Santa Barbara’s 2025 classical music beat commenced in strong early music mode, as if by design. Camera Pacifica opened the concert year door with a program of Bach — and Bach reinvented — featuring Baroque flute specialist Emi Ferguson and classical-jazz piano sensation Dan Tepfer at Hahn Hall. A few days later, the Baroque factor returned in grander scale, when the rightly renowned period instrument ensemble Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment filled the Lobero Theatre with its refined — and, when required, tastefully raucous — sound, joined by the luminous and adventure-game soprano Julia Bullock .
I was out of town for the CamBach evening, but very much plugged in and turned on by the Orchestra/Bullock performance, aptly dubbed “The Golden Age of the Baroque” and hosted by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Directed by violinist Kati Debretzeni , the orchestra stands up on the job and proudly adheres to the period instrument, period-style approach of early music practice, calling up a lean, propulsive, and yet, on its terms, sumptuous ensemble sound.
After opening with Handel’s “The Arrival of Queen of Sheba,” from the opera Solomon, the animated Debretzeni introduced us to her gift of gab with the comment, "Like the Queen of Sheba, we have arrived.” And just in time to stave off a growing hunger for live classical music in town after the long winter’s nap from concert action.