Performances Magazine San Diego | Jacobs Music Center, March 2025

The return to

Jacobs Music Center MARCH 2025

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MAGAZINE

contents P1 Program

Cast, performances, who’s who, director’s notes, donors and more.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: GAGE FORSTER; COURTESY OF BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO; COURTESY OF CITY OF SAN DIEGO

4 In the Wings Salome presented by San Diego Opera; 3 Summers of Lincoln at La Jolla Playhouse; Da Vinci’s First Flight at the San Diego Air & Space Museum; Balboa Park’s renovated and reopened Botanical Building; and more.

8 Feature:

Bach Collegium San Diego

Bach Collegium S.D. presents “Total Sound Explosion 2” and “Knockout Sounds with Reginald Mobley: The Return of Bach to Bop.”

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13 Dining Our favorite food and drink finds for March, including Wildland, The Lobby Tiki Bar & Grill, and Wildflour Delicatessen.

24 Parting Thought Performances’ program platform for theater shows and concerts can be accessed from any digital device.

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PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 1

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MAGAZINE

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IN TH E W I N G S

MUST-SEE MARCH SHOWS A NIGHT AT the opera, anyone?

San Diego Opera delivers with THEATER Salome, March 21-23 at the Civic Theatre. Adapted from Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name, Salome—with music by Richard Strauss—tells the biblical story of John the Baptist, a prisoner under King Herod, whose stepdaughter, Princess Salome, attempts to seduce John. Jose Maria Condemi directs; Yves Abel conducts. sdopera.org With a book by Joe DiPietro and directed by Christopher Ashley, La Jolla Playhouse presents the world premiere of 3 Summers of Lincoln, through March 30.

The musical centers on the last three summers of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency—during which he met with abolitionist Frederick Douglass in conversations that shaped his position on ending slavery and uniting the country after the Civil War. lajollaplayhouse.org Broadway San Diego brings us Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, March 28-30, at the Civic Theatre. broadwaysd.com

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The national tour of Broadway’s Ain’t Too Proud.

Opposite: a scene from Salome.

L-R: COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO OPERA; JOHAN PERSSON

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IN TH E W I N G S

From below left: Leonardo da Vinci; a scene from Da Vinci’s First Flight; the Balboa Park Botanical Building.

MUSEUMS

TAKING FLIGHT REMEMBERED AS A brilliant artist and visionary obsessed with the principles of flight and aerodynamics, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) left behind notebooks filled with theories and designs that were centuries ahead of their time. Now open at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, Da Vinci’s First Flight is the world-premiere, interactive exhibition that brings Da Vinci’s dreams to life. The exhibit features more than 30 large-scale replicas of his flying machines; as well as a life-size hang glider, the world’s first “drones,” interactive flight experiments, an immersive glider simulation and more. sandiegoairandspace.org Spring is in the air and in the trees at Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Cherry Blossom Festival, March 13-16. The garden hosts four days of family-friendly fun, including cultural performances, food and local vendors. The festival will take place rain or shine and even if the bloom doesn’t align with the dates (the trees bloom in March every year; exact dates vary).

See website for bloom updates and to purchase festival tickets. niwa.org

WELCOME BACK to Balboa Park’s CULTURE landmark Botanical Building. First built in 1915 as part of the PanamaCalifornia Exposition and one of the world’s largest lath structures, the building has reopened after nearly three years of renovation work. The $28.5 million revitalization includes a new redwood lath roof; LED lighting; water irrigation systems, including interior misters; the addition of programming and educational space; and restoration of the building’s historical elements. A collaboration between Forever Balboa Park and the City of San Diego, the project transforms the building into a botanical wonderland, housing around 2,100 permanent plants and rare flowers. It remains one of the most photographed landmarks on the West Coast, fronted by the park’s famous lily pond. Stay tuned for phase two, which will address its surrounding gardens and incorporate sustainable landscaping. 1550 El Prado, Balboa Park, 619.239.0512, balboaparkbotanical.org

FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM (2); COURTESY OF THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO

A Lush Landmark

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FROM LEFT: COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM (2); COURTESY OF THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO

ionwide.

S FEATUR E

Bach Collegium San Diego in concert

TOTAL SOUND EXPLOSION

A

“TOTAL SOUND EXPLOSION” may not be the first description that comes to mind when thinking of a baroque music concert, but that’s what Bach Collegium San Diego (BCSD) is promising this month at its concerts on March 15 in Cardiff-by-the-Sea and March 16 in Point Loma.

An unlikely pairing of groundbreaking works from different centuries—“Les Élémens” from 1737 by the French composer Jean-Féry Rebel and the better-known Symphony No. 5 from 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven— “Total Sound Explosion 2” promises to expand the audience’s understanding of early music and its influences.

(The first “Total Sound Explosion” concert, featuring Mozart’s Symphony in A Minor “Odense” and Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, was performed in May

2022. It was such a hit that Artistic Director Ruben Valenzuela has been looking forward to programming a sequel ever since. It was officially titled “Apotheosis of the Dance,” but “Total Sound Explosion” was BCSD’s nickname for it.)

Founded in 2003 by Valenzuela, BCSD has developed a stellar reputation for dynamic programming and historically informed performances of baroque music and more, on authentic period instruments. The theme for this season, their 22nd, is “Dimensions and Extensions,” and Valenzuela says the season’s concerts “extend beyond the unspoken limits of the repertoire we typically cover.” The works of Beethoven are usually considered outside the realm of baroque or early music, he explains.

“The dividing line between baroque music and what came after it is usually approximately the 1750s, coinciding with Bach’s death,” Valenzuela says. “Some like to

ALL IMAGES ARE COURTESY OF BACH COLLEGIUM SAN DIEGO

Bach Collegium San Diego Presents Four Powerful Spring Concerts by STEPHANIE SAAD

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2/13/25 10:23 AM

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F EA TURE

Artistic Director Ruben Valenzuela

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think in absolutes, but this season we don’t stick to it as a hard and fast rule. The principles that guide baroque music persist, and we see strands continuing through Beethoven. It’s well within the instrumentation to go through the works of Beethoven.”

Valenzuela says both the instruments themselves and the philosophy behind the music-making on those instruments continued to evolve. “In essence, it’s about how the musician approaches the music. A traditional education in the 17th and 18th centuries is different than what comes after. Music was seen as a craft or trade, and the way you composed was very specific. Baroque music is all about communication. The whole educational system set up in the Middle Ages makes its way all the way through Beethoven and then crumbles and falls,

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“A masterpiece that deserves to be in the theatrical canon.” giving way to a modern system of liberal arts and universities.”

Both works to be performed in “Total Sound Explosion 2” were revolutionary in their own way and in their own time, Valenzuela says. “‘Les Élémens’ by Féry opens like an atonal modern work. The composer is depicting the chaos before the world was created.

As the music progresses, some order is restored and then it falls into a more typical French overture suite, but the beginning is quite shocking.”

Pairing “Les Élémens” with the very familiar Beethoven Symphony No. 5 might seem incongruous, but Valenzuela calls Beethoven “a revolutionary composer through and through. He pushed the envelope of what was done before, what instruments can do, to the very limit. He was writing for instruments that were

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FROM THE PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Dear friends, As we designed the renovation of Jacobs Music Center we very much intended that the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s concerts would be at the center of a wide range of music presented here. The month of March demonstrates that commitment. The acoustics of the hall are perfectly suited for a range of musical styles.

