SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS A 50th birthday bash Santa Barbara Symphony sails into fifth decade with Gisele Ben-Dor 1/21/03 By MICHAEL SMITH NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT Gisele Ben-Dor was in top form conducting the Santa Barbara Symphony in its 50th anniversary concerts last weekend at the Arlington Theatre. Using a pared-down ensemble of about 50, the same size as the symphony when it debuted at the Lobero Theatere in 1953, the current music director led warm, outgoing performances of a program that echoed without duplicating that first concert:  Handel, Hadyn, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens’s “Carnival of the Animals.” ................(Non-Eric text here)............. Actor Eric Stoltz, a native of Santa Barbara, joined in the celebration to narrate "The Carnival of the Animals." ................(Non-Eric text here)............. Mr. Stoltz gave a poised, good-natured reading of a new, often funny set of little poems to introduce each section (the writer not credited in the program). Anne Epperson and Mr. von Oeyen played two pianos with an endearing unanimity and the orchestra yielded numerous delightful effects:  three basses impersonating an elephant, clarinets in the side balconies as cuckoos, flutes as birds, and cellist Geoffrey Rutkowski playing "The Swan" with impeccable grace.
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	Great thanks to ND for providing the article!