Marriage of Figaro with Maestro Valery Ryvkin returning to conduct the OSB orchestra. Enter the Count and Countess Almaviva, Figaro, and Susanna, toss in an amorous teenager, a scheming old maid, a tipsy gardener and a silly young girl, and you have Mozart’s madcap The Marriage of Figaro. Interspersing mistaken identities and plot twists, Mozart deftly maintains a balance between drama and comedy as the wiley Figaro outwits his lecherous master in one “folle journée” – one crazy day! With its brilliant, shimmering score and one breathtaking aria after another, The Marriage of Figaro is Mozart at the height of his genius.
OSB’s third offering this season is their debut production of Gluck’s mythical Orphee et Eurydice. Mezzo-soprano Layna Chianakas, an outstanding Santuzza in OSB’s Cavalleria Rusticana (2008), returns to sing the title role in Orphée et Eurydice; soprano Marnie Brekendridge (Eurydice) recently made critically-acclaimed European and Asian debuts as Cunegonde in Candide and debuted the role of La Princesse in Philip Glass’s Orphée. Audiences will experience OSB Artistic Director José Maria Condemi’s deft hand as stage director for this production. Conducting honors go to West Bay Opera’s General and Artistic Director Jose Luis Moscovich. For more information, please call 805-898-3890 or visit OperaSB.org.
