Students from the UC Santa Barbara Chamber Choir meet with Sorensen Director of Choral Music Dr. Nicole Lamartine over Zoom in Fall 2020 (Dr. Nicole Lamartine pictured second from left in top row)
Fall 2020 Virtual Concert Series Choirs, Ensemble for Contemporary Music, Chamber Players, and Chamber Orchestra present virtual offerings Faced with another quarter of remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, directors of the Department of Music’s chamber and large ensembles found creative ways to share the work of their students with new virtual audiences. By compiling pre-recorded performances from their students, directors were able to create virtual concerts and multi-media programs that were shared as YouTube Premieres on the Department of Music’s YouTube channel. Under the direction of Dr. Nicole Lamartine, the Sorensen Director of Choral Music, the UC Santa Barbara Choirs presented a special multi-media concert, titled “Home: A Postcard from UCSB Choirs,” on December 7, 2020. For her first concert at UC Santa Barbara, Dr. Lamartine crafted a program of singing, poetry, and visuals representing the idea of what “home” means to us in this tumultuous time. The video included testimonials from students, plus performances by the UC Santa Barbara Chamber Choir, led by Dr. Lamartine, and Lumina (formerly the UC Santa Barbara Women’s Chorus), led by David Torres, a Doctor of Musical Arts student in Choral Conducting. By including music from a wide array of cultures from around the world—including music from Basque Country, Northern Mexico, Moldova, Hawaii, and Bluegrass music from the Appalachian region in the United States—the UC Santa Barbara Choirs hoped to offer a sense of belonging to all through their culture of singing. View the full concert on YouTube here. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Winter 2021 Newsletter | 13