Whether it is an orchestra of 90 musicians or a single piano recital, the hall supports the range of musical expression beautifully.

The month of March is designed to show this off in spades, with 13 performances that range from a family concert featuring a woodwind quintet; to a solo piano recital featuring Preludes by Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Szymanowski and Messiaen; a Tony Bennett Tribute by Michael Feinstein; a high-energy Brahms versus Radiohead performance by Steve Hackman; a chamber-size ensemble in an evening of music honoring the mystical beauty of Persian culture led by Gity Razaz; and a jazz ensemble with a tribute to Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Bud Powell and Chick Corea.

Through these performances we are able to experience this wonderful variety of music with the most incredible room in which to listen.

I have always been attracted to many styles of music, and being able to hear them through the coming month of March is something I am truly looking forward. I hope you will join us to experience and explore new ways to listen to our newly reopened hall.

Sincerely,

Martha A. Gilmer President and Chief Executive Officer

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ARTIST BIO | RAFAEL PAYARE

RAFAEL PAYARE

MUSIC DIRECTOR

With his innate musicianship, charismatic energy, gift for communication, and irresistibly joyous spirit, Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare is “electrifying in front of an orchestra” (Los Angeles Times). Payare conducted the San Diego Symphony (SDS) for the first time in January 2018 and was subsequently named the orchestra’s music director designate one month later, before assuming the role of music director in January 2019.

Now in the sixth season of his transformative tenure as music director of the San Diego Symphony, Payare will conduct a full roster of performances with the orchestra at the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center over the 2024-25 season, bookended by Mahler’s Second and Third Symphonies. Last season, Payare led the SDS for its first appearance in a decade at Carnegie Hall, its first performance in Tijuana in nearly 20 years, and in three programs at the inaugural California Festival.

These engagements continued his transformative tenure with the orchestra, which also included their commercial album debut with Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony, The Year 1905.

Payare’s other recent highlights include debuts at the Royal Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival, and with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre national de France, and Staatskapelle Berlin, with which he reunited for Turandot at the Berlin State Opera this past summer.

The 2024-25 season also marks his third as Music Director of Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM).

With the OSM he leads a similarly full season in

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Montreal, tours to eight European cities with pianist Daniil Trifonov, and releases his third album with the orchestra on the Pentatone label—an allSchoenberg recording to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary. The conductor rounds out his season with high profile returns to the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Other current positions are Principal Conductor of Virginia’s Castleton Festival, a post he has held since 2015, and Conductor Laureate of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra, where he was Principal Conductor and Music Director from 2014 to 2019, making multiple appearances at London’s BBC Proms.

Since winning first prize at Denmark’s Malko Competition for Young Conductors in 2012, Payare has made debuts and forged longstanding relationships with many of the world’s preeminent orchestras. His U.S. collaborations include engagements with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony, while his notable European appearances include dates with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and Vienna Philharmonic, which he has led at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, on a Baltic tour, and at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. n

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THE MEMBERS OF THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MUSIC DIRECTOR RAFAEL PAYARE VIOLIN

BASS Jeremy Kurtz-Harris Principal SOPHIE AND ARTHUR BRODY FOUNDATION CHAIR

Jeff Thayer Concertmaster DEBORAH PATE AND JOHN FORREST CHAIR

Susan Wulff Associate Principal

Wesley Precourt Associate Concertmaster

P.J. Cinque

Jisun Yang Assistant Concertmaster Alexander Palamidis Principal Second Violin Cherry Choi Tung Yeung Acting Principal Second Violin Nick Grant Principal Associate Concertmaster Emeritus Kathryn Hatmaker Acting Associate Principal Second Violin Ai Nihira Awata Jing Yan Bowcott Yumi Cho

Kenneth Liao Igor Pandurski Evan Pasternak Julia Pautz

Kevin Gobetz Samuel Hager Michael Wais Margaret Johnston+ FLUTE Rose Lombardo Principal Sarah Tuck Lily Josefsberg PICCOLO Lily Josefsberg

OBOE Sarah Skuster Principal Rodion Belousov Andrea Overturf

Yeh Shen Xiaoxuan Shi Edmund Stein Hanah Stuart John Stubbs Pei-Chun Tsai Tiffany Wee Han Xie Zou Yu Melody Ye Yuan Andrew Kwon* Sarah Schwartz* VIOLA Chi-Yuan Chen Principal KAREN AND WARREN KESSLER CHAIR Nancy Lochner Associate Principal Jason Karlyn Wanda Law

ENGLISH HORN Andrea Overturf DR. WILLIAM AND EVELYN LAMDEN ENGLISH HORN CHAIR CLARINET Sheryl Renk Principal Max Opferkuch Frank Renk

I-Hsuan Huang*

Greg Ochotorena* Kyle Mendiguchia

BASS TROMBONE Kyle Mendiguchia

TUBA Aaron McCalla Principal

HARP Julie Smith Phillips Principal

TIMPANI Ryan J. DiLisi Principal Andrew Watkins Assistant Principal

PERCUSSION Gregory Cohen Principal Erin Douglas Dowrey Andrew Watkins Eduardo Meneses*

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN Courtney Secoy Cohen LIBRARIAN Rachel Fields

BASS CLARINET Frank Renk

BASSOON Valentin Martchev Principal

* Long Term Substitute Musician + Staff Opera Musician

Ryan Simmons Leyla Zamora

Qing Liang Ethan Pernela

Logan Chopyk

Aaron Blick

Alicia Engley Kathryn Hatmaker

TROMBONE Kyle R. Covington Principal

The musicians of the San Diego Symphony are members of San Diego County, Local 325, American Federation of Musicians, AFL-CIO.

CONTRABASSOON Leyla Zamora

Sung-Jin Lee* Rebecca Matayoshi* CELLO Yao Zhao Principal Chia-Ling Chien Associate Principal Andrew Hayhurst John Lee Richard Levine Nathan Walhout Xian Zhuo Youna Choi* Nicole Chung* Benjamin Solomonow*

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HORN Benjamin Jaber Principal Darby Hinshaw Assistant Principal & Utility John Degnan Tricia Skye Mike McCoy* TRUMPET Christopher Smith Principal Clinton McLendon Ray Nowak

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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY

PA R T N E R WITH A PL AY ER The San Diego Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the following donors for their membership in the Partner with a Player program and their profound impact on the orchestra.

Partner with a Player members enjoy the unique opportunity to personally connect with the orchestra and engage with the Symphony in meaningful ways.

