Music has the extraordinary ability to tell stories that resonate deeply within us. A symphonic masterpiece can transport us to far off lands, evoke cherished memories, or even reveal truths about ourselves that words cannot express. A single melody can evoke the joy of a sunrise, the depth of human longing, or the triumph of overcoming great odds. In short, music invites us to imagine and feel deeply.
This season, our repertoire is rich with storytelling, spanning centuries and genres. From the stirring drama of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle to the evocative fairytale lands of Debussy’s The Joyful Isle and Ravel’s The Child and the Magical Spells, from the power and majesty of Holst’s The Planets to Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition, every piece is a narrative waiting to be discovered.
In addition to favorite artists that you’ve heard in San Diego before, we’ll collaborate with 14 artists making their San Diego Symphony debut, and the orchestra will perform 11 works never before played by the orchestra, including John Adams’ Century Rolls, a piano concerto inspired by player pianos; Lera Auerbach’s Icarus, inspired by the myth of the winged boy who dared to fly too close to the sun; and Adam Schoenberg’s Cool Cat, a playful and celebratory work inspired by the extraordinary life of P-22, the mountain lion that captured the heart of Los Angeles and beyond.
Through these performances, we hope to connect with you in profound ways, creating shared experiences that linger long after the final note has been played. Music reminds us that, no matter our differences, we all share a common humanity—a truth that becomes all the more poignant when we gather to listen together.
Rafael Payare, conductor Liv Redpath, soprano San Diego Symphony Chorus Gerard McBurney, director
Additional artists to be announced. San Diego Symphony Orchestra
DEBUSSY: The Joyful Isle (L'isle joyeuse), L. 106
DEBUSSY (orch. Caplet): The Box of Toys (La boîte à joujoux)
RAVEL: The Child and the Magical Spells: a lyric fantasy in two scenes (L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties)
A glorious and theatrical celebration of the light and enchantment of France and French music, beginning with Debussy’s evocation of a journey to a mysterious island of love, and his witty and charming ballet score for children about the adventures of a box of toys. The program ends with a brilliantly colorful and delightful semi-staging of Ravel’s immortal and much-loved comic fantasy about a naughty child whose toys come to life to punish him.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
LERA AUERBACH: Icarus
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32
A concert about the skies above us, beginning with Lera Auerbach’s cinematic description of the Ancient Greek mythological hero Icarus who killed himself by flying too close to the sun, followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’s most popular piece, The Lark Ascending, a miniature violin concerto in which the soloist represents a tiny skylark on a spring day, flying higher and higher into the heavens and pouring out their love in cascades of folk-inspired melody. The concert ends with Gustav Holst’s evergreen and spectacular orchestral suite The Planets, describing the seven planets of ancient astrology, each with their own mysterious properties which shape our human lives and characters.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
MAHLER: Selections from The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” in E-flat Major, WAB 104
Few literary works had as significant an influence throughout the 19th century as The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); its mix of everyday experience and the supernatural and bizarre were a perfect match for the Romantic movement. Mahler, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, used these texts as the basis for his own creation, evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Bruckner’s spacious symphonies are filled with images of the countryside and high mountains of his native Austria; his Symphony No. 4 “Romantic” is especially loved for its magnificent writing for the horns, using these instruments to suggest wild huntsmen riding across a landscape.
Gustav Mahler was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, his beautiful melodies evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Mahler’s much-loved teacher was Anton Bruckner whose gloriously spacious symphonies are filled with images of the green countryside and high mountains of his native Austria.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D 944, "The Great"
From Schubert in the early 19th century to Sibelius 100 years later, the Romantic composers were fascinated by the strange and the exotic, by the unfamiliar and the otherworldly. Mendelssohn travelled to the remote Atlantic islands of Scotland where he was inspired to write his Hebrides overture, mimicking the sound of the sea and the wailing of ancient bagpipes. In his violin concerto, Sibelius caught the incantations of Finnish folk music and the wailing of wind in the northern forests. And Schubert’s last and greatest symphony was considered so long and so strange by his contemporaries, it lay unperformed for years. Now it is one of the central works of Western classical music. As Robert Schumann wrote, after its first performance: “This symphony opens an entirely new world to us, producing such an effect on us as none has produced since Beethoven”.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
ADAM SCHOENBERG: Cool Cat
JOHN ADAMS: Century Rolls
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
An exuberant celebration of music by three composers, all of whom came from elsewhere to live in California. The youngest, Massachusetts-born Adam Schoenberg, is famous for his ability to meld popular idioms into energetic pieces for classical audiences and Cool Cat is no exception. This delightful fanfare of an overture celebrates the life of P-22, the world-famous mountain lion who lived for a decade in the hills above Los Angeles. John Adams, one of the most renowned American composers, wrote his piano concerto Century Rolls in the 1990s as a celebration of the great age of American player-piano recordings a century ago by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin. Russian-born Rachmaninoff himself spent much of the last quarter century of his life in the US, becoming a citizen and owning homes in New York and Los Angeles. Rachmaninoff was a huge admirer of American popular music and in the last movement of his Third Symphony we can hear his delight in Hollywood film-music and especially the movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture Op. 62
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in F Major, Op. 68
Trevor Pinnock, one of the great masters of Baroque and Classical music in our age, and Alexandra Dovgan, a young pianist already celebrated across the world for the majesty and beauty of her playing, join the Orchestra together for the first time for a glorious all-Beethoven program, filled with high drama, hope and nobility. After the tragic grandeur of the Coriolan Overture come two of Beethoven’s greatest and most uplifting masterpieces: the “Emperor” Concerto and the Seventh Symphony, both pieces of overwhelming power and invention.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Perú Negro
BERG: Violin Concerto
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” in A minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18
Three works inspired in very different ways by folk music and the mix of different cultures. Perú Negro (Black Peru), by San Diego Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López, was composed in 2012, and in the words of the composer “shows my Afro-Peruvian roots” while celebrating the exuberant fusion of African and Latin elements in the popular music of his native land. Alban Berg’s last completed work, his mystical Violin Concerto, was written in 1935 “to the memory of an angel”. The angel was Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler (by her second husband) who had died a few months earlier at the age of 18. Berg includes in his concerto a beautiful folk-tune from the Southern Austrian Catholic region of Carinthia, and a haunting old German Protestant hymn-tune, which Bach had used several times. Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, like his Hebrides Overture, was inspired by his youthful trip to Scotland where the young Berliner was overwhelmed by the feeling of a haunting and ancient culture. In his symphony we hear echoes of Scottish traditional music for bagpipes, fiddles and harps, the skipping rhythms of Scottish folk dancing, and Romantic impressions of ruined medieval castles and monasteries.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & E packages.
R. STRAUSS: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
BARTÓK: Bluebeard’s Castle
Our season ends with two of the most spectacular and orchestrally overwhelming scores from the late romantic period: Richard Strauss’s epic tone-poem Also sprach Zarathustra, inspired by Nietzsche’s account of the deep meditations of the half- mythical Persian hermit-philosopher Zoroaster; and Bartók’s dramatic fantasy Bluebeard’s Castle, based on the ancient fairy-tale about a young woman who marries a mysterious aristocrat and discovers that he has terrible secrets kept behind locked doors.
