"An English Evening" in Santa Barbara

The Westmont Chamber Orchestra presents An English Evening Friday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort, and Sunday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church at Anapamu and Garden Streets. These performances are made possible in part by the generous support of Prudential California Realty.

The California premiere of Edward Green’s “Shakespeare Suite” highlights the concert program, along with “An English Suite” by Sir Charles Hubert Parry. Also featured are Edward Elgar’s “Sospiri” and George Butterworth’s “The Banks of Green Willow.”

Edward Green is an internationally-performed composer for chamber ensembles, chorus, symphony orchestra and solo instruments, as well as theatre and film. On the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, Green has numerous awards and publications to his credit and is an authority on interdisciplinary musicology.

“There is an elegance about this music that is reminiscent of an exquisite English garden,” says director Michael Shasberger. “Their music draws deeply on the character of English folk song and the idioms of the romantic musical tradition.”

Tickets are $5; students free. For information or reservations call (805)565-7140 or e-mail dgalvan@westmont.edu.