The following listing reflects pledges and gifts entered as of January 15, 2024 San Diego Foundation

Rancho Santa Fe Foundation

Jewish Community Foundation

* Deceased

$100,000 AND ABOVE Raffaella and John* Belanich Rafael Payare, Music Director

Joan* and Irwin Jacobs Martha Gilmer, Chief Executive Officer

$50,000 – $99,999 Anonymous (2) San Diego Symphony Musicians

Arlene Inch John Degnan, Horn

Michele and Jules Arthur Kevin Gobetz, Bass

Hayley Janecek and Ross Caleca San Diego Symphony Musicians

Terry Atkinson San Diego Symphony Musicians

Karen and Warren Kessler Chi-Yuan Chen, Principal Viola

Julia R. Brown Leyla Zamora, Bassoon and Contrabassoon

Monica and Robert Oder Gregory Cohen, Principal Percussion

KAREN AND WARREN KESSLER CHAIR

Ross Caleca and Haley Janacek San Diego Symphony Musicians

Linda and Shearn* Platt Ryan J. DiLisi, Principal Timpani

John and Janice Cone Benjamin Jaber, Principal Horn

Marie G. Raftery and Robert A. Rubenstein, M.D. San Diego Symphony Musicians

Kevin and Jan Curtis Aaron McCalla, Principal Tuba Una Davis and Jack McGrory Susan Wulff, Associate Principal Bass Mr. and Mrs.* Brian K. Devine San Diego Symphony Musicians Phyllis and Daniel J. Epstein Sheryl Renk, Principal Clarinet

Gloria and Rodney Stone P.J. Cinque, Bass Jayne and Bill Turpin San Diego Symphony Musicians Leslie and Joe Waters Ethan Pernela, Viola

Elena Romanowsky Edmund Stein, Violin

Kathryn A. and James E. Whistler Rachel Fields, Librarian

Penny and Louis Rosso Andrew Watkins, Assistant Principal Timpani

Cole and Judy Willoughby Christopher Smith, Principal Trumpet

PENNY AND LOUIS ROSSO CHAIR

Elaine Galinson and Herbert Solomon Yumi Cho, Violin

Jean and Gary Shekhter San Diego Symphony Musicians

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Dave and Phyllis Snyder Julia Pautz, Violin

Sue and Bill* Weber Jing Yan Bowcott, Violin

Colette Carson Royston and Ivor Royston Yeh Shen, Violin

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Gayle* and Donald Slate Wesley Precourt, Associate Concertmaster

Jaqueline and Jean-Luc Robert San Diego Symphony Musicians

Pam and Hal Fuson Courtney Cohen, Principal Librarian

Carol and Richard Hertzberg Nick Grant, Principal Associate Concertmaster Emeritus

Karen Foster Silberman and Jeff Silberman Jisun Yang, Assistant Concertmaster

Mitchell Woodbury Valentin Martchev, Principal Bassoon Sarah and Marc Zeitlin Cherry Choi Tung Yeung, Associate Principal Second Violin

Karen and Kit Sickels Jeremy Kurtz-Harris, Principal Bass SOPHIE AND ARTHUR BRODY FOUNDATION CHAIR

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$25,000 – $49,999 Annette and Daniel Bradbury Yao Zhao, Principal Cello Nicole A. and Benjamin G. Clay San Diego Symphony Musicians Karen and Donald Cohn Hanah Stuart, Violin Stephanie and Richard Coutts Chia-Ling Chien, Associate Principal Cello Ann Davies Xian Zhuo, Cello Drs. Martha G. and Edward Dennis San Diego Symphony Musicians Karin and Gary Eastham Jason Karlyn, Viola Anne L. Evans San Diego Symphony Musicians Lisette and Mick Farrell/Farrell Family Foundation Rose Lombardo, Principal Flute

Kelly Greenleaf and Michael Magerman Xiaoxuan Shi, Violin

Allison and Robert Price San Diego Symphony Musicians

Linda Hervey San Diego Symphony Musicians

Carol Randolph, Ph. D and Robert Caplan Pei-Chun Tsai, Violin

Carol and George Lattimer Rodion Belousov, Oboe

Sally and Steve Rogers Kyle Mendiguchia, Trombone

Lisa and Gary Levine, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Igor Pandurski, Violin

Jeanette Stevens Kathryn Hatmaker, Violin

Sandy and Arthur* Levinson Kyle Covington, Principal Trombone

Sandra Timmons and Richard Sandstrom Sarah Skuster, Principal Oboe

Eileen Mason Julie Smith Phillips, Principal Harp

University of San Diego San Diego Symphony Musicians

Anne and Andy McCammon Richard Levine, Cello

Sheryl and Harvey White Alexander Palamidis, Principal Second Violin

Deborah Pate and John Forrest Jeff Thayer, Concertmaster DEBORAH PATE AND JOHN FORREST CHAIR

The Zygowicz Family (John, Judy, and Michelle) Nancy Lochner, Associate Principal Viola

$15,000 – $24,999 Anonymous Nathan Walhout, Cello

Robert Singer, M. D. San Diego Symphony Musicians

Anonymous San Diego Symphony Musicians

Marilyn James and Richard Phetteplace John Stubbs, Violin

Eloise and Warren* Batts Alicia Engley, Violin Diane and Norman Blumenthal Aaron Blick, Bass Dr. Anthony Boganey Logan Chopyk, Trombone Kathleen Seely Davis Qing Liang, Viola Ana de Vedia San Diego Symphony Musicians Hon. James Emerson Kenneth Liao, Violin Joyce Gattas, Ph.D. and Jay Jeffcoat Youna Choi, Cello

Jo Ann Kilty Tricia Skye, Horn Helen and Sig Kupka Lily Josefsberg, Piccolo/Flute Dr. William and Evelyn Lamden Andrea Overturf, Oboe

Dr. WILLIAM AND EVELYN LAMDEN CHAIR

Carol Lazier and James Merritt Sarah Tuck, Flute Marshall Littman, M.D. Nicole Chung, Cello

San Diego Symphony Musicians Cathy Robinson San Diego Symphony Musicians Stephen M. Silverman Ai Nihira Awata, Violin Elizabeth and Joseph* Taft Wanda Law, Viola Linda and Raymond* Thomas R.V. Thomas Family Fund Ray Nowak, Trumpet Julie & Stephen Tierney San Diego Symphony Musicians Isabelle and Mel* Wasserman Andrew Hayhurst, Cello

Rena Minisi and Rich Paul Ryan Simmons, Bassoon

Jill Gormley and Laurie Lipman Frank Renk, Bass Clarinet Janet and Wil Gorrie Zou Yu, Violin

Val and Ron Ontell Darby Hinshaw, Assistant Principal & Utility Horn Jane and Jon Pollock Evan Pasternak, Section Violin

Judith C. Harris* and

Pamela and Stephen Quinn

For more information, or to join, please contact Vice President of Institutional Advancement, Sheri Broedlow at (619) 615-3910 or sbroedlow@sandiegosymphony.org.

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THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROUDLY PRESENTS

Th go ex Jac art

If y ple rec

The Beethoven Society is designed to raise consistent, critical funding for artistic, educational and community programs. Members pledge multi-year support and commit to annual gifts of $50,000 and higher, designated for projects ranging from classical and jazz concerts to education and military programs.

The Symphony and its Board of Directors are pleased to thank the following for their leadership and to acknowledge them as Members of The Beethoven Society.

