New Music Director Coverage: February through March by San Diego Symphony

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RUSSIA ALREADY AT WORK ON U.S. MIDTERMS

201 8 W I N T E R O LY M P I C S

Intel chiefs warn Moscow seeks to foment political, social strife BY MATTHEW ROSENBERG & CHARLIE SAVAGE WASHINGTON

Russia is already meddling in the midterm elections this year, the top U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday, warning that Moscow is using a digital strategy to worsen the country’s political and social divisions. Russia is using fake accounts on social media — many of them bots — to spread disinformation, the officials said. European elections are being targeted, too, and the attacks were not likely to end this year, they warned. “We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,” Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee at its annual hearing on worldwide threats. Coats and the other intelligence chiefs laid out a pair of central challenges for the SEE MEDDLING • A10

FBI DIRECTOR CONTRADICTS WHITE HOUSE ON FIRED AIDE Administration revises its story after Wray testifies to Congress

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Carlsbad’s Shaun White celebrates winning gold after a spectacular final run in the men’s snowboard halfpipe final at Phoenix Snow Park. He also took home gold in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

WHITE GOLD Carlsbad snowboard star makes history with medal

Medal count

BY MARK ZEIGLER

Norway

Netherlands

Canada

Germany

U.S.

BONGPYEONG-MYEUN, South Korea

One the eateries in this tiny hamlet in the Taebaek Mountains serves hamburgers. One is called the Shaun White. Its namesake tried one. “It was a magical moment,” he said.

Not quite as magical as what happened just up the hill in Phoenix Snow Park on Tuesday night, in the final of snowboard’s halfpipe at the Winter Olympics. It wasn’t that White won the gold medal; he’s done that twice before. It was where, when, why. How. “I had to dig deep for this one,” White said.

American snowboarder Jake Pates exhaled and tried to put into words what he just witnessed: “He’s a psycho. He’s really, really, really good, man. And he can turn it on when he has to, land it when it means something. I think the dude thrives on pressure, honestly. History shows that dude does good when it’s SEE WHITE • A6

Student wants class halted, says director unworthy of attention BY GARY ROBBINS

by going all out when time is on your side.

Once again, a free-speech controversy has erupted at an American university. This time, it’s UC San Diego. The fight involves Woody Allen. It involves the #MeToo movement as well as speech. And some of the main figures aren’t speaking freely. At least not at the moment. At the center of it all is Savanah Lyon, a 23-year-old theater major who is demanding that the campus stop teaching a course on Allen’s films because the director has been accused of, but never charged with, sexual abuse of his daughter. She believes he’s morally unworthy of the attention.

Rafael Payare, 37, will formally become the San Diego Symphony’s new music director on July 1, 2019. BENJAMIN EALOVEGA

FOOD

E 1 • Make up for the weekday crunch

Total

WOODY ALLEN AT CENTER OF FREE-SPEECH FIGHT AT UCSD

Orchestra. Payare has signed a fouryear contract, with options to renew, and it calls for him to conduct 10 weeks here each season. His salary was not disclosed. Payare will be the 15th conductor since 1910 to guide the symphony, which gained financial security in 2002 following a $120 million pledge from Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife, Joan. Payare is a product of El Sistema, the Venezuelan education program that trained his friend, fellow conductor Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the SEE PAYARE • A8

WEEKEND BREAKFASTS

The White House changed its story on Tuesday about how it handled allegations of spousal abuse against Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned in disgrace last week, as members of President Donald Trump’s team conceded that as long ago as last summer the FBI had told White House career officials — but not, the Trump team said, top advisers in the West Wing — about problems in Porter’s background check. The White House revised its version of events after testimony on Capitol Hill from FBI Director Christopher Wray contradicted earlier and shifting claims from the West Wing. At a previously scheduled Senate hearing on Tuesday about threats against the United States, Wray, in response to a question about SEE PORTER • A11

D 1 • Controversy has caught up to decorated U.S. skater Shani Davis.

37-year-old Venezuelan native one of the most sought-after conductors worldwide Rafael Payare, one of the classical music world’s most charismatic and acclaimed young conductors, has been selected as the San Diego Symphony’s next music director, the orchestra announced Tuesday. The 37-year-old Venezuela native will succeed Jahja Ling, who last year concluded his 13th and final season with the symphony. Payare, now music director-designate, will formally assume his role as music director July 1, 2019. Payare will continue in his current role as music director of Northern Ireland’s Ulster

WASHINGTON

Complete medal list on page D4.

SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY PICKS RAFAEL PAYARE AS MUSIC DIRECTOR BY GEORGE VARGA

BY JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS & MICHAEL D. SHEAR

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Lyon created an online petition to pressure the campus. So far, it’s drawn about 15,000 signatures and generated a considerable amount of publicity and news coverage. “When you have a class that has Woody Allen in the title, you’re saying something to (sexual abuse) survivors everywhere — that once again these abusers are being put up on pedestals they don’t deserve,” Lyon said. The university — which trumpets the value of free speech on its website — has decided to say almost nothing about the issue. Steven Adler, the prizewinning theater professor who teaches the Woody Allen course, did not respond to requests for an interview. Nor did Cristina Della Coletta, dean of the Division of Arts and HumanSEE SPEECH • A9

THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

Meet Rafael Payare

WEDNESDAY • FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Payare will be the 15th conductor since 1910, replacing Jahja Ling after 13 seasons.