Both these magnificent works use extreme and glittering orchestral colors to represent the real colors of the world and the cosmos – dawn, sunlight, vast mountain views, sunset and the darkest night. And both are perfectly suited to our fabulous new acoustic in the Jacobs Music Center, and the beauty of the inside of our hall.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor Liv Redpath, soprano San Diego Symphony Chorus Gerard McBurney, director
Additional artists to be announced. San Diego Symphony Orchestra
DEBUSSY: The Joyful Isle (L'isle joyeuse), L. 106
DEBUSSY (orch. Caplet): The Box of Toys (La boîte à joujoux)
RAVEL: The Child and the Magical Spells: a lyric fantasy in two scenes (L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties)
A glorious and theatrical celebration of the light and enchantment of France and French music, beginning with Debussy’s evocation of a journey to a mysterious island of love, and his witty and charming ballet score for children about the adventures of a box of toys. The program ends with a brilliantly colorful and delightful semi-staging of Ravel’s immortal and much-loved comic fantasy about a naughty child whose toys come to life to punish him.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
MAHLER: Selections from The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” in E-flat Major, WAB 104
Few literary works had as significant an influence throughout the 19th century as The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); its mix of everyday experience and the supernatural and bizarre were a perfect match for the Romantic movement. Mahler, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, used these texts as the basis for his own creation, evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Bruckner’s spacious symphonies are filled with images of the countryside and high mountains of his native Austria; his Symphony No. 4 “Romantic” is especially loved for its magnificent writing for the horns, using these instruments to suggest wild huntsmen riding across a landscape.
Gustav Mahler was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, his beautiful melodies evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Mahler’s much-loved teacher was Anton Bruckner whose gloriously spacious symphonies are filled with images of the green countryside and high mountains of his native Austria.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
ADAM SCHOENBERG: Cool Cat
JOHN ADAMS: Century Rolls
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
An exuberant celebration of music by three composers, all of whom came from elsewhere to live in California. The youngest, Massachusetts-born Adam Schoenberg, is famous for his ability to meld popular idioms into energetic pieces for classical audiences and Cool Cat is no exception. This delightful fanfare of an overture celebrates the life of P-22, the world-famous mountain lion who lived for a decade in the hills above Los Angeles. John Adams, one of the most renowned American composers, wrote his piano concerto Century Rolls in the 1990s as a celebration of the great age of American player-piano recordings a century ago by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin. Russian-born Rachmaninoff himself spent much of the last quarter century of his life in the US, becoming a citizen and owning homes in New York and Los Angeles. Rachmaninoff was a huge admirer of American popular music and in the last movement of his Third Symphony we can hear his delight in Hollywood film-music and especially the movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Perú Negro
BERG: Violin Concerto
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” in A minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18
Three works inspired in very different ways by folk music and the mix of different cultures. Perú Negro (Black Peru), by San Diego Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López, was composed in 2012, and in the words of the composer “shows my Afro-Peruvian roots” while celebrating the exuberant fusion of African and Latin elements in the popular music of his native land. Alban Berg’s last completed work, his mystical Violin Concerto, was written in 1935 “to the memory of an angel”. The angel was Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler (by her second husband) who had died a few months earlier at the age of 18. Berg includes in his concerto a beautiful folk-tune from the Southern Austrian Catholic region of Carinthia, and a haunting old German Protestant hymn-tune, which Bach had used several times. Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, like his Hebrides Overture, was inspired by his youthful trip to Scotland where the young Berliner was overwhelmed by the feeling of a haunting and ancient culture. In his symphony we hear echoes of Scottish traditional music for bagpipes, fiddles and harps, the skipping rhythms of Scottish folk dancing, and Romantic impressions of ruined medieval castles and monasteries.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & E packages.
LERA AUERBACH: Icarus
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32
A concert about the skies above us, beginning with Lera Auerbach’s cinematic description of the Ancient Greek mythological hero Icarus who killed himself by flying too close to the sun, followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’s most popular piece, The Lark Ascending, a miniature violin concerto in which the soloist represents a tiny skylark on a spring day, flying higher and higher into the heavens and pouring out their love in cascades of folk-inspired melody. The concert ends with Gustav Holst’s evergreen and spectacular orchestral suite The Planets, describing the seven planets of ancient astrology, each with their own mysterious properties which shape our human lives and characters.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D 944, "The Great"
From Schubert in the early 19th century to Sibelius 100 years later, the Romantic composers were fascinated by the strange and the exotic, by the unfamiliar and the otherworldly. Mendelssohn travelled to the remote Atlantic islands of Scotland where he was inspired to write his Hebrides overture, mimicking the sound of the sea and the wailing of ancient bagpipes. In his violin concerto, Sibelius caught the incantations of Finnish folk music and the wailing of wind in the northern forests. And Schubert’s last and greatest symphony was considered so long and so strange by his contemporaries, it lay unperformed for years. Now it is one of the central works of Western classical music. As Robert Schumann wrote, after its first performance: “This symphony opens an entirely new world to us, producing such an effect on us as none has produced since Beethoven”.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture Op. 62
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in F Major, Op. 68
Trevor Pinnock, one of the great masters of Baroque and Classical music in our age, and Alexandra Dovgan, a young pianist already celebrated across the world for the majesty and beauty of her playing, join the Orchestra together for the first time for a glorious all-Beethoven program, filled with high drama, hope and nobility. After the tragic grandeur of the Coriolan Overture come two of Beethoven’s greatest and most uplifting masterpieces: the “Emperor” Concerto and the Seventh Symphony, both pieces of overwhelming power and invention.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
R. STRAUSS: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
BARTÓK: Bluebeard’s Castle
Our season ends with two of the most spectacular and orchestrally overwhelming scores from the late romantic period: Richard Strauss’s epic tone-poem Also sprach Zarathustra, inspired by Nietzsche’s account of the deep meditations of the half- mythical Persian hermit-philosopher Zoroaster; and Bartók’s dramatic fantasy Bluebeard’s Castle, based on the ancient fairy-tale about a young woman who marries a mysterious aristocrat and discovers that he has terrible secrets kept behind locked doors.
Both these magnificent works use extreme and glittering orchestral colors to represent the real colors of the world and the cosmos – dawn, sunlight, vast mountain views, sunset and the darkest night. And both are perfectly suited to our fabulous new acoustic in the Jacobs Music Center, and the beauty of the inside of our hall.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
CHABRIER: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Ephemerae, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major
Spain as evoked by the French composer Chabrier is followed by a lush new piano concerto, written by San Diego Symphony Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López for soloist Javier Perianes and filled with echoes of Latin melodies and dance rhythms. The program ends with Schumann’s magnificent Symphony No. 2, composed at dizzying speed after the composer’s recovery from an illness, and shot through with an exuberant love of life and energetic overflowing melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
LERA AUERBACH: Icarus
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32
A concert about the skies above us, beginning with Lera Auerbach’s cinematic description of the Ancient Greek mythological hero Icarus who killed himself by flying too close to the sun, followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’s most popular piece, The Lark Ascending, a miniature violin concerto in which the soloist represents a tiny skylark on a spring day, flying higher and higher into the heavens and pouring out their love in cascades of folk-inspired melody. The concert ends with Gustav Holst’s evergreen and spectacular orchestral suite The Planets, describing the seven planets of ancient astrology, each with their own mysterious properties which shape our human lives and characters.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
MAHLER: Selections from The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” in E-flat Major, WAB 104
Few literary works had as significant an influence throughout the 19th century as The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); its mix of everyday experience and the supernatural and bizarre were a perfect match for the Romantic movement. Mahler, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, used these texts as the basis for his own creation, evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Bruckner’s spacious symphonies are filled with images of the countryside and high mountains of his native Austria; his Symphony No. 4 “Romantic” is especially loved for its magnificent writing for the horns, using these instruments to suggest wild huntsmen riding across a landscape.