JOAN* AND IRWIN JACOBS

$5 MILLION and above

$200,000 and above

MICHELE AND JULES ARTHUR

TERRY L. ATKINSON

BRIAN AND SILVIJA* DEVINE

PHYLLIS AND DANIEL EPSTEIN

JULIA R. BROWN

ROSS CALECA AND HAYLEY JANECEK

PAM AND HAL FUSON

ELAINE GALINSON AND HERBERT SOLOMON

JAN AND KEVIN CURTIS

UNA DAVIS AND JACK McGRORY

ARLENE INCH

KAREN AND WARREN KESSLER

JAQUELINE AND JEAN-LUC ROBERT

MONICA AND ROBERT ODER

LINDA AND SHEARN* PLATT

MARIE RAFTERY AND DR. ROBERT RUBENSTEIN

COLETTE CARSON ROYSTON AND IVOR ROYSTON

JEAN AND GARY SHEKHTER

KAREN AND KIT SICKELS

GLORIA AND RODNEY STONE

JAYNE AND BILL TURPIN

LESLIE AND JOE WATERS

ELENA ROMANOWSKY

PENNY AND LOUIS ROSSO

KAREN FOSTER SILBERMAN AND JEFF SILBERMAN

GAYLE* AND DONALD SLATE

DAVE AND PHYLLIS SNYDER

SUE AND BILL* WEBER

KATHRYN A. AND JAMES E. WHISTLER

COLE AND JUDY WILLOUGHBY

* Denotes deceased ANONYMOUS (2)

P6 PERFOR M A NCE S M AGA ZINE MITCHELL WOODBURY

SARAH AND MARC ZEITLIN

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For information about supporting the San Diego Symphony Orchestra through membership in The Beethoven Society, please call Sheri Broedlow at (619) 615-3910.

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The San Diego Symphony is proud to announce that we have met our goal of $125 million for “The Future is Hear” Campaign! This extraordinary campaign supports construction of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, improvements to Jacobs Music Center, and wide-ranging artistic initiatives for San Diego’s communities.

If you are interested in supporting The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park please email campaign@sandiegosymphony.org for giving and recognition opportunities.

GUEST ARTIST SPONSORS We gratefully acknowledge our Guest Artist Sponsors. Please call (619) 615-3910 to participate!

ALAN BENAROYA DAVID BIALIS BROOKE KOEHLER THE BJORG FAMILY VAIL MEMORIAL FUND, MEREDITH BROWN, TRUSTEE DOROTHEA LAUB

San Diego Symphony is pleased to have Sycuan Casino Resort as the lead sponsor of the Music Connects Community Concerts!

Bird Singers from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation performing at the opening of a San Diego Symphony Community Concert on stage at Live & Up Close | Sycuan Casino Resort.

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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY BOARDS BOARD OF DIRECTORS David R. Snyder, Esq. Chair of the Board* Harold W. Fuson Jr. Immediate Past Chair* Colette Carson Royston Vice Chair* Una Davis Vice Chair* David Bialis Treasurer* Linda Platt Secretary*

Michele Arthur Tim Barelli Lisa Behun* Steve G. Bjorg Anthony C. Boganey, M.D., FACS Annette Bradbury Benjamin G. Clay Kathleen Davis* Martha G. Dennis, Ph.D. Phyllis Epstein* Karen Foster Silberman Janet Gorrie Dr. Nancy Hong* Arlene Inch

Jerri-Ann Jacobs Warren O. Kessler, M.D.* Kris Kopensky Deborah Pate Sherron Schuster Marivi Shivers Christopher D. “Kit” Sickels Gloria Stone Frank Vizcarra Mitchell R. Woodbury*

*EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

HONORARY LIFETIME DIRECTORS Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs Joan K. Jacobs (1933-2024) Warren O. Kessler, M.D.

Anne Francis Ratner (1911-2011)

Herbert Solomon

Lawrence B. Robinson (d. 2021)

Mitchell R. Woodbury

FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Warren O. Kessler, M.D. Chair

Eunice Bragais

David R. Snyder, Esq. Vice Chair

Harold W. Fuson Jr.

Sandy Levinson Secretary Mitchell R. Woodbury Treasurer

Robert Caplan, Esq. Martha Gilmer Susan Mallory Jeremy Pearl Mark Stuart

PAST BOARD CHAIRS 2021-23 Harold W. Fuson Jr. 2018-21 David R. Snyder, Esq. 2015-18 Warren O. Kessler, M.D. 2014-15 Shearn H. Platt 2011-14 Evelyn Olson Lamden 2009-11 Mitchell R. Woodbury 2008-09 Theresa J. Drew 2007-08 Steven R. Penhall 2005-07 Mitchell R. Woodbury 2004-05 Craig A. Schloss, Esq. 2003-04 John R. Queen 2001-03 Harold B. Dokmo Jr. 2000-01 Ben G. Clay 1998-00 Sandra Pay 1995-96 Elsie V. Weston

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1994-95 Thomas Morgan 1993-94 David Dorne, Esq. 1989-93 Warren O. Kessler, M.D. 1988-89 Elsie V. Weston 1986-88 Herbert J. Solomon 1984-86 M.B. “Det” Merryman 1982-84 Louis F. Cumming 1980-82 David E. Porter 1978-80 Paul L. Stevens 1976-78 Laurie H. Waddy 1974-76 William N. Jenkins, Esq. 1971-74 L. Thomas Halverstadt 1970-71 Simon Reznikoff 1969-70 Robert J. Sullivan 1968-69 Arthur S. Johnson

1966-68 Michael Ibs Gonzalez, Esq. 1964-66 Philip M. Klauber 1963-64 Oliver B. James Jr. 1961-63 J. Dallas Clark 1960-61 Fielder K. Lutes 1959-60 Dr. G. Burch Mehlin 1956-58 Admiral Wilder D. Baker 1953-56 Mrs. Fred G. Goss 1952-53 Donald A. Stewart 1940-42 Donald B. Smith 1938-39 Mrs. William H. Porterfield 1934-37 Mrs. Marshall O. Terry 1930-33 Mouney C. Pfefferkorn 1928-29 Willett S. Dorland 1927 Ed H. Clay

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THE LEGACY SOCIETY The Legacy Society honors the following individuals who have made cash pledges or future commitments from their estates to the San Diego Symphony Foundation and/or the San Diego Symphony Orchestra Association to ensure the success of the orchestra for generations to come. The following listing includes commitments as of January 15, 2024 *Deceased $1,000,000 AND ABOVE

$100,000 AND ABOVE

Sophie & Arthur Brody Foundation* Nicole A. and Benjamin G. Clay Daniel J. and Phyllis Epstein John Forrest and Deborah Pate Elaine Galinson and Herbert Solomon Norman Forrester and Bill Griffin Pauline Foster* Pamela Hamilton Lester In Memory of Jim Lester Joan* and Irwin Jacobs Karen and Warren Kessler Willis J. Larkin* Beatrice P. and Charles W. Lynds* Jack McGrory The Miller Fund Marilyn James and Richard Phetteplace Penny and Louis Rosso Marie G. Raftery and Robert A. Rubenstein, M. D. Lyn Small and Miguel Ikeda Katherine “Kaylan” Thornhill Sue and Bill* Weber Mitchell R. Woodbury

Anonymous Alfred F. Antonicelli* Rosanne B. and W. Gregory Berton Julia R. Brown Margaret and David* Brown Roberta and Malin Burnham The Carton Charitable Trust* Joan R. Cooper* Bob and Kathy Cueva Elizabeth and Newell A. Eddy* Esther and Bud* Fischer Pam and Hal Fuson Joyce A. Glazer Nancy and Fred Gloyna Muriel Gluck* Judith C. Harris* and Robert Singer, M. D. Susan and Paul Hering Barbara M. Katz Evelyn and William Lamden Inge Lehman* Sandy and Arthur* Levinson