The San Diego Symphony’s new music director

Payare is married to cellist Alisa Weilerstein. When not embarked on concert tours, they live in Berlin with their young daughter.

He is a product of the same Venezuelan education program, El Sistema, as Gustavo Dudamel, the 37-yearold music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He has conducted some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The 37-year-old Venezuela native has signed a four-year contract. It calls for him to conduct 10 weeks here each season.

PAYARE FROM A1 Los Angeles Philharmonic. Payare made his debut with the San Diego Symphony weeks ago as part of the “It’s About Time” festival. He served as guest conductor for the “Fascinating Rhythm” concerts Jan. 13-14 that featured Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, Berlioz’s Roman Carnival and the San Diego debut of Roberto Sierra’s Percussion Concerto, a showcase for San Diego percussion master Steven Schick. From the opening bars of the Berlioz, which Payare conducted from memory without using a score, his command of the music was palpable. So was the strong chemistry he had with the orchestra, which soared in unison with him. “I knew Rafael was the one right then, with the Berlioz,” said symphony CEO Martha Gilmer, who first heard Payare conduct in 2015 at the Aspen Festival in Colorado. “There was a beautiful clarity and sound of the orchestra, a unanimity of approach and an assurance and confidence. Rafael is great. He’s thoughtful, very funny, engaging and an ex-

tremely refined musician. I think it’s going to be a terrific fit for our orchestra, our city and region. “What drew us to him, first and foremost, was the quality of his music-making. There are other components to that, including finding musicians to fill vacancies, as they occur. So that will create the dynamic and sound of the orchestra, and Rafael will have a discerning role in that, without question,” she said. “I’m also excited by the fact that he is Latin American and he’s spent a lot of his professional life in Europe. He brings a lot to our city and we talked about the binational work we want to continue doing. He has an international perspective — and we are an international city — and that can only benefit the orchestra and the citizens here.” Gilmer’s enthusiasm is shared by Dr. Warren Kessler, the symphony’s chairman of the board, which he joined in 1981. Along with Gilmer, he was one of the nine members of symphony’s search committee, which unanimously selected Payare. Kessler and Gilmer heard him conduct at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles before his San Diego debut, and in Chi-

cago after Payare’s January concerts here. “I think this is a seminal event for the San Diego Symphony — it’s that special,” Kessler said. “It’s a tremendous coup for the symphony, because we’re hiring an internationally recognized conductor who has conducted virtually all the great orchestras of the world and is in a key formative period of his career. I think his selection will reap huge benefits for the symphony and San Diego.” In an intriguing coincidence, Payare is married to noted cellist Alisa Weilerstein, whose brother, conductor Joshua Weilerstein, was one of the initial eight candidates considered to replace Ling as the symphony’s music director. In another coincidence, Alisa Weilerstein tours the world performing with pianist Inon Barnatan, who last week was named the new music director of the La Jolla Music Society’s annual SummerFest. When not on the road, Payare and his wife live in Berlin with their young daughter. Speaking from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he sounded both elated and humbled about his new position in San Diego. “Every single thing is

aligned in the right way,” he said. “The chemistry with the orchestra and the plans they have with the community and to develop as an arts organization are all aligned with me. “Now is when the fun begins! What has the orchestra achieved in the past, and what do we want to do to-

The symphony did not rush into its search to find a new music director, devoting more than two years to its quest to find the ideal conductor to guide and help shape the orchestra. Gilmer and Kessler were part of a nine-person search committee, which included three performing members

“Every single thing is aligned in the right way. The chemistry with the orchestra and the plans they have with the community and to develop as an arts organization are all aligned with me.” Rafael Payare, music director-designate of the San Diego Symphony gether? What kind of repertoire do we want to do? I know they have not done any cycles (of works by revered composers), and I think that is very important. We have to think about how we do it and how we keep developing the sound and vision that is already here, but also to make the view — and the repertoire — larger, many things. Now we’ll start talking and making plans.”

of the orchestra, three symphony board members and three staff members. Their search extended across North America to Europe and back. It included nearly 20 guest conductors who led the symphony in concerts here, including Holland’s Edo de Waart, Romania’s Cristian Macelaru, Mexico’s Carlos Miguel Prieto and New York-born Karina Canellakis.

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“My approach was to look at a broad range of conductors from all over the world, at various stages in their career, just to see what was the best match,” Gilmer said. “It’s really about (them having) chemistry with an orchestra. I thought we had spectacular people coming here over the past two and a half years. And when you look back, it’s a time of change and also growth for the orchestra to be exposed to that many musical points of view — and also for an audience to hear and experience that. So the process is vitally important.” Payare often conducts from memory to remove barriers between him and the orchestra he is leading. Yet, while he thrives on the concert stage, he is equally excited about the work that goes into planning each season of music. “That’s the most fun part,” he said. “Because you put together the skeleton of how to develop, and — at the same time — you have to offer a balance for the audience. We need to develop at the same time as the orchestra and make it appealing to listeners. This is just the beginning of the ride.”

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