Gustav Mahler was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, his beautiful melodies evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Mahler’s much-loved teacher was Anton Bruckner whose gloriously spacious symphonies are filled with images of the green countryside and high mountains of his native Austria.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D 944, "The Great"
From Schubert in the early 19th century to Sibelius 100 years later, the Romantic composers were fascinated by the strange and the exotic, by the unfamiliar and the otherworldly. Mendelssohn travelled to the remote Atlantic islands of Scotland where he was inspired to write his Hebrides overture, mimicking the sound of the sea and the wailing of ancient bagpipes. In his violin concerto, Sibelius caught the incantations of Finnish folk music and the wailing of wind in the northern forests. And Schubert’s last and greatest symphony was considered so long and so strange by his contemporaries, it lay unperformed for years. Now it is one of the central works of Western classical music. As Robert Schumann wrote, after its first performance: “This symphony opens an entirely new world to us, producing such an effect on us as none has produced since Beethoven”.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
OLLY WILSON: Shango Memory
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
The power of music to suggest our deepest feelings of spiritual awe has been understood since ancient times. In this program, three composers write pieces capture the human yearning for another level of experience. The late great African American composer Olly Wilson drew on his roots in jazz and the music of his African ancestors to suggest the terrifying power of Shango, the ancient Yoruba god of thunder and lightning. In the slow movement of his Fourth Piano Concerto, Beethoven calls to mind the Greek divinity Orpheus who tamed wild beasts with the beauty of his music. Sibelius’ First Symphony plunges deep into the imaginary mystical mythology of prehistoric Finland.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Friday matinee (11am) performance is not on any series but may be added to any Package order.
UNSUK CHIN: subito con forza
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures from an Exhibition
Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza provides a thrilling opening to a concert of music mixing savage drama with the sweetest possible melodies. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was written in only a few days in an unstoppable flow of passion and inspiration, while Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (fabulously orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) mourns the tragic early death of an artist friend; the music rages against the cruelty of his fate, remembers the sweetness of shared experiences, and in the last movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, fills us all with hope for a better future.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1, in D minor, Op. 15
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 7, in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Music and memory have always been close companions; you cannot have one without the other. Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, a work of symphonic vastness and one of its composer’s greatest masterpieces, was written out of his burning grief at the early death of his mentor Robert Schumann and his desire to write a piece that would preserve the older composer’s memory for ever. Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony sprang from his intense longing for the freedom and independence of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and his passionate desire to commemorate those brave spirits who sacrificed so much in the cause of their beloved country.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65
Beethoven’s explosively exhilarating First Symphony was written in the very last years of the 18th century, when Napoleon was first seizing control of France and setting out to conquer Austria and Italy. The music breathes the air of earth-shaking public events and an intense optimism for the future. Shostakovich composed his colossal Eighth Symphony in the depths of World War II, when the Battle of Stalingrad was raging and the future of the entire world at stake. This wildly dramatic, almost cinematic, music traverses every kind of human feeling from the dark tragedy and struggle of the first movement, through bitter satire and brutal human conflict to despair and finally a vision of a new world of transcendent beauty.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 7 in E minor
One of the greatest orchestral composers of all time, Gustav Mahler wrote symphonies which – as a later composer famously remarked – “sum up the whole history of music”. Rafael Payare is a passionate, renowned champion of Mahler and determined this composer should be central to the repertoire and mission of our San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In this concert, he reaches the epic Seventh Symphony, a huge cathedral of sound in five movements, which move from an eerie opening inspired by a trip across an alpine lake at night, through three central movements filled with the ghosts of nocturnal dreams and experiences, to an ending like a colossal and heroic dawn in which all humanity seems to be celebrating.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
BRITTEN: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op 33A
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G Major
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
Three of the best-loved pieces in the symphonic repertoire come together in this concert which sweeps forward from the thrilling theatre of Benjamin Britten’s "Sea Interludes" from his opera Peter Grimes, depicting the changing colors, the play of light and the terrifying storms of the North Sea between the UK and Germany, to Ravel’s beloved G Major Piano Concerto, with its glittering echoes of American jazz in the outer movements, and a haunting tribute to Bach and Mozart in the lyrical central movement. This concert ends with one of the best known of all symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, nicknamed by his brother “Pathétique”, in response to the music’s terrifying mixture of drama and heartfelt melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
ADAM SCHOENBERG: Cool Cat
JOHN ADAMS: Century Rolls
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
An exuberant celebration of music by three composers, all of whom came from elsewhere to live in California. The youngest, Massachusetts-born Adam Schoenberg, is famous for his ability to meld popular idioms into energetic pieces for classical audiences and Cool Cat is no exception. This delightful fanfare of an overture celebrates the life of P-22, the world-famous mountain lion who lived for a decade in the hills above Los Angeles. John Adams, one of the most renowned American composers, wrote his piano concerto Century Rolls in the 1990s as a celebration of the great age of American player-piano recordings a century ago by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin. Russian-born Rachmaninoff himself spent much of the last quarter century of his life in the US, becoming a citizen and owning homes in New York and Los Angeles. Rachmaninoff was a huge admirer of American popular music and in the last movement of his Third Symphony we can hear his delight in Hollywood film-music and especially the movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
KILAR: Orawa
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 11
BORODIN: Symphony No. 2
BORODIN: “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor
From Polish film composer Wojciech Kilar’s beautiful Orawa, a celebration of the mountain fiddle-players of Southern Poland, to Borodin’s legendary "Polovtsian Dances", conjuring up the wild dancing of ancient nomadic tribespeople in Southern Russia, this program is banquet of music from the shifting borderlands between Europe and Asia. At the center are Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, written when the great Polish composer and patriot was just 20 years old, and Borodin’s brilliantly colorful and tuneful Second Symphony, evoking the uproarious and warlike merrymaking of mediaeval knights-in-armor, with their ancient bards and strange-sounding folk-instruments.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture Op. 62
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in F Major, Op. 68
Trevor Pinnock, one of the great masters of Baroque and Classical music in our age, and Alexandra Dovgan, a young pianist already celebrated across the world for the majesty and beauty of her playing, join the Orchestra together for the first time for a glorious all-Beethoven program, filled with high drama, hope and nobility. After the tragic grandeur of the Coriolan Overture come two of Beethoven’s greatest and most uplifting masterpieces: the “Emperor” Concerto and the Seventh Symphony, both pieces of overwhelming power and invention.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
GABRIELA ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
The legendary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz writes music of terrific and visceral energy and notable melodic sweetness, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be taking part in these performances of her new cello concerto Dzonot, specially written for our very own Alisa Weilerstein. Ortiz is well-known not only for the deep connection to Latin American folk-music in her compositions, but also for her passionate concern for the vulnerable and fragile environment of our planet. In this concerto, she was inspired by the "cenotes", the vast and world-famous limestone sinkholes in Mexico, which are like underground worlds all their own, with their own rivers, lakes, and plant and animal life.
The orchestra pairs this new work with one of the most famous, sumptuous and outrageous orchestral scores of all time, Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in which the composer mockingly and laughingly portrays himself as a lone hero fighting against the petty world of music critics and small-minded enemies, before turning in almost cinematic detail to his home love-life with his wife Pauline, and at the end setting out into the mountains for a spot of rest and recreation. An orchestral treat and one of the funniest pieces in the symphonic repertoire!
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Perú Negro
BERG: Violin Concerto
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” in A minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18
Three works inspired in very different ways by folk music and the mix of different cultures. Perú Negro (Black Peru), by San Diego Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López, was composed in 2012, and in the words of the composer “shows my Afro-Peruvian roots” while celebrating the exuberant fusion of African and Latin elements in the popular music of his native land. Alban Berg’s last completed work, his mystical Violin Concerto, was written in 1935 “to the memory of an angel”. The angel was Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler (by her second husband) who had died a few months earlier at the age of 18. Berg includes in his concerto a beautiful folk-tune from the Southern Austrian Catholic region of Carinthia, and a haunting old German Protestant hymn-tune, which Bach had used several times. Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, like his Hebrides Overture, was inspired by his youthful trip to Scotland where the young Berliner was overwhelmed by the feeling of a haunting and ancient culture. In his symphony we hear echoes of Scottish traditional music for bagpipes, fiddles and harps, the skipping rhythms of Scottish folk dancing, and Romantic impressions of ruined medieval castles and monasteries.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & E packages.
