Marilyn Horne & Barbara Cook
Bring Their Extraordinary Talents
to The Granada on May 17
For Immediate Release April 7, 2008
Contact:
Tim Dougherty
805.695.7908
Santa Barbara, CA – In a rare local pairing of bona fide international music legends, celebrated singers Marilyn Horne and Barbara Cook will share the stage in a joint recital at Santa Barbara's newly refurbished Granada theater on Saturday, May 17. Titled "Just Between Friends – Selections from the American Songbook," this remarkable event will take place at 4 pm. Tickets will cost $48 and $68 ($22 for UCSB students) and are available through the UCSB Arts & Lectures Ticket Office, 805.893.3535. More information is also available online at www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.
Performing solo and as a duet, Ms. Horne and Ms. Cook will apply their formidable talents to interpreting a collection of great American songs, many of them old favorites from stage and screen. These brilliant and beloved singers have jointly performed similar programs many times in the last decade at concert venues throughout the country, including Boston's Symphony Hall.
Renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne has won acclaim for "her staggering vocal and dramatic range, her commitment to opera's most demanding roles, and her technical virtuosity" (The Washington Post). In 2002, following a career that had seen her dominate her field for more than four decades, Opera News declared, "Marilyn Horne – whose face and song have been in the light – in so many places, in so many styles, through so many media, for so many years – may be the most influential singer in American history."
Ms. Horne has performed in more than 1,300 recitals, made well over 100 recordings, and received three Grammy Awards. Her most recent release, Marilyn Horne – Just for the Record: The Golden Voice, is a retrospective of her career and includes classical songs, opera, and American standards. All Through the Night, an album of lullabies from around the world, and O Holy Night: Christmas with Marilyn Horne and the Morman Tabernacle Choir were re-released in 2005. Ms. Horne has been a visiting professor at the University of Oklahoma for nine years, and holds similar positions at Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the University of Maryland at College Park. With her 60th birthday gala at Carnegie Hall in 1994, Ms. Horne launched the Marilyn Horne Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to the art of the vocal recital in the United States. A member of the Music Academy of the West faculty since 1995, she has directed the Academy's acclaimed Voice Program for 10 years.
Barbara Cook's silvery soprano, purity of tone, and warm presence have delighted audiences around the world for more than 50 years. Considered "Broadway's favorite ingénue" during the heyday of the Broadway musical, she was Leonard Bernstein's muse for the legendary role Cunegonde in Candide. Ms. Cook's many honors include Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk, and New York Drama Critics Circle awards, a citation as a Living New York Landmark, and her induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Her studio recordings include eight original cast albums; two Ben Bagley albums of songs by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin; an album entitled Songs of Perfect Propriety, featuring poems by Dorothy Parker set to music by Seymour Barab; and As Of Today on the Columbia label. Her most recent DRG recordings also include the Grammy nominated Count Your Blessings, a collection of traditional Christmas songs. Ms. Cook's three-night 80th birthday celebration last fall with the New York Philharmonic sold out Avery Fisher Hall.
Co-presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Music Academy of the West, the May 17 performance is being sponsored by Buttonwood Farms Winery, Fess Parker Double Tree Resort, and CASA Santa Barbara. It is also generously supported by Virginia Castagnola-Hunter. For information about a private post-concert dinner with the artists, call 805.893.3449.
UCSB Arts & Lectures provides UCSB and the surrounding community with a diverse array of cultural programming, each year presenting more than 100 events, including film screenings, lectures, and dance, theatrical, and musical performances. Arts & Lectures also manages UCSB's Regents' Lectureship Program and operates an artist-in-residence program featuring campus masterclasses, lecture-demonstrations, open rehearsals, and classroom discussions, in addition to visits to local elementary and high schools.
Founded in 1947, the Music Academy of the West is among the nation's preeminent summer schools and festivals for gifted young classical musicians. The Academy provides these promising musicians with the opportunity for advanced study and frequent performance under the guidance of internationally renowned faculty artists, as well as guest conductors and soloists. Academy alumni are members of major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university and conservatory faculties throughout the world. Many enjoy careers as prominent solo artists. Based in Santa Barbara, the Music Academy of the West presents more than 175 public events annually. For more information, visit www.musicacademy.org.
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