A string quartet from the Santa Barbara Symphony performs for residents of the Maravilla senior living facility in Goleta, California. Photo by Kenneth Song
“COVID-19 has precluded the Santa Barbara Symphony from holding concerts this summer, but … this past weekend, the string quartet consisting of cellist Jonathan Flaksman, violist Diane Gilbert, and violinists Steve Zander and Yue Deng played in front of a limited audience at the Maravilla senior living community,” writes Josh Grega in Thursday’s (8/13) Santa Barbara News-Press (CA). “Interim CEO Kathryn Martin recalled seeing tears in the eyes of Maravilla residents.… ’Part of our mission is to connect the music and the symphony musicians to the community…. One way the symphony has brought music to the Santa Barbara community during the pandemic is its ‘Sundays with the Symphony’ series, 30-minute streamed video episodes featuring archival live performances by symphony musicians and interviews with them. The next installment in the series … on Aug. 23 [will] feature young musicians from the symphony’s Music Education Center [and] include an exclusive clip from ‘Hearing is Believing,’ a documentary by Lorenzo DeStefano about a collaboration between the Youth Symphony and local composer Rachel Flowers…. Given the current circumstances, Ms. Martin believes the role of music education in the Santa Barbara Symphony will only grow more significantly than it already is.”