Pamela Mallory Elizabeth R. Mayer* Vance M. McBurney* Imozelle and Jim McVeigh Shona Pierce* Linda and Shearn* Platt Anne Ratner* Colette Carson Royston and Ivor Royston Ken Schwartz* Kris and Chris Seeger Karen and Kit Sickels Gayle* and Donald Slate Sheila Sloan* Dave and Phyllis Snyder Pat Stein* James L.* and June A. Swartz Elizabeth and Joseph* Taft Colonel (Ret.) Joseph and Mrs. Joyce Timmons Leslie and Joe Waters

UNDISCLOSED OR UNDER $100,000

Esq.

r

field

Anonymous (3) Leonard Abrahms* Carol Rolf and Steven Adler Pat Baker and Laurence Norquist* William Beamish Stephen and Michele* Beck-von-Peccoz Alan Benaroya Lt. Margaret L Boyce USN* Dennis and Lisa Bradley Gordon Brodfuehrer Joseph H. Brooks and Douglas Walker Donna Bullock Melanie and Russ Chapman Clancy-Jordan Family Catherine Cleary Warrine and Ted Cranston* Elisabeth and Robert* Crouch Peter V. Czipott and Marisa SorBello Caroline S. DeMar Ms. Peggy Ann Dillon* Alice Dyer Trust* Arthur S. Ecker* Jeanne and Morey Feldman* David Finkelstein* Teresa and Merle Fischlowitz* Margaret A. Flickinger Judith and Dr. William Friedel Carol J. Gable* Edward B. Gill Madeline and Milton Goldberg* Helene Grant* Dorothy and Waldo Greiner* David and Claire Guggenheim Judith Harris* and Robert Singer, M.D. Lulu Hsu

Marjory Kaplan Patricia A. Keller* Anne* and Takashi Kiyoizumi Carol Lazier and James Merritt Joan Lewan* Jaime z’’l* and Sylvia Liwerant Gladys Madoff* John and Amy Malone Richard Manion James Marshall, Ph.D. Patricia and Peter Matthews Antoinette Chaix McCabe* Sandra Miner Judith A. Moore Ermen and Fred Moradi* Mona and Sam Morebello Helen and Joseph R. Nelson* Joani Nelson Mariellen Oliver* Elizabeth and Dene Oliver Val and Ron Ontell Steven Penhall Margaret F. Peninger* Pauline Peternella* Robert Plimpton Elizabeth Poltere Sheila Potiker* Jim Price and Joan Sieber Carol Randolph, PH.D. and Robert Caplan Sarah Marsh-Rebelo and John Rebelo Lois Richmond (of blessed memory)* Debra Thomas Richter and Mark Richter Dr. Arno Safier*

Joan and Jack Salb* Richard A. Samuelson* Craig Schloss Todd Schultz Melynnique and Edward* Seabrook Pat Shank Kathleen and Lewis* Shuster Drs. Bella and Alexander* Silverman Stephen M. Silverman Richard Sipan* Linda and Bob Snider Valerie Stallings Richard Stern* Marjorie A. Stettbacher Susan B. Stillings* Joyce and Ted Strauss* Gene Summ Sheryl Sutton Victor van Lint Harriet and Maneck* Wadia Pauline and Ralph Wagner* Betty and Phillip Ward PIF Fund* K. Nikki Waters Mike & Janet Westling James R. Williams and Nancy S. Williams* Martha Jean Winslow* Marga Winston* Edward Witt Carolyn and Eric Witt David A. Wood Zarbock 1990 Trust* LeAnna S. Zevely Dr. and Mrs. Philip Ziring

If you are interested in more information about joining The Legacy Society, please contact Vice President of Institutional Advancement Sheri Broedlow at (619) 615-3910 or sbroedlow@sandiegosymphony.org.

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PROGRAM TO BE ANNOUNCED ON STAGE Total Program Duration: Approximately 2 Hours (includes one 20 minute intermission)

SUNDAY, MARCH 2 6:30PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 JACOBS MUSIC CENTER SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN IN “BECAUSE OF YOU” Michael Feinstein, piano & vocals John Lake, Alphonso Horne, Derek Cannon, and Doug Meeuwsen, trumpet Carter Key, Kevin Esposito, Jeanne Geiger, and Matthew Hall, trombone Kurt Bacher, Sam Dillon, Chaz Cabrera, Tripp Sprague, and JP Balmat, saxophone Tedd Firth, piano Louis Valenzuela, guitar David Finck, bass Mark McLean, drums Crew: Andy Brattain, Production Manager/ FOH Engineer Matthew Crosland, Video Operator/ Tour Hospitality Brad McNett, Tour Manager

Scan this QR code with your smartphone or text SDS to 55741 to access the interactive version of the program.

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ARTIST BIOS | BECAUSE OF YOU

ABOUT THE ARTIST MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

Michael Feinstein brings to life Big Band Celebrations and the Tony Bennett legacy. Supported by the Carnegie Hall Big Band, Feinstein pays a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Tony Bennett, bringing his iconic songs to life in a symphony of sound.

The performance will feature hits such as “Because of You”, “Rags to Riches”, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, “The Best is Yet To Come”, “I Get a Kick Out of You”, “Stranger in Paradise” and many more. Feinstein’s dynamic interpretations, coupled with the grandeur of the big band, will create an unforgettable night that honors the legacy of Tony Bennett in all its glory.

Michael Feinstein’s close friendship with Tony Bennett adds a profound layer to this tribute, as their camaraderie brings authenticity and depth to each note performed.

Not only does Feinstein’s masterful interpretation of Bennett’s timeless repertoire pay homage to an era of classic songwriting, but it also preserves the rich cultural heritage that these songs represent.

The show also brings to bear the history of Carnegie Hall, which has been connected to the American big band for decades. Icons from across the 20th and 21st Century have graced the stage of Carnegie Hall, from Benny Goodman to Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong to Ella Fitzgerald and from Frank Sinatra to of course, Tony Bennett. A multimedia element of the show will help to bring this history to life onstage.

“Tony Bennett is one of the most enduring icons of the 20th century. He has created a body of work surpassed by none.”

- Michael Feinstein n

ABOUT CARNEGIE HALL

Since 1891, New York’s Carnegie Hall has set the international standard for excellence in performance as the aspirational destination for artists of all musical genres. From Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Mahler, and Bartók to George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Judy Garland, and The Beatles, every form of music has filled Carnegie Hall—the only prerequisite: that it be the finest. Today, the venue remains one of the world’s greatest concert halls and an active cultural destination for artists and audiences. Complementing hundreds of performances on its stages each season, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute creates extensive music education and social impact programs that serve more than 800,000 people annually worldwide—plus many more online—playing a central role in Carnegie Hall’s commitment to making great music accessible to as many people as possible.

For more information, please visit carnegiehall.org. n

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PROGRAM RAVEL Suite (5 pièces enfantines) from Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty) Petit Poucet (Tom Thumb) Laideronnette, Impératrice des pagodes (Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas) Les Entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête (Conversations of Beauty and the Beast) Le Jardin féerique (The Enchanted Garden)

FRIDAY, MARCH 7 7:30PM SUNDAY, MARCH 9 2PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 JACOBS MASTERWORKS

MOTHER GOOSE, SYMPHONIC DANCES AND MORE Matthias Pintscher, conductor Alexi Kenney, violin San Diego Symphony Orchestra

BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2 Allegro non troppo Theme and Variations: Andante tranquillo Rondo: Allegro molto Alexi Kenney, violin -INTERMISSION-

RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 Non allegro - Lento - Tempo I Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) Lento assai - Allegro vivace

Total Program Duration: Approximately 2 Hours (includes one 20 minute intermission).

