Holiday Pops

The saga of the Channel Islands Symphony began three years ago, when a group of local musicians got together with the notion of filling a perceived gap in Ventura County’s symphonic life, for listeners and musicians alike.

It was just after the 30-year-old Ventura County Symphony had disbanded, in a merger that begat the New West Symphony and left many local classical musicians without a performance outlet.

With the Channel Islands Symphony, early idealism failed to prevail over the harsh logistics of launching a new orchestra, and the first concert season had to be canceled. But the symphony at least enjoys a part-time existence, having come out to perform in Ojai for the Fourth of July holiday the past three years.

This year, the concert takes place Monday at Libbey Bowl, with conductor Nan Washburn returning for her third appearance with the orchestra. Washburn, who earned her master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and has won several ASCAP awards, is a Ventura native who played in the Ventura County Symphony and currently leads Orchestra Sonoma and the West Hollywood Orchestra.

In Ojai, she will preside over a program that leans toward the pops end of the musical spectrum. It will be a festive, culture-hopping occasion, from Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony to Sousa, Gershwin, Bernstein, and--in a nod to Hollywood--a John Williams medley and snippets from James Horner’s mega-hit score for “Titanic.”

The full-fledged orchestral ambitions of the Channel Islands Symphony may still be in the offing, but, for the moment, we have the holiday version to look forward to.

DETAILS

Channel Islands Symphony at 6 p.m. Monday at Libbey Bowl in Ojai. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 the day of the show for adults, and $10 in advance or $12 the day of the show for seniors. Children 17 and under are free. Call 646-3162 for more information.

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Academic Splendor: The Music Academy of the West, which offers that golden opportunity for locals to savor world-class music during the summer break, officially kicked off its concert component last weekend with typically casual brilliance. The occasion was the annual alumni benefit concert Saturday night at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, when a Music Academy veteran returned to town to be duly laureled.

This year, it was renowned accompanist Martin Katz, a dazzling pianist who, among other things, spent 32 years working with Marilyn Horne, one of the evening’s featured vocalists. The Horne connection is key here: Horne, who took over as vocal department head two years ago and instantly raised its global stature, has announced her retirement and will give what is reportedly her last public performance in Los Angeles this month.

Saturday at the Lobero, the mezzo-soprano gave impressive voice to five selections, including Rossini’s quirky “Adieux a la Vie,” a one-note melody over shifting piano chords.

That was the climax of a concert that Katz had programmed as a sampler plate of intriguing items. The modern spin on the ancient texts of Samuel Barber’s “Hermit Songs,” Opus 29, was sung by the formidable young soprano Isabel Baykrakdarian, a recent Music Academy graduate whose career is moving right along now.

On instrumental turf, there were piano-for-four-hands works by Faure and Poulenc, with Academy faculty member Russell Miller, and a set of Spanish vocal pieces arranged for clarinetist Fred Ormand, another Academy faculty member, with a characteristic command of his instrument. These teachers can play and then some, which makes chamber faculty concerts on Tuesday nights worth checking out.

To top things off on a note of kitschy comic relief, all the musicians came out for an encore of “So Long, Farewell” from “Sound of Music,” each musician singing a phrase before peeling off the stage.

The Music Academy concert roster continues Saturday at the Lobero with the first of several concerts by the Festival Orchestra, an ensemble made up of students but sounding like a crack outfit of professionals. On the menu is Mahler’s massive Symphony No. 7, conducted by Roberto Abbado. No pops for this unit.

DETAILS

Music Academy Festival Orchestra, Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido in Santa Barbara. Tickets are $23; 969-8787.

Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com.