California Festival

In early November, musical organizations across California will join together for the California Festival, a music initiative showcasing the most compelling and forward-looking voices from throughout the world by performing works written within the past five years.

Led by the San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, with support from Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO), the Festival showcases California’s spirit of aesthetic adventure through music and the state’s reputation for creativity in the arts, technology and multiculturalism.

As part of the California Festival, San Diego Symphony will present a new work celebrating the renovated Jacobs Music Center hall from San Diego-resident Texu Kim and the West Coast Premiere of a new saxophone concerto by Billy Childs on November 4. Atlanta native, composer, curator and activist, Carlos Simon, will be featured on November 11 and 12, and the world premiere of Vladimir Tarnopolsky’s Danse Macabre will be on November 17 and 18.

Carlos Simon’s work spans many compositional styles, including jazz, gospel and contemporary classical music. A 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence-winner, Simon was commissioned by the San Diego Symphony to write a new work on the occasion of the reopening of the Jacobs Music Center.

Performed by orchestras in Russia, Europe and the U.S., Russian composer Vladimir Tarnopolsky’s compositions juxtapose euphony with sound and noise, using electronic and acoustic instruments. His new work, a dance of death, is a reflection of his personal response to the catastrophe that has overwhelmed the country of his birth (Ukraine) and the country where he has spent his adult life (Russia).

Also as part of the Festival, the November Family Concert showcases Because, A Symphony of Serendipity by Jessie Montgomery which brings to life Mo Willems' award-winning children’s book, Because. The book tells a powerful tale of how chance, discovery and persistence changed the life of a young girl.

AMERICAN MASTERPIECES: THE MUSIC OF DVOŘÁK AND DAWSON

Friday, Dec 1 & Saturday, Dec 2, 2023

Joshua Weilerstein, conductor

Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World” Conductor Joshua Weilerstein leads Dvořák’s enchanting Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” The composer reflected on his time in the United States, and inspired by Black spirituals and Native American music, Dvořák created a work filled with majestic fanfares and brilliant melodies. Just four decades later in 1934, the world premiere of William Dawson’s passionate Negro Folk Symphony brought a Carnegie Hall audience to its feet in enthusiastic applause. A critic in attendance called it “the most distinctive and promising American symphonic proclamation which has so far been achieved.”

BACH'S CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND OBOE

Saturday, Dec 9 & Sunday, Dec 10, 2023

Edo de Waart, conductor

Jeff Thayer, violin

Sarah Skuster, oboe

Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn

J.S. Bach: Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor

Fauré: Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande

Elgar: Enigma Variations

Principal Guest Conductor Edo de Waart leads this program filled with sounds that perfectly complement the beauty of December. Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe, adapted from a piece originally written for two harpsichords lost to the ages, was beautifully recreated to match Bach’s voice and intention. Its energetic melodies and harmonious duets have delighted audiences for centuries.

Lisiecki Plays Mozart

Saturday, Jan 13 & Sunday, Jan 14, 2024

Tianyi Lu, conductor Jan Lisiecki, piano

Anna Clyne: This Midnight Hour

Mozart: Piano Concerto in D minor

R. Strauss: Aus Italien

Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, whose style is lauded as “pristine, lyrical and intelligent” (The New York Times), takes the Jacobs Music Center stage to perform Mozart’s sublime Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor. Rising star conductor Tianyi Lu takes the podium for this program, which opens with Anna Clyne’s propulsive This Midnight Hour, inspired by the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez and Charles Baudelaire. Written when the composer was just 22 years of age, Aus Italien brings this mid-winter program to a close with Strauss' vivid depiction of the culture, landscape, and sunshine of Italy.

Hadelich Plays Sibelius

Friday, Jan 19; Saturday, Jan 20; Sunday, Jan 21, 2024

Paolo Bortolameolli, conductor

Augustin Hadelich, violin

Miguel Farías: Estallido

Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, “Pathétique”

Chilean conductor Paolo Bortolameolli opens this orchestral showcase with Chilean composer Miguel Farías’ brilliantly explosive Estallido. Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto presents an ambitious glimpse into the soul of a troubled composer. Grammy® Award-winning soloist Augustin Hadelich performs this intimate and demanding work. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”, completed just nine days before his death, punctuates the composer’s life with a soaring work filled with raw emotion, lush orchestration and graceful melodies.

Payare Leads Mozart And Bruckner

Friday, Jan 26 & Saturday, Jan 27, 2024

Rafael Payare, conductor

Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A Major

Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major

Music Director Rafael Payare takes the podium to lead two timeless masterworks by Mozart and Bruckner, composed more than one century apart. Mozart’s Symphony No. 29, a charming piece written during his time in Vienna, has delighted audiences since its premiere. The second half of the program features Bruckner’s transcendent Symphony No. 7, considered by many to be among the composer’s preeminent masterworks.

RAVEL, DEBUSSY AND ORTIZ

Friday, Feb 16 & Saturday, Feb 17, 2024

Sunday, Feb 18, 2024 (McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert)

Rafael Payare, conductor

Pacho Flores, trumpet

Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin

Gabriela Ortiz: Altar de bronce (West Coast Premiere, SDS Co-commission)

Ravel: La valse

Debussy: Images

Trumpeter Pacho Flores, praised by The San Diego Union-Tribune for “unwavering solidity of tone and comfortably switching between popular and classical styles of playing,” returns to San Diego to perform Altar de bronce by Mexican composer

Gabriela Ortiz. Music Director Rafael Payare leads this brilliant program that includes Ravel’s tender Le tombeau de Couperin and whirling La valse, and concludes with the fantastical sonic tapestry created by Debussy’s Images

SHAHAM PLAYS BATES' VIOLIN CONCERTO

Saturday, Feb 24 & Sunday, Feb 25, 2024

Rafael Payare, conductor

Gil Shaham, violin

Mason Bates: Violin Concerto (West Coast Premiere)

Wagner: Ring Without Words

Grammy® Award-winning violinist Gil Shaham returns to San Diego for the West Coast Premiere of Mason Bates’ Violin Concerto, an explosive work showcasing Bates’ masterful modern style. Music Director Rafael Payare leads this sonic expedition, which closes with Wagner’s Ring Without Words, an ingenious synthesis of the composers’ Ring cycle of operas, arranged by conductor Lorin Maazel. Ring Without Words invites listeners on an enchanting journey through the Rhine to Valhalla, soaring over hills, valleys and caves, with the flight of a Valkyrie.

Pictures At An Exhibition

Friday, Mar 1 & Saturday, Mar 2, 2024

Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Andrea Overturf, English horn

Barber: Second Essay for Orchestra

Rorem: Concerto for English Horn

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Pictures at an Exhibition invites you to see the world in sonic technicolor. Modest Mussorgsky composed the work in memory of a friend’s posthumous exhibit. From the opening

“Promenade” to the majestic “Great Gate of Kiev,” this masterpiece is one you don't just hear, you experience. French conductor Ludovic Morlot leads the program, which includes works from two venerable American composers: Ned Rorem’s Concerto for English Horn with Andrea Overturf, San Diego Symphohy's Dr. William and Evelyn Lamden English Horn Chair, and Samuel Barber’s lyrical Second Essay for Orchestra.