Santa Barbara’s current wave of Beethoven-mania continues in the new year as the Santa Barbara Symphony (SBS) prepares for its two-day Beethoven Piano Concerto Marathon. In separate programs on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, January 17 and 18, The Granada Theatre will be the home base for all five of Beethoven’s legendary concertos, featuring gifted young pianists on the rise, if not of the household name status, yet.
This comes in the midst of a presumably coincidental convergence of Beethoven focus in town this season. It could be said to have begun with Jeremy Denk’s Beethoven+ trio of recitals during last summer’s Music Academy of the West festival, continuing with Camerata Pacifica’s current cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas (including the upcoming Friday, January 16, program at Hahn Hall) and in famed virtuoso Víkingur Ólafsson’s Hammerklavier sonata–centered recital at Campbell Hall last fall.
Moving on to the concerto portion of this unofficial Beethoven tribute season, Santa Barbara Symphony maestro Nir Kabaretti — currently in his 20th season at the SBS helm — has curated the marathon in a thematic rather than chronological fashion. On the Saturday-night menu, Beethoven’s Egmont overture serves as the introductory course leading concertos No. 3 and 4. Sunday’s program is a meaty portion, with No. 1 followed by No. 2, and logically finishing off with No. 5.