Concert in Santa Barbara

For the penultimate stop on their 2026 West Coast Tour, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti traveled to sunny Santa Barbara and its historic Granada Theatre.

The Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara presented the Jan. 23 concert, which followed a bus ride along the coast from Palm Springs through Los Angeles. The CSO program consisted of works by Brahms, Stravinsky, Ravel and Verdi (the overture from Nabucco as an encore). The CSO and Muti previously performed at the Granada, named for the city in southern Spain, on Oct. 21, 2017, and Jan. 25, 2023.

A year-round tourist destination, Santa Barbara is known for its stellar weather, downtown beaches and Spanish-style architecture. Tourism brings more than $1 billion annually into the local economy. 

Built in 1924 as a Spanish Renaissance movie palace, the Granada has been key to Santa Barbara’s arts/entertainment scene for more than a century. Designed by Chicago-born architect Alexander Rosenthal (1889-1945), the theater anchors an eight-story office building downtown. It became known as Santa Barbara’s only "skyscraper” and remains the city’s tallest structure.

In 2003, after the Granada had experienced a few fallow decades, a campaign was launched to renovate the theater. It reopened March 6, 2008, with a larger stage and state-of-the-art sound and lighting. Today, the 1,500-seat theater welcomes Broadway productions, globally recognized musicians and local artists to its stage. It also serves as home to eight resident companies: American Theatre Guild, Santa Barbara Choral Society, Music Academy of the West, Opera Santa Barbara, State Street Ballet, Santa Barbara Symphony, UCSB Arts and Lectures and CAMA.

The Granada represents the crucial role that the performing arts play in defining the communal life of Santa Barbara and the central coastal region. 

Before the concert at the Granada, CSO musicians squeezed in some recreation, including pickleball and cycling, and sightseeing. Among the attractions: "Chromatic Gate,“ known as ”A Rainbow on Santa Barbara’s Waterfront.“ Designed by the Bauhaus-trained, Austrian-born artist Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) ”Chromatic Gate" was erected in 1991 as a memorial to Bayer, who, for his last decade, lived in nearby Montecito. The sculpture also has become a symbol of Santa Barbara’s artistic spirit. 

Next up: the tour finale concert in Costa Mesa on Jan. 24.