Music Academy of the West, Chaucer’s Books, the Santa Barbara Public Library and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History have teamed up to inspire discovery of the Civil War for adults and space exploration for families.
The academy’s presentation of the West Coast premiere of the opera “Cold Mountain” and the London Symphony Orchestra’s Voyager Family Concert have set the stage for book club discussions at Santa Barbara Public Library branches and movie screenings.
The events take place from June 7 through Aug. 4. Chaucer’s Books is the official bookseller for the academy’s 2019 Summer Festival.
The academy-related events start with “Cold Mountain,” the 2003 romantic Civil War drama starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger. The film will screen at 1 p.m. June 7 at the Central Library, 40 E. Anapamu St.
“Cold Mountain,” Charles Frazier’s 1997 book that inspired the movie, will be discussed at 11 a.m. June 8 at the Montecito Branch Library, 1469 East Valley Road, Montecito; 5:30 p.m. July 9 at the Central Library; 5:30 p.m. July 11 at the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, 540 W. Pueblo St; and 5:30 p.m. July 29 at the Carpinteria Branch Library, 5141 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria.
Alyssa Cole’s “An Extraordinary Union,” a 2017 book about a freed black woman who goes undercover as a slave, will be discussed at 5:30 p.m. July 2 at the Central Library.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000), starring George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as three escaped convicts in the deep South, will screen at 1 p.m. July 12 at the Central Library.
Zora Neale Hurston’s “Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo,” a 2018 book about a man taken from West Africa to Alabama as a slave more than 50 years after Congress outlawed the slave trade, will be discussed at 6 p.m. July 16 at the Central Library.
Finally, the Academy Festival Orchestra and the Vocal Institute Fellows will perform during the West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s opera “Cold Mountain” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2 and 2:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at The Granada, 1214 State St.
Ms. Higdon created the opera exclusively for the Music Academy of the West.
Tickets cost $10 to $100. To purchase, call The Granada at 899-2222 or go towww.granadasb.org.
For more information, go to www.musicacademy.org.