CHABRIER: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Ephemerae, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major
Spain as evoked by the French composer Chabrier is followed by a lush new piano concerto, written by San Diego Symphony Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López for soloist Javier Perianes and filled with echoes of Latin melodies and dance rhythms. The program ends with Schumann’s magnificent Symphony No. 2, composed at dizzying speed after the composer’s recovery from an illness, and shot through with an exuberant love of life and energetic overflowing melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
MAHLER: Selections from The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” in E-flat Major, WAB 104
Few literary works had as significant an influence throughout the 19th century as The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); its mix of everyday experience and the supernatural and bizarre were a perfect match for the Romantic movement. Mahler, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, used these texts as the basis for his own creation, evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Bruckner’s spacious symphonies are filled with images of the countryside and high mountains of his native Austria; his Symphony No. 4 “Romantic” is especially loved for its magnificent writing for the horns, using these instruments to suggest wild huntsmen riding across a landscape.
Gustav Mahler was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, his beautiful melodies evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Mahler’s much-loved teacher was Anton Bruckner whose gloriously spacious symphonies are filled with images of the green countryside and high mountains of his native Austria.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
UNSUK CHIN: subito con forza
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures from an Exhibition
Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza provides a thrilling opening to a concert of music mixing savage drama with the sweetest possible melodies. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was written in only a few days in an unstoppable flow of passion and inspiration, while Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (fabulously orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) mourns the tragic early death of an artist friend; the music rages against the cruelty of his fate, remembers the sweetness of shared experiences, and in the last movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, fills us all with hope for a better future.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1, in D minor, Op. 15
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 7, in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Music and memory have always been close companions; you cannot have one without the other. Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, a work of symphonic vastness and one of its composer’s greatest masterpieces, was written out of his burning grief at the early death of his mentor Robert Schumann and his desire to write a piece that would preserve the older composer’s memory for ever. Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony sprang from his intense longing for the freedom and independence of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and his passionate desire to commemorate those brave spirits who sacrificed so much in the cause of their beloved country.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 7 in E minor
One of the greatest orchestral composers of all time, Gustav Mahler wrote symphonies which – as a later composer famously remarked – “sum up the whole history of music”. Rafael Payare is a passionate, renowned champion of Mahler and determined this composer should be central to the repertoire and mission of our San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In this concert, he reaches the epic Seventh Symphony, a huge cathedral of sound in five movements, which move from an eerie opening inspired by a trip across an alpine lake at night, through three central movements filled with the ghosts of nocturnal dreams and experiences, to an ending like a colossal and heroic dawn in which all humanity seems to be celebrating.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
ADAM SCHOENBERG: Cool Cat
JOHN ADAMS: Century Rolls
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
An exuberant celebration of music by three composers, all of whom came from elsewhere to live in California. The youngest, Massachusetts-born Adam Schoenberg, is famous for his ability to meld popular idioms into energetic pieces for classical audiences and Cool Cat is no exception. This delightful fanfare of an overture celebrates the life of P-22, the world-famous mountain lion who lived for a decade in the hills above Los Angeles. John Adams, one of the most renowned American composers, wrote his piano concerto Century Rolls in the 1990s as a celebration of the great age of American player-piano recordings a century ago by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin. Russian-born Rachmaninoff himself spent much of the last quarter century of his life in the US, becoming a citizen and owning homes in New York and Los Angeles. Rachmaninoff was a huge admirer of American popular music and in the last movement of his Third Symphony we can hear his delight in Hollywood film-music and especially the movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture Op. 62
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in F Major, Op. 68
Trevor Pinnock, one of the great masters of Baroque and Classical music in our age, and Alexandra Dovgan, a young pianist already celebrated across the world for the majesty and beauty of her playing, join the Orchestra together for the first time for a glorious all-Beethoven program, filled with high drama, hope and nobility. After the tragic grandeur of the Coriolan Overture come two of Beethoven’s greatest and most uplifting masterpieces: the “Emperor” Concerto and the Seventh Symphony, both pieces of overwhelming power and invention.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Perú Negro
BERG: Violin Concerto
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” in A minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18
Three works inspired in very different ways by folk music and the mix of different cultures. Perú Negro (Black Peru), by San Diego Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López, was composed in 2012, and in the words of the composer “shows my Afro-Peruvian roots” while celebrating the exuberant fusion of African and Latin elements in the popular music of his native land. Alban Berg’s last completed work, his mystical Violin Concerto, was written in 1935 “to the memory of an angel”. The angel was Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler (by her second husband) who had died a few months earlier at the age of 18. Berg includes in his concerto a beautiful folk-tune from the Southern Austrian Catholic region of Carinthia, and a haunting old German Protestant hymn-tune, which Bach had used several times. Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, like his Hebrides Overture, was inspired by his youthful trip to Scotland where the young Berliner was overwhelmed by the feeling of a haunting and ancient culture. In his symphony we hear echoes of Scottish traditional music for bagpipes, fiddles and harps, the skipping rhythms of Scottish folk dancing, and Romantic impressions of ruined medieval castles and monasteries.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & E packages.
LERA AUERBACH: Icarus
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32
A concert about the skies above us, beginning with Lera Auerbach’s cinematic description of the Ancient Greek mythological hero Icarus who killed himself by flying too close to the sun, followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’s most popular piece, The Lark Ascending, a miniature violin concerto in which the soloist represents a tiny skylark on a spring day, flying higher and higher into the heavens and pouring out their love in cascades of folk-inspired melody. The concert ends with Gustav Holst’s evergreen and spectacular orchestral suite The Planets, describing the seven planets of ancient astrology, each with their own mysterious properties which shape our human lives and characters.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D 944, "The Great"
From Schubert in the early 19th century to Sibelius 100 years later, the Romantic composers were fascinated by the strange and the exotic, by the unfamiliar and the otherworldly. Mendelssohn travelled to the remote Atlantic islands of Scotland where he was inspired to write his Hebrides overture, mimicking the sound of the sea and the wailing of ancient bagpipes. In his violin concerto, Sibelius caught the incantations of Finnish folk music and the wailing of wind in the northern forests. And Schubert’s last and greatest symphony was considered so long and so strange by his contemporaries, it lay unperformed for years. Now it is one of the central works of Western classical music. As Robert Schumann wrote, after its first performance: “This symphony opens an entirely new world to us, producing such an effect on us as none has produced since Beethoven”.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
OLLY WILSON: Shango Memory
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
The power of music to suggest our deepest feelings of spiritual awe has been understood since ancient times. In this program, three composers write pieces capture the human yearning for another level of experience. The late great African American composer Olly Wilson drew on his roots in jazz and the music of his African ancestors to suggest the terrifying power of Shango, the ancient Yoruba god of thunder and lightning. In the slow movement of his Fourth Piano Concerto, Beethoven calls to mind the Greek divinity Orpheus who tamed wild beasts with the beauty of his music. Sibelius’ First Symphony plunges deep into the imaginary mystical mythology of prehistoric Finland.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Friday matinee (11am) performance is not on any series but may be added to any Package order.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65
Beethoven’s explosively exhilarating First Symphony was written in the very last years of the 18th century, when Napoleon was first seizing control of France and setting out to conquer Austria and Italy. The music breathes the air of earth-shaking public events and an intense optimism for the future. Shostakovich composed his colossal Eighth Symphony in the depths of World War II, when the Battle of Stalingrad was raging and the future of the entire world at stake. This wildly dramatic, almost cinematic, music traverses every kind of human feeling from the dark tragedy and struggle of the first movement, through bitter satire and brutal human conflict to despair and finally a vision of a new world of transcendent beauty.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
BRITTEN: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op 33A
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G Major
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
Three of the best-loved pieces in the symphonic repertoire come together in this concert which sweeps forward from the thrilling theatre of Benjamin Britten’s "Sea Interludes" from his opera Peter Grimes, depicting the changing colors, the play of light and the terrifying storms of the North Sea between the UK and Germany, to Ravel’s beloved G Major Piano Concerto, with its glittering echoes of American jazz in the outer movements, and a haunting tribute to Bach and Mozart in the lyrical central movement. This concert ends with one of the best known of all symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, nicknamed by his brother “Pathétique”, in response to the music’s terrifying mixture of drama and heartfelt melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
KILAR: Orawa
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 11
BORODIN: Symphony No. 2
BORODIN: “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor
From Polish film composer Wojciech Kilar’s beautiful Orawa, a celebration of the mountain fiddle-players of Southern Poland, to Borodin’s legendary "Polovtsian Dances", conjuring up the wild dancing of ancient nomadic tribespeople in Southern Russia, this program is banquet of music from the shifting borderlands between Europe and Asia. At the center are Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, written when the great Polish composer and patriot was just 20 years old, and Borodin’s brilliantly colorful and tuneful Second Symphony, evoking the uproarious and warlike merrymaking of mediaeval knights-in-armor, with their ancient bards and strange-sounding folk-instruments.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
GABRIELA ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
The legendary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz writes music of terrific and visceral energy and notable melodic sweetness, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be taking part in these performances of her new cello concerto Dzonot, specially written for our very own Alisa Weilerstein. Ortiz is well-known not only for the deep connection to Latin American folk-music in her compositions, but also for her passionate concern for the vulnerable and fragile environment of our planet. In this concerto, she was inspired by the "cenotes", the vast and world-famous limestone sinkholes in Mexico, which are like underground worlds all their own, with their own rivers, lakes, and plant and animal life.
