Orchestra

The Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre Orchestra is put together every year by Maestro Granger, with the assistance of the Orchestra Manager, Norman Peck. Norman himself is a local musician who has been with this production since Robert Kelley and Diane Cypher, Co-Artistic Directors of SCBT, moved their Nutcracker to the Civic Auditorium in 2006. And he states that even after all these years, playing the Nutcracker music is still something he looks forward to.

John Larry Granger has been the Music Director/Conductor of the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre Orchestra for over a decade and has been the Music Director of the Santa Cruz County Symphony for over two decades.

Maestro Granger has been a featured guest conductor with the New Haven Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, and Springfield Symphony, among others. served for nine years as the Music Director of the South Coast Symphony Orchestra in Costa Mesa and was the conductor of the Pomona College Orchestra from 1989-91. His theatre production work has included Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, for which he received the Drama Logue Award for Musical Direction.

Deeply devoted to music education, Granger conducts the orchestras of Youth Music Monterey and conducted the Santa Cruz County Youth Symphony for many years. He also served as conductor for the Evening of Concertos, a series of professional symphony concerts featuring young solo artists at Herbst Theater in San Francisco.

Mr. Granger attended the International Institute for Orchestral Conducting from 1979-81 and did private study in Dresden with Herbert Blomstedt, Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony. Born in New York, Granger began his career as an oboist and English horn player. Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre is honored to have the renowned Maestro Granger as the Music Director/Conductor who is acknowledged for his artistic depth.

Co-Artistic Director Diane Cypher says that adding live music to the production has changed everything about the performance for the dancers.  “They are so very fortunate to have the experience of waiting for the conductor's downbeat before they start to dance and making eye contact with him on certain phrases for tempo. It is a thrilling experience for them and contributes to the electricity of live performance.” Diane also notes that, “A great dance conductor (which Maestro Granger indeed is) creates nuances which impacts each dancer's performance.” Co-Artistic Director Robert Kelley agrees and adds that there is no doubt that the orchestra brings the story to life in a way that a recording cannot. The fact that the audience can both listen to and watch the musicians along with the dancers makes the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre production even more compelling, especially for children.