In a case of serendipitous schedule juggling, the masterful American pianist Garrick Ohlsson showed up for a “make-up” date at the Lobero Theatre last week after canceling his January performance due to illness, and the timing was unexpectedly august. With this late-breaking booking, Ohlsson’s profound all-Chopin program supplied a moving finale duty for the CAMA season, one more intimate and personal than the recent L.A. Philharmonic concert that would have closed out the 2024-25 roster.
Moreover, the timing of Ohlsson’s concert happened to offer a poetic sendoff to retiring CAMA director Mark Trueblood’s 27-year tenure at the head of this important music presenting organization in town. All was well, as if an intentional plan put into place by fate.
As a familiar preface to the music, Trueblood gave his final bow in the role of concert introducer, in his soft-spoken and articulate patois, mentioning that Ohlsson had been CAMA-hosted in Santa Barbara seven times in the past, including another all-Chopin recital in 1985.