The orchestra pairs this new work with one of the most famous, sumptuous and outrageous orchestral scores of all time, Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in which the composer mockingly and laughingly portrays himself as a lone hero fighting against the petty world of music critics and small-minded enemies, before turning in almost cinematic detail to his home love-life with his wife Pauline, and at the end setting out into the mountains for a spot of rest and recreation. An orchestral treat and one of the funniest pieces in the symphonic repertoire!
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
CHABRIER: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Ephemerae, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major
Spain as evoked by the French composer Chabrier is followed by a lush new piano concerto, written by San Diego Symphony Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López for soloist Javier Perianes and filled with echoes of Latin melodies and dance rhythms. The program ends with Schumann’s magnificent Symphony No. 2, composed at dizzying speed after the composer’s recovery from an illness, and shot through with an exuberant love of life and energetic overflowing melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D 944, "The Great"
From Schubert in the early 19th century to Sibelius 100 years later, the Romantic composers were fascinated by the strange and the exotic, by the unfamiliar and the otherworldly. Mendelssohn travelled to the remote Atlantic islands of Scotland where he was inspired to write his Hebrides overture, mimicking the sound of the sea and the wailing of ancient bagpipes. In his violin concerto, Sibelius caught the incantations of Finnish folk music and the wailing of wind in the northern forests. And Schubert’s last and greatest symphony was considered so long and so strange by his contemporaries, it lay unperformed for years. Now it is one of the central works of Western classical music. As Robert Schumann wrote, after its first performance: “This symphony opens an entirely new world to us, producing such an effect on us as none has produced since Beethoven”.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1, in D minor, Op. 15
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 7, in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Music and memory have always been close companions; you cannot have one without the other. Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, a work of symphonic vastness and one of its composer’s greatest masterpieces, was written out of his burning grief at the early death of his mentor Robert Schumann and his desire to write a piece that would preserve the older composer’s memory for ever. Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony sprang from his intense longing for the freedom and independence of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and his passionate desire to commemorate those brave spirits who sacrificed so much in the cause of their beloved country.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
BRITTEN: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op 33A
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G Major
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
Three of the best-loved pieces in the symphonic repertoire come together in this concert which sweeps forward from the thrilling theatre of Benjamin Britten’s "Sea Interludes" from his opera Peter Grimes, depicting the changing colors, the play of light and the terrifying storms of the North Sea between the UK and Germany, to Ravel’s beloved G Major Piano Concerto, with its glittering echoes of American jazz in the outer movements, and a haunting tribute to Bach and Mozart in the lyrical central movement. This concert ends with one of the best known of all symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, nicknamed by his brother “Pathétique”, in response to the music’s terrifying mixture of drama and heartfelt melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
ADAM SCHOENBERG: Cool Cat
JOHN ADAMS: Century Rolls
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
An exuberant celebration of music by three composers, all of whom came from elsewhere to live in California. The youngest, Massachusetts-born Adam Schoenberg, is famous for his ability to meld popular idioms into energetic pieces for classical audiences and Cool Cat is no exception. This delightful fanfare of an overture celebrates the life of P-22, the world-famous mountain lion who lived for a decade in the hills above Los Angeles. John Adams, one of the most renowned American composers, wrote his piano concerto Century Rolls in the 1990s as a celebration of the great age of American player-piano recordings a century ago by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin. Russian-born Rachmaninoff himself spent much of the last quarter century of his life in the US, becoming a citizen and owning homes in New York and Los Angeles. Rachmaninoff was a huge admirer of American popular music and in the last movement of his Third Symphony we can hear his delight in Hollywood film-music and especially the movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
GABRIELA ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
The legendary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz writes music of terrific and visceral energy and notable melodic sweetness, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be taking part in these performances of her new cello concerto Dzonot, specially written for our very own Alisa Weilerstein. Ortiz is well-known not only for the deep connection to Latin American folk-music in her compositions, but also for her passionate concern for the vulnerable and fragile environment of our planet. In this concerto, she was inspired by the "cenotes", the vast and world-famous limestone sinkholes in Mexico, which are like underground worlds all their own, with their own rivers, lakes, and plant and animal life.
The orchestra pairs this new work with one of the most famous, sumptuous and outrageous orchestral scores of all time, Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in which the composer mockingly and laughingly portrays himself as a lone hero fighting against the petty world of music critics and small-minded enemies, before turning in almost cinematic detail to his home love-life with his wife Pauline, and at the end setting out into the mountains for a spot of rest and recreation. An orchestral treat and one of the funniest pieces in the symphonic repertoire!
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
LERA AUERBACH: Icarus
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32
A concert about the skies above us, beginning with Lera Auerbach’s cinematic description of the Ancient Greek mythological hero Icarus who killed himself by flying too close to the sun, followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’s most popular piece, The Lark Ascending, a miniature violin concerto in which the soloist represents a tiny skylark on a spring day, flying higher and higher into the heavens and pouring out their love in cascades of folk-inspired melody. The concert ends with Gustav Holst’s evergreen and spectacular orchestral suite The Planets, describing the seven planets of ancient astrology, each with their own mysterious properties which shape our human lives and characters.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
OLLY WILSON: Shango Memory
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
The power of music to suggest our deepest feelings of spiritual awe has been understood since ancient times. In this program, three composers write pieces capture the human yearning for another level of experience. The late great African American composer Olly Wilson drew on his roots in jazz and the music of his African ancestors to suggest the terrifying power of Shango, the ancient Yoruba god of thunder and lightning. In the slow movement of his Fourth Piano Concerto, Beethoven calls to mind the Greek divinity Orpheus who tamed wild beasts with the beauty of his music. Sibelius’ First Symphony plunges deep into the imaginary mystical mythology of prehistoric Finland.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Friday matinee (11am) performance is not on any series but may be added to any Package order.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65
Beethoven’s explosively exhilarating First Symphony was written in the very last years of the 18th century, when Napoleon was first seizing control of France and setting out to conquer Austria and Italy. The music breathes the air of earth-shaking public events and an intense optimism for the future. Shostakovich composed his colossal Eighth Symphony in the depths of World War II, when the Battle of Stalingrad was raging and the future of the entire world at stake. This wildly dramatic, almost cinematic, music traverses every kind of human feeling from the dark tragedy and struggle of the first movement, through bitter satire and brutal human conflict to despair and finally a vision of a new world of transcendent beauty.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
KILAR: Orawa
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 11
BORODIN: Symphony No. 2
BORODIN: “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor
From Polish film composer Wojciech Kilar’s beautiful Orawa, a celebration of the mountain fiddle-players of Southern Poland, to Borodin’s legendary "Polovtsian Dances", conjuring up the wild dancing of ancient nomadic tribespeople in Southern Russia, this program is banquet of music from the shifting borderlands between Europe and Asia. At the center are Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, written when the great Polish composer and patriot was just 20 years old, and Borodin’s brilliantly colorful and tuneful Second Symphony, evoking the uproarious and warlike merrymaking of mediaeval knights-in-armor, with their ancient bards and strange-sounding folk-instruments.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Perú Negro
BERG: Violin Concerto
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” in A minor, Op. 56, MWV N 18
Three works inspired in very different ways by folk music and the mix of different cultures. Perú Negro (Black Peru), by San Diego Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López, was composed in 2012, and in the words of the composer “shows my Afro-Peruvian roots” while celebrating the exuberant fusion of African and Latin elements in the popular music of his native land. Alban Berg’s last completed work, his mystical Violin Concerto, was written in 1935 “to the memory of an angel”. The angel was Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler (by her second husband) who had died a few months earlier at the age of 18. Berg includes in his concerto a beautiful folk-tune from the Southern Austrian Catholic region of Carinthia, and a haunting old German Protestant hymn-tune, which Bach had used several times. Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, like his Hebrides Overture, was inspired by his youthful trip to Scotland where the young Berliner was overwhelmed by the feeling of a haunting and ancient culture. In his symphony we hear echoes of Scottish traditional music for bagpipes, fiddles and harps, the skipping rhythms of Scottish folk dancing, and Romantic impressions of ruined medieval castles and monasteries.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & E packages.