Scan this QR code with your smartphone or text SDS to 55741 to access the interactive version of the program.

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ARTIST BIOS | MOTHER GOOSE, SYMPHONIC DANCES AND MORE

ABOUT THE ARTISTS ALEXI KENNEY

Violinist Alexi Kenney is forging a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart.

He is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras, and collaborating with some of the most celebrated artists and musicians of our time. Alexi is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a BorlettiBuitoni Trust Award.

Photo by Felix Broede

MATTHIAS PINTSCHER

Matthias Pintscher is the newly appointed Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony (KCS), effective from the 2024-25 season. He launched his tenure with the KCS with a highly successful tour to Europe in August, with concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Pintscher has conducted several opera productions, including with the Staatsoper Berlin (Wagner’s Lohengrin and The Flying Dutchman, and Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee last season) and the Wiener Staatsoper (Olga Neuwirth’s Orlando).

Pintscher recently concluded a decade-long tenure as the Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the iconic Parisian contemporary ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez. He has held several titled positions, including as BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Artist-in-Association for nine seasons, Music Director for the 2020 Ojai Festival, and as Season Creative Chair with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Artist-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2018-19. An enthusiastic supporter of and mentor to students and young musicians, Pintscher was Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, and ran the Heidelberger Atelier, an academy for young musicians and composers, from 2005 to 2018.

He has also worked with the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Music Academy of the West, National Orchestral Institute, and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie.

Pintscher is also well known as a composer, and his works appear frequently on the programs of major symphony orchestras throughout the world and have been performed by such orchestras as the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris, among many others. He has been on the composition faculty of the Juilliard School since 2014.

Alexi has performed as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and San Diego symphonies, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. This season, he plays the complete violin sonatas of Robert Schumann with Amy Yang on period instruments at the Frick Collection, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Phillips Collection.

He continues to tour his project Shifting Ground in collaboration with the new media artist Xuan, which intersperses works for solo violin by J.S. Bach with pieces

by Matthew Burtner, Mario Davidovsky, Salina Fisher, Nicola Matteis, Angélica Negrón, and Paul Wiancko.

Alexi is a founding member of the two-cello quartet Owls, hailed as a “dream group” by The New York Times, alongside violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Gabe Cabezas, and cellist-composer Paul Wiancko. He regularly performs at chamber music festivals including Caramoor, ChamberFest Cleveland, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla, Ojai, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Seattle, and Spoleto. He is an alum of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Born in Palo Alto, California in 1994, Alexi is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied with Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried.

Previous teachers in the Bay Area include Wei He, Jenny Rudin, and Natasha Fong. He plays a violin made in London by Stefan-Peter Greiner in 2009 and a bow made in Port Townsend, WA by Charles Espey in 2024.

Outside of music, Alexi enjoys searching for great food and coffee, baking for friends, and walking for miles on end in whichever city he finds himself, listening to podcasts and Bach on repeat. n

Photo by Grittani Creative

Matthias Pintscher is published exclusively by Bärenreiter, and recordings of his works can be found on Kairos, EMI, Teldec, Wergo, and Winter & Winter. n

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PROGRAM NOTES | MOTHER GOOSE, SYMPHONIC DANCES AND MORE

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Violin Concerto No. 2

Suite (5 pièces enfantines) from Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose)

BÉLA BARTÓK

MAURICE RAVEL

Born March 7, 1875, Ciboure, Basses-Pyrennes Died December 28, 1937, Paris APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 16 MINUTES Ravel was a very strange mixture as a person. A man of enormous sophistication and intelligence, he nevertheless felt throughout his life a stinging longing for the world of the child: he collected toys and was fascinated by the illustrations in children’s books. Not surprisingly, he made friends easily with children and sometimes abandoned the adults at parties to go off and play games with their children.

Ravel’s fascination with the world of the child found expression in his art: he wrote music for children to hear (such as his opera L’Enfant et les Sortileges) and music for them to play. His Ma Mère l’Oye (“Mother Goose Suite”) for piano-four hands dates from 1908. Each of the five movements was inspired by a scene from an old French fairy tale; the suite, however, should be understood as a collection of five separate scenes rather than as a connected whole.

In an oft-quoted remark, Ravel described his aim and his technique in this music: “My intention of awaking the poetry of childhood in these pieces naturally led me to simplify my style and thin out my writing.” This may be music for children to hear – and for very talented children to play – but it is also music for adults: it evokes the freshness and magic of something long in the past. In 1911, Ravel orchestrated Ma Mère l’Oye, slightly expanding the music in the process.

The very gentle Pavane of the Sleeping Princess depicts the graceful dance of the attendants around the sleeping Princess Florine. Hop O’ My Thumb tells of one of the most famous figures in children’s tales – the little boy who leaves a trail of breadcrumbs behind in the woods, only to become lost when birds eat the crumbs. The music itself seems to wander forlornly as the lost boy searches for the path; high above him, the birds who ate his crumbs cry out tauntingly.

Empress of the Pagodas tells the story of the empress who is made ugly by a spell, only to be transformed to beauty at the end. When she steps into her bath in the garden, bells burst out in happy peals. Ravel’s use of the pentatonic scale – the music is played mostly on black notes – evokes an exotic atmosphere. Beauty and the Beast brings another classic tale. Ravel depicts Beauty with a gentle waltz, Beast with a lumpish, growling theme in the contrabassoon’s low register. A delicate glissando depicts his transformation, and Ravel skillfully combines the music of both characters. The Enchanted Garden brings the suite to a happily-ever-after ending. The opening – for strings alone – is simple, almost chaste, but gradually the music assumes a broad, heroic character and – decorated with brilliant runs – drives to a noble close in shining C Major. n

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Born March 25, 1881, Nagyszentmiklos, Hungary Died September 26, 1945, New York City APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 27 MINUTES In the summer of 1936 – just as he was finishing his Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta – Bartók had a visit from his old friend and frequent recital partner, the violinist Zoltán Székely, who asked the composer to write a violin concerto for him. Bartók countered with a different suggestion: instead of a concerto, would Székely accept a set of variations for violin and orchestra? Székely said no – he wanted a concerto, and Bartók finally agreed to write one for him. But it took a long time. Normally a fast worker, Bartók spent over two years on this concerto. He did not complete the concerto until the final day of 1938, barely in time for Székely to learn it and to have the orchestral parts copied – the premiere took place in Amsterdam only twelve weeks later, on March 23, 1939.

Székely may have got what he wanted, but when he gave the violinist the manuscript Bartók pointed out that he too had got what he originally proposed. Not only is the central movement of the concerto in theme-and-variation form, but Bartók gleefully noted that “strictly speaking, [the last movement] is a free variation of the first movement (so I managed to outwit you. I wrote variations after all.)”

