The Santa Barbara Symphony is a professional symphony orchestra and register 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Santa Barbara, California. The orchestra was founded in 1953. Music directors have included (1960–1967), who also taught piano at the University of California, Santa Barbara, (1967–1979), who taught conducting at UCSB, (1979–1984), Varujan Kojian (1985–93), Gisele Ben-Dor (1994–2005), and Nir Kabaretti (2006–present). In the 1990s the orchestra began releasing recordings, including CDs of works by Silvestre Revueltas, Astor Piazzolla, Luis Bacalov and Heitor Villa-Lobos.