MAHLER: Selections from The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4, “Romantic” in E-flat Major, WAB 104
Few literary works had as significant an influence throughout the 19th century as The Boy's Magical Horn (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); its mix of everyday experience and the supernatural and bizarre were a perfect match for the Romantic movement. Mahler, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, used these texts as the basis for his own creation, evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Bruckner’s spacious symphonies are filled with images of the countryside and high mountains of his native Austria; his Symphony No. 4 “Romantic” is especially loved for its magnificent writing for the horns, using these instruments to suggest wild huntsmen riding across a landscape.
Gustav Mahler was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, his beautiful melodies evoking the lives and feelings of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Mahler’s much-loved teacher was Anton Bruckner whose gloriously spacious symphonies are filled with images of the green countryside and high mountains of his native Austria.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
UNSUK CHIN: subito con forza
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures from an Exhibition
Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza provides a thrilling opening to a concert of music mixing savage drama with the sweetest possible melodies. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was written in only a few days in an unstoppable flow of passion and inspiration, while Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (fabulously orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) mourns the tragic early death of an artist friend; the music rages against the cruelty of his fate, remembers the sweetness of shared experiences, and in the last movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, fills us all with hope for a better future.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 7 in E minor
One of the greatest orchestral composers of all time, Gustav Mahler wrote symphonies which – as a later composer famously remarked – “sum up the whole history of music”. Rafael Payare is a passionate, renowned champion of Mahler and determined this composer should be central to the repertoire and mission of our San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In this concert, he reaches the epic Seventh Symphony, a huge cathedral of sound in five movements, which move from an eerie opening inspired by a trip across an alpine lake at night, through three central movements filled with the ghosts of nocturnal dreams and experiences, to an ending like a colossal and heroic dawn in which all humanity seems to be celebrating.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture Op. 62
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in F Major, Op. 68
Trevor Pinnock, one of the great masters of Baroque and Classical music in our age, and Alexandra Dovgan, a young pianist already celebrated across the world for the majesty and beauty of her playing, join the Orchestra together for the first time for a glorious all-Beethoven program, filled with high drama, hope and nobility. After the tragic grandeur of the Coriolan Overture come two of Beethoven’s greatest and most uplifting masterpieces: the “Emperor” Concerto and the Seventh Symphony, both pieces of overwhelming power and invention.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
Look forward to a whole season of 11 sunny afternoons downtown at Jacobs Music Center.
French Fairytales: Ravel and Debussy
Sunday,
October
5,
2:00 PM
Rafael Payare, conductor Liv Redpath, soprano San Diego Symphony Chorus Gerard McBurney, director
Additional artists to be announced. San Diego Symphony Orchestra
DEBUSSY: The Joyful Isle (L'isle joyeuse), L. 106
DEBUSSY (orch. Caplet): The Box of Toys (La boîte à joujoux)
RAVEL: The Child and the Magical Spells: a lyric fantasy in two scenes (L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties)
A glorious and theatrical celebration of the light and enchantment of France and French music, beginning with Debussy’s evocation of a journey to a mysterious island of love, and his witty and charming ballet score for children about the adventures of a box of toys. The program ends with a brilliantly colorful and delightful semi-staging of Ravel’s immortal and much-loved comic fantasy about a naughty child whose toys come to life to punish him.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
CHABRIER: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Ephemerae, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major
Spain as evoked by the French composer Chabrier is followed by a lush new piano concerto, written by San Diego Symphony Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López for soloist Javier Perianes and filled with echoes of Latin melodies and dance rhythms. The program ends with Schumann’s magnificent Symphony No. 2, composed at dizzying speed after the composer’s recovery from an illness, and shot through with an exuberant love of life and energetic overflowing melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
UNSUK CHIN: subito con forza
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures from an Exhibition
Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza provides a thrilling opening to a concert of music mixing savage drama with the sweetest possible melodies. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was written in only a few days in an unstoppable flow of passion and inspiration, while Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (fabulously orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) mourns the tragic early death of an artist friend; the music rages against the cruelty of his fate, remembers the sweetness of shared experiences, and in the last movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, fills us all with hope for a better future.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1, in D minor, Op. 15
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 7, in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Music and memory have always been close companions; you cannot have one without the other. Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, a work of symphonic vastness and one of its composer’s greatest masterpieces, was written out of his burning grief at the early death of his mentor Robert Schumann and his desire to write a piece that would preserve the older composer’s memory for ever. Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony sprang from his intense longing for the freedom and independence of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and his passionate desire to commemorate those brave spirits who sacrificed so much in the cause of their beloved country.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65
Beethoven’s explosively exhilarating First Symphony was written in the very last years of the 18th century, when Napoleon was first seizing control of France and setting out to conquer Austria and Italy. The music breathes the air of earth-shaking public events and an intense optimism for the future. Shostakovich composed his colossal Eighth Symphony in the depths of World War II, when the Battle of Stalingrad was raging and the future of the entire world at stake. This wildly dramatic, almost cinematic, music traverses every kind of human feeling from the dark tragedy and struggle of the first movement, through bitter satire and brutal human conflict to despair and finally a vision of a new world of transcendent beauty.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 7 in E minor
One of the greatest orchestral composers of all time, Gustav Mahler wrote symphonies which – as a later composer famously remarked – “sum up the whole history of music”. Rafael Payare is a passionate, renowned champion of Mahler and determined this composer should be central to the repertoire and mission of our San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In this concert, he reaches the epic Seventh Symphony, a huge cathedral of sound in five movements, which move from an eerie opening inspired by a trip across an alpine lake at night, through three central movements filled with the ghosts of nocturnal dreams and experiences, to an ending like a colossal and heroic dawn in which all humanity seems to be celebrating.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
BRITTEN: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op 33A
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G Major
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
Three of the best-loved pieces in the symphonic repertoire come together in this concert which sweeps forward from the thrilling theatre of Benjamin Britten’s "Sea Interludes" from his opera Peter Grimes, depicting the changing colors, the play of light and the terrifying storms of the North Sea between the UK and Germany, to Ravel’s beloved G Major Piano Concerto, with its glittering echoes of American jazz in the outer movements, and a haunting tribute to Bach and Mozart in the lyrical central movement. This concert ends with one of the best known of all symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, nicknamed by his brother “Pathétique”, in response to the music’s terrifying mixture of drama and heartfelt melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
KILAR: Orawa
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 11
BORODIN: Symphony No. 2
BORODIN: “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor
From Polish film composer Wojciech Kilar’s beautiful Orawa, a celebration of the mountain fiddle-players of Southern Poland, to Borodin’s legendary "Polovtsian Dances", conjuring up the wild dancing of ancient nomadic tribespeople in Southern Russia, this program is banquet of music from the shifting borderlands between Europe and Asia. At the center are Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, written when the great Polish composer and patriot was just 20 years old, and Borodin’s brilliantly colorful and tuneful Second Symphony, evoking the uproarious and warlike merrymaking of mediaeval knights-in-armor, with their ancient bards and strange-sounding folk-instruments.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
GABRIELA ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
The legendary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz writes music of terrific and visceral energy and notable melodic sweetness, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be taking part in these performances of her new cello concerto Dzonot, specially written for our very own Alisa Weilerstein. Ortiz is well-known not only for the deep connection to Latin American folk-music in her compositions, but also for her passionate concern for the vulnerable and fragile environment of our planet. In this concerto, she was inspired by the "cenotes", the vast and world-famous limestone sinkholes in Mexico, which are like underground worlds all their own, with their own rivers, lakes, and plant and animal life.