Both men had reason to be pleased. For all the ingenuity of Bartók’s variation procedures, this is at heart a very traditional violin concerto. Beethoven and Brahms would have found its harmonic language assaultive, but they would have recognized its form immediately: a sonata-form first movement with a cadenza near the close, a lyric variation-movement in the center, and a brilliant sonata-form movement to conclude. Beyond this, it is a virtuoso concerto in the best sense of that term. Bartók did not play the violin, but his understanding of that instrument was profound. This is a violinist’s violin concerto: it sits comfortably under the hand, Bartók plays to the violin’s lyric and dramatic strengths, and in the process he creates soaring, heroic music for both soloist and orchestra. Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 may speak the harmonic language of the twentieth century, but in form, gesture and intention it is essentially a big nineteenthcentury virtuoso concerto – Bartók here pours a bracing new wine into a familiar old bottle.

The Allegro non troppo grows out of a wealth of thematic ideas – even before the soloist enters, the harp’s opening B-Major triads and the strings’ deep pizzicatos lay a harmonic and thematic basis for much of what follows. The entrance of the solo violin is magnificent: beginning on its lowest note, the violin arcs upward across a range of more than three octaves before this theme is completely stated. The second subject, marked Calmo, sings sinuously, and this brings a most intriguing moment, because this is a twelve-tone theme.

Bartók wrote it consciously, and he was very proud of it – he told Yehudi Menuhin that he had written it because he “wanted to show Schoenberg that one can use all twelve tones and still remain tonal.” Bartók, however, treats this theme not as a tone-row to be manipulated but as a discrete theme capable of development and change.

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PROGRAM NOTES | MOTHER GOOSE, SYMPHONIC DANCES AND MORE

Bartók himself wrote the cadenza. This gets off to a striking start on the sound of quarter-tones: the violin rocks back and forth across its open D-string, upward to a flattened E-flat and downward to a sharpened C-sharp. The wonderful cadenza ruminates on themes, then grows more animated and rushes into the coda. The movement concludes on a resounding B from every person on the stage.

After that fiery finish, the Andante tranquillo arrives with the greatest delicacy as the solo violin sings the wistful little eightbar tune that will serve as the basis for six variations. The six variations are easily followed, and the fun lies in hearing that little tune – so gentle on its first appearance – sing in so many ways. Particularly striking are the third variation, which begins with the violinist’s gruff double-stopping at the frog of the bow; the fourth, which trills and swirls before concluding with a particularly beautiful re-imagining of the main theme; and the sixth, full of buzzing trills and repeated notes (do we hear an echo here of the insect sounds Bartók loved throughout his life?).

Manuscript evidence shows that the idea of making the finale a variation of the first movement occurred to Bartók while he was at work on the opening movement. To a mind with the formal precision of Bartók’s, such a mirror-image variation must have seemed an appealing challenge, and he does it in breathtaking detail: not only the themes but also the structure and accompaniment figures of the first movement are transformed in the last. There are some important changes in the process: the 4/4 of the first movement becomes 3/4 in the last, and the tempo is much faster (Allegro molto). As we hear this movement, there is the fun sense of revisiting familiar things in strange new ways, as if we are looking into a carnival mirror that distorts even as its re-presents. In the process, the character of the music is transformed: what had been noble, soaring, even heroic in the first movement becomes tart, “dancy,” even a little sassy in the finale. n

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 SERGE RACHMANINOFF

Born April 1, 1873, Semyonovo Died March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 35 minutes Rachmaninoff spent the summer of 1940 at Orchard Point, a seventeen-acre estate on Long Island that had groves, orchards and a secluded studio where he could work in peace.

There, very near the East and West Egg of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Rachmaninoff set to work on what would be his final complete work, a set of dances for orchestra. By August, he had the score complete in a version for two pianos, and – because he regarded this as a dance score – he consulted with choreographer Mikhail Fokine, a neighbor that summer.

Fokine liked the music when Rachmaninoff played it for him, and they began to look ahead to a ballet production, but Fokine’s death shortly thereafter ended any thought of that.

By the time he completed the orchestration on October 29, Rachmaninoff had changed its name to Symphonic Dances and dropped the descriptive movement titles. Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the premiere on January 3, 1941. Rachmaninoff himself seemed surprised by S A N DI EGO SY M PHON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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what he had created, and when friends congratulated him on the energy of this music, he said, “I don’t know how it happened – it must have been my last spark.” Two years later he was dead.

This score is remarkable for the opulence of its color, and Rachmaninoff seems intent here on finding and exploiting new orchestral sonorities. Some of these are completely new sounds for him (such as his use of an alto saxophone), but more comes from his refined use of standard instruments, such as the contrasting sound of stopped, open and muted brass in the second movement or the striking cascades of open-string figures in the last. For all their sumptuous sound, though, the Symphonic Dances are more remarkable for Rachmaninoff’s subtle compositional method. Rather than relying on the Big Tune, he evolves this music from the most economical of materials – rhythmic fragments, bits of theme, simple patterns – which are then built up into powerful movements that almost overflow with rhythmic energy. Rachmaninoff may have been 67 and in declining strength in 1940, but that summer he wrote with the hand of a master.

The music opens with some of these fragments, just bits of sound from the first violins, and over them the English horn sounds the three-note pattern that will permeate the Symphonic Dances, reappearing in endless forms across the span of this score. Rachmaninoff plays it up here into a great climax, which subsides as the opening fragments lead to the central episode, sung at first entirely by woodwinds. This slow interlude – somehow the reedy sound of the alto sax is exactly right for this wistful music – makes its way back to the big gestures of the beginning section, now energized by explosive timpani salvos. In the closing moments, Rachmaninoff rounds matter off with a grand chorale for strings (here finally is the Big Tune), beautifully accompanied by the glistening sound of bells, piano, harp, piccolo and flutes, and the movement winks into silence on the fragments with which it began.

The opening of the second movement takes us into a completely different sound-world, for Rachmaninoff begins with the icy sound of trumpets and horns, played forte but stopped.

This movement is marked Tempo di valse, the only explicit dance indication in the score. Rachmaninoff may call for a waltz tempo here, but he avoids the traditional meter of 3/4, setting the music instead in 6/8 and 9/8, and having the waltz introduced by the unlikely sound of solo English horn.

The slow introduction to the final movement is enlivened by the strings’ interjections of the three-note pattern. Gradually these anneal into the Allegro vivace, and off the movement goes, full of rhythmic energy and the sound of ringing bells. A central episode in the tempo of the introduction sings darkly (Rachmaninoff marks it lamentoso). There are some wonderful sounds here, including great eerie string glissandos, and finally the Allegro vivace returns to rush the Symphonic Dances to the close. Out of this rush, some unexpected features emerge: a quotation from Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony (composed nearly fifty years earlier), the liturgical chant “Blessed Be the Lord,” and – finally – that old Rachmaninoff obsession, the Dies Irae. At first this is only hinted at, but gradually it takes shape amid the blazing rush and finally is shouted out in all its glory as this music dances furiously to a close guaranteed to rip the top off a concert hall.