The orchestra pairs this new work with one of the most famous, sumptuous and outrageous orchestral scores of all time, Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in which the composer mockingly and laughingly portrays himself as a lone hero fighting against the petty world of music critics and small-minded enemies, before turning in almost cinematic detail to his home love-life with his wife Pauline, and at the end setting out into the mountains for a spot of rest and recreation. An orchestral treat and one of the funniest pieces in the symphonic repertoire!
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
R. STRAUSS: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
BARTÓK: Bluebeard’s Castle
Our season ends with two of the most spectacular and orchestrally overwhelming scores from the late romantic period: Richard Strauss’s epic tone-poem Also sprach Zarathustra, inspired by Nietzsche’s account of the deep meditations of the half- mythical Persian hermit-philosopher Zoroaster; and Bartók’s dramatic fantasy Bluebeard’s Castle, based on the ancient fairy-tale about a young woman who marries a mysterious aristocrat and discovers that he has terrible secrets kept behind locked doors.
Both these magnificent works use extreme and glittering orchestral colors to represent the real colors of the world and the cosmos – dawn, sunlight, vast mountain views, sunset and the darkest night. And both are perfectly suited to our fabulous new acoustic in the Jacobs Music Center, and the beauty of the inside of our hall.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
Half a dozen great afternoons of classical music inside the cool, beautiful confines of Jacobs Music Center!
French Fairytales: Ravel and Debussy
Sunday,
October
5,
2:00 PM
Rafael Payare, conductor Liv Redpath, soprano San Diego Symphony Chorus Gerard McBurney, director
Additional artists to be announced. San Diego Symphony Orchestra
DEBUSSY: The Joyful Isle (L'isle joyeuse), L. 106
DEBUSSY (orch. Caplet): The Box of Toys (La boîte à joujoux)
RAVEL: The Child and the Magical Spells: a lyric fantasy in two scenes (L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties)
A glorious and theatrical celebration of the light and enchantment of France and French music, beginning with Debussy’s evocation of a journey to a mysterious island of love, and his witty and charming ballet score for children about the adventures of a box of toys. The program ends with a brilliantly colorful and delightful semi-staging of Ravel’s immortal and much-loved comic fantasy about a naughty child whose toys come to life to punish him.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & B packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
UNSUK CHIN: subito con forza
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures from an Exhibition
Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza provides a thrilling opening to a concert of music mixing savage drama with the sweetest possible melodies. Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was written in only a few days in an unstoppable flow of passion and inspiration, while Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (fabulously orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) mourns the tragic early death of an artist friend; the music rages against the cruelty of his fate, remembers the sweetness of shared experiences, and in the last movement, “The Great Gate of Kiev”, fills us all with hope for a better future.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65
Beethoven’s explosively exhilarating First Symphony was written in the very last years of the 18th century, when Napoleon was first seizing control of France and setting out to conquer Austria and Italy. The music breathes the air of earth-shaking public events and an intense optimism for the future. Shostakovich composed his colossal Eighth Symphony in the depths of World War II, when the Battle of Stalingrad was raging and the future of the entire world at stake. This wildly dramatic, almost cinematic, music traverses every kind of human feeling from the dark tragedy and struggle of the first movement, through bitter satire and brutal human conflict to despair and finally a vision of a new world of transcendent beauty.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
KILAR: Orawa
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor, Op. 11
BORODIN: Symphony No. 2
BORODIN: “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor
From Polish film composer Wojciech Kilar’s beautiful Orawa, a celebration of the mountain fiddle-players of Southern Poland, to Borodin’s legendary "Polovtsian Dances", conjuring up the wild dancing of ancient nomadic tribespeople in Southern Russia, this program is banquet of music from the shifting borderlands between Europe and Asia. At the center are Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, written when the great Polish composer and patriot was just 20 years old, and Borodin’s brilliantly colorful and tuneful Second Symphony, evoking the uproarious and warlike merrymaking of mediaeval knights-in-armor, with their ancient bards and strange-sounding folk-instruments.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & E packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
R. STRAUSS: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
BARTÓK: Bluebeard’s Castle
Our season ends with two of the most spectacular and orchestrally overwhelming scores from the late romantic period: Richard Strauss’s epic tone-poem Also sprach Zarathustra, inspired by Nietzsche’s account of the deep meditations of the half- mythical Persian hermit-philosopher Zoroaster; and Bartók’s dramatic fantasy Bluebeard’s Castle, based on the ancient fairy-tale about a young woman who marries a mysterious aristocrat and discovers that he has terrible secrets kept behind locked doors.
Both these magnificent works use extreme and glittering orchestral colors to represent the real colors of the world and the cosmos – dawn, sunlight, vast mountain views, sunset and the darkest night. And both are perfectly suited to our fabulous new acoustic in the Jacobs Music Center, and the beauty of the inside of our hall.
The Friday performance is part of Friday A & C packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & B packages.
CHABRIER: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Ephemerae, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2, Op. 61, in C Major
Spain as evoked by the French composer Chabrier is followed by a lush new piano concerto, written by San Diego Symphony Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López for soloist Javier Perianes and filled with echoes of Latin melodies and dance rhythms. The program ends with Schumann’s magnificent Symphony No. 2, composed at dizzying speed after the composer’s recovery from an illness, and shot through with an exuberant love of life and energetic overflowing melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1, in D minor, Op. 15
DVORÁK: Symphony No. 7, in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Music and memory have always been close companions; you cannot have one without the other. Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, a work of symphonic vastness and one of its composer’s greatest masterpieces, was written out of his burning grief at the early death of his mentor Robert Schumann and his desire to write a piece that would preserve the older composer’s memory for ever. Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony sprang from his intense longing for the freedom and independence of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and his passionate desire to commemorate those brave spirits who sacrificed so much in the cause of their beloved country.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
Rafael Payare, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 7 in E minor
One of the greatest orchestral composers of all time, Gustav Mahler wrote symphonies which – as a later composer famously remarked – “sum up the whole history of music”. Rafael Payare is a passionate, renowned champion of Mahler and determined this composer should be central to the repertoire and mission of our San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In this concert, he reaches the epic Seventh Symphony, a huge cathedral of sound in five movements, which move from an eerie opening inspired by a trip across an alpine lake at night, through three central movements filled with the ghosts of nocturnal dreams and experiences, to an ending like a colossal and heroic dawn in which all humanity seems to be celebrating.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, B & F packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
BRITTEN: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op 33A
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G Major
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
Three of the best-loved pieces in the symphonic repertoire come together in this concert which sweeps forward from the thrilling theatre of Benjamin Britten’s "Sea Interludes" from his opera Peter Grimes, depicting the changing colors, the play of light and the terrifying storms of the North Sea between the UK and Germany, to Ravel’s beloved G Major Piano Concerto, with its glittering echoes of American jazz in the outer movements, and a haunting tribute to Bach and Mozart in the lyrical central movement. This concert ends with one of the best known of all symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, nicknamed by his brother “Pathétique”, in response to the music’s terrifying mixture of drama and heartfelt melodies.
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
GABRIELA ORTIZ: Dzonot
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
The legendary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz writes music of terrific and visceral energy and notable melodic sweetness, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to be taking part in these performances of her new cello concerto Dzonot, specially written for our very own Alisa Weilerstein. Ortiz is well-known not only for the deep connection to Latin American folk-music in her compositions, but also for her passionate concern for the vulnerable and fragile environment of our planet. In this concerto, she was inspired by the "cenotes", the vast and world-famous limestone sinkholes in Mexico, which are like underground worlds all their own, with their own rivers, lakes, and plant and animal life.
The orchestra pairs this new work with one of the most famous, sumptuous and outrageous orchestral scores of all time, Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) in which the composer mockingly and laughingly portrays himself as a lone hero fighting against the petty world of music critics and small-minded enemies, before turning in almost cinematic detail to his home love-life with his wife Pauline, and at the end setting out into the mountains for a spot of rest and recreation. An orchestral treat and one of the funniest pieces in the symphonic repertoire!
The Saturday performance is part of Saturday A, C & D packages.
The Sunday performance is part of Sunday A & C packages.
Experience the bluesy side of John Coltrane in his first - and only - studio session as leader for Blue Note records: Blue Train. Teaming up with trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Kenny Dre, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, Coltrane wrote all but one of the compositions on the album - rare at the albums' time of release - and described the album as one of his favorite recordings.
Please note: the San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear on this program.
This performance is part of the Jazz @ The Jacobs Series.
A record-breaking album by the West Coast-cool Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out broke records and conventions alike, becoming the first jazz album to sell a million copies, and its single "Take Five" was the first jazz single to sell one million copies. An album with all-original pieces, exploring a variety of musical styles and time signatures, the album was inducted into the GRAMMY@reg; Hall of Fame and was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
Please note: the San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear on this program.
This performance is part of the Jazz @ The Jacobs Series.
Three beautiful, entertaining and diverse concerts for young people and their families - all featuring the San Diego Symphony!
Spooky Sounds and Magical Melodies
Saturday,
October
25,
11:00 AM
TBD, conductor San Diego Symphony Orchestra
JOHN WILLIAMS: “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
ANNA CLYNE: Masquerade
SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre, Op. 40
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite, 1919 version
From the iconic "Hedwig’s Theme" that transports you to the wizarding world, to the haunting Dance macabre and the dazzling finale of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, this concert is full of excitement and wonder. Anna Clyne’s lively Masquerade adds a festive twist to the spooky season fun. Designed with kids and families in mind, it’s the perfect way to spark imagination and get you in the Halloween spirit. Don’t forget your costumes for this morning of music and magic!
This performance is part of the Family Concerts Series.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: “Flight of the Bumblebee” from Tale of Tsar Saltan
DAVID MACKENZIE: Right Whale, Wrong Letter (World Premiere)
GERSHWIN: Promenade (Walking the Dog)
ANDERSON: The Waltzing Cat
PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf
Join the San Diego Symphony for a family-friendly concert that celebrates the beauty of the animal kingdom. Experience the buzz of "Flight of the Bumblebee", the grace of The Waltzing Cat, and Gershwin’s playful Promenade (Walking the Dog). Be among the first to hear the world premiere of Right Whale, Wrong Letter, a heartfelt piece about Robley, a North Atlantic Right Whale. The performance concludes with Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, a timeless tale that brings the characters of animals to life. Bring your family for a morning of music, wonder and a celebration of the natural world we all share.
This performance is part of the Family Concerts Series.
TBD, conductor WindSync, wind quintet San Diego Symphony Orchestra
R. STRAUSS: “Sunrise Fanfare” from Also sprach Zarathustra
MOZART: Symphony No. 41 in C Major “Jupiter”, mvt. 1
JESSIE MONTGOMERY (arr. Jannina Norpoth): Starburst
MENDELSSOHN: “Nocturne” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
IVAN TREVINO: Space Junk (World Premiere)
JOHN WILLIAMS: “Main Title” from Star Wars
Explore the wonders of the universe with the San Diego Symphony in a family-friendly concert that’s out of this world! Start with the awe-inspiring "Sunrise Fanfare" from Also sprach Zarathustra, then travel to the stars with Mozart’s "Jupiter" Symphony and Jessie Montgomery’s sparkling Starburst. Ivan Trevino’s Space Junk, featuring the Wind Sync quintet, takes you on a world-premiere voyage through the cosmos. Mendelssohn’s dreamy Nocturne and John Williams’ iconic Star Wars theme complete the interstellar adventure. Join us for a morning of music that celebrates the mysteries and magic of space!
This performance is part of the Family Concerts Series.
Bring the whole family to an entertaining, season-long musical morning tour of the sections of the orchestra. The four 30 to 45-minute concerts are short and sweet! (10am version)
Meet the Winds: Mother Goose
Saturday,
November
1,
10:00 AM
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet
Take a musical journey into the whimsical world of Mother Goose with the lively sounds of a woodwind quintet! Featuring the flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn, this enchanting performance introduces young listeners to a colorful palette of melodies and playful characters. With music that twirls, soars and sparkles, kids will love discovering how each instrument tells its part of the story. Perfect for curious minds and little explorers!
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet
Feel the holiday spirit in this festive musical celebration! Our brass section will bring the beloved poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to life with sparkling fanfares, warm tones and holiday cheer. Perfect for young listeners, this performance is a cozy, jolly way to kick off the season together.
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra String Quintet
Join us for the heartwarming tale of Ferdinand the Bull, told through music and the beautiful melodies of the string family. Violins, violas, cellos and basses will take center stage, bringing Ferdinand’s peaceful world to life in this charming, interactive experience. A gentle and joyful way to inspire budding music lovers.
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble
Get ready to stomp, clap and groove as we dive into the rhythmic world of percussion! Featuring the electrifying Clapping Music and an array of drums, cymbals and marimbas. This interactive performance will have your little ones moving to the beat and making music of their own. Fun, lively and totally unforgettable!
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Bring the whole family to an entertaining, season-long musical morning tour of the sections of the orchestra. The four 30 to 45-minute concerts are short and sweet! (11:30am version)
Meet the Winds: Mother Goose
Saturday,
November
1,
11:30 AM
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra Wind Quintet
Take a musical journey into the whimsical world of Mother Goose with the lively sounds of a woodwind quintet! Featuring the flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn, this enchanting performance introduces young listeners to a colorful palette of melodies and playful characters. With music that twirls, soars and sparkles, kids will love discovering how each instrument tells its part of the story. Perfect for curious minds and little explorers!
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet
Feel the holiday spirit in this festive musical celebration! Our brass section will bring the beloved poem "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to life with sparkling fanfares, warm tones and holiday cheer. Perfect for young listeners, this performance is a cozy, jolly way to kick off the season together.
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra String Quintet
Join us for the heartwarming tale of Ferdinand the Bull, told through music and the beautiful melodies of the string family. Violins, violas, cellos and basses will take center stage, bringing Ferdinand’s peaceful world to life in this charming, interactive experience. A gentle and joyful way to inspire budding music lovers.
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
Featuring a San Diego Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble
Get ready to stomp, clap and groove as we dive into the rhythmic world of percussion! Featuring the electrifying Clapping Music and an array of drums, cymbals and marimbas. This interactive performance will have your little ones moving to the beat and making music of their own. Fun, lively and totally unforgettable!
This performance is part of the Symphony Kids Series.