At the end of the manuscript of Symphonic Dances, Rachmaninoff – perhaps aware that this would be his last work – wrote (in Russian) the simple phrase: “I thank Thee, Lord.” n

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PROGRAM TO BE ANNOUNCED ON STAGE

Program does not include an intermission.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8 7:30PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 JACOBS MUSIC CENTER SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

STEVE HACKMAN’S BRAHMS X RADIOHEAD Steve Hackman, conductor Brooke Simpson, vocalist Rich Saunders, vocalist Khalil Overton, vocalist San Diego Symphony Orchestra

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ARTIST BIO | STEVE HACKMAN’S BRAHMS X RADIOHEAD

ABOUT THE ARTIST STEVE HACKMAN

A multi-hyphenate music powerhouse and creative visionary, Steve Hackman is a daring voice intent on redefining art music in the 21st century. Trained at the elite level classically but equally adept in popular styles, his breadth of musical fluency and technique is uncanny—he is at once a composer, conductor, producer, DJ, arranger, songwriter, singer, and pianist. He uses these polymathic abilities to create original music of incisive modernism yet rooted in elevated classicism.

The catalog of groundbreaking orchestral fusions that Hackman has created, such as Brahms X Radiohead and The Resurrection Mixtape (Mahler X Notorious BIG X Tupac Shakur), were heralded by Seen and Heard International as “among the most daring and innovative modern experiments in avant-classical” music. These fusions are introducing the symphony orchestra to its future audience; he has conducted these pieces to sellout houses at nearly every major orchestra in America, including those of Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, Detroit, Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Oregon and the Boston Pops.

Hackman serves as the conductor and curator of the BSO Fusion with the Baltimore Symphony, presenting multiple concerts per year of his fusion productions. He is Creative Director and Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony’s Uncharted Series, one of the most successful Gen-Z and millennial-focused concert experiences in the country.

Hackman has been instrumental in the development of this concert series since 2010.

Hackman’s signature blend of classicism and modernism is being increasingly heard at the biggest events in the world; in 2024 alone he was a part of the writing team for the 2024 Academy Awards, collaborated with Charlie Puth, The War and Treaty, and Rickey Minor in arranging the “In Memoriam” segment for the 2024 Emmy Awards, was on the writing team for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, as well as that for Jimmy Carter’s 100th Birthday Celebration. 2024 also saw the American premiere of two of Hackman’s newest orchestral fusions: Beethoven X Beyoncé and Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin X Queen). Hackman is currently collaborating with Moses Sumney on both an album and film project, while also scoring two feature films and developing several Broadway titles.

In 2023 Hackman launched his original music project THE BRINK, a four-part, 300-minute work incorporating elements as wide-ranging as lyric opera and art-song cycles to conceptual hip-hop and experimental electronica. The work, immersive and experiential in nature, is written for a hybrid ensemble implementing strings, woodwinds, brass, synthesizers, multiple vocalists, bass, drums, guitar, piano and multiple keyboards, with Hackman conducting, playing and singing. Chapters I and II premiered at underground performances in March and June of 2023.

Hackman has teamed up with some of the biggest pop superstars of today to add a signature virtuosic and classical dimension to their work. He has collaborated multiple times with Charlie Puth and Steve Lacy, most recently reimagining and conducting Lacy’s repertoire for full orchestra at his tour-culminating show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Hackman has also collaborated frequently with Doja Cat, performing with her at the 2021 VMA’s in Brooklyn, following orchestrating and arranging strings for her performances at the Billboard Music Awards and iHeart Radio Music Awards. In December 2019, Hackman collaborated with Kanye West and the Sunday Service Choir in their production of the opera Mary. Other soloists and ensembles Hackman has composed/arranged for and collaborated with include Hilary Hahn, Dave Koz, Beach Boys, Michael Bolton, Aoife O’Donovan, Storm Large, Carly Rae Jepsen, and choral ensembles Voces 8, Chanticleer, The Tallis Scholars and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Hackman is active on social media under the handle @stevehackmanmusic. n

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Brahms X Radiohead is an epic symphonic synthesis of Radiohead’s album OK Computer and the Brahms First Symphony, composed for full symphony orchestra and three solo vocalists. The piece offers a reimagined experience of each work by seeing it through the lens of the other, exploring the explosive tension and deep pathos they have in common. Brahms’ 19th-century orchestral sound palette is used throughout, but woven in, superimposed, and inserted are the melodies and music of Radiohead. At times one hears the themes and lyrics of Radiohead suspended over Brahms’ symphony; at times the orchestra plays the music of Radiohead but filtered through the counterpoint and harmonies of Brahms. Every combination of synthesis is explored in Hackman’s recomposition, as the music moves from one to the other so seamlessly that many times the audience is left wondering which is which, and how the combination was even possible.

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UPCOMING APRIL CONCERTS

ALISA WEILERSTEIN: FRAGMENTS 3

WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN

In FRAGMENTS 3, the third installment of this groundbreaking performance series for solo cello performed by Alisa Weilerstein, new works are woven together with Johann Sebastian Bach’s third cello suite, responsive lighting and scenic architecture, inviting audiences into an immersive, multisensory experience.

Celebrate the spirit of Mardi Gras with a night of hot New Orleans jazz! The good times roll with music made famous by Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson, Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong. From street parades in the French Quarter to late night jams in the city’s famed clubs, this party transforms into an unforgettable Mardi Gras celebration with Byron Stripling, Sydney McSweeney and Bobby Floyd leading the parade with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra!

THE MOUNTAIN THAT LOVED A BIRD

DUKE ELLINGTON AND BILLY STRAYHORN

April 8 | 7:30PM

April 26 | 11AM

FAMILY CONCERT SERIES Celebrate springtime and transport yourself into a timeless story about friendship in composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s musical adaptation of The Mountain that Loved a Bird by Alice McLerran.

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April 19 | 7:30PM

April 26 | 7:30PM

JAZZ @ THE JACOBS SERIES The artistic collaboration between Duke Ellington and composer/ arranger Billy Strayhorn is one of the most important in the history of American music. Duke Ellington trusted Billy Strayhorn’s artistic gifts from the moment he joined the band in 1939, until Strayhorn’s death in 1967. Strayhorn wrote many of the songs we associate with the Duke Ellington Band today, including their theme song “Take the A Train”, “Satin Doll”, “Something to Live For” and many more.

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MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT Clint McLendon

Tell us about your journey to the San Diego Symphony My journey to the San Diego Symphony was not a linear trajectory by no means, but one with many ups and downs. In middle school, I attended the Atlanta Trumpet Festival and got to meet and hear Chris Martin, who was the Principal Trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony at the time. I was so blown away by his sound and technique, I knew from that moment I wanted to become a professional trumpet player.

After earning my degree in psychology from Georgia State University, I auditioned at The Juilliard School and was accepted to study trumpet with Ray Mase, Mark Gould, and Chris Martin. The same Chris Martin who first inspired me to become a professional trumpet player was now Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic and a professor at Juilliard!

I graduated from Juilliard at the worst possible time in 2020 right after COVID hit and was forced to put orchestra trumpet auditions on hold for two years, working as an Amazon shopper at Whole Foods and delivering Uber Eats in NYC to pay the rent. Finally, in 2022, auditions returned, and I began taking every audition in the country. I ended up winning the addition in San Diego and was appointed Second Trumpet in 2024!

What is your favorite San Diego Symphony memory so far?

My favorite memory with the San Diego Symphony happened at the beginning of the 2025 year! Playing Second Trumpet on Respighi’s Roman Festivals between Chris Smith and Ray Nowack is the most fun I’ve ever had playing the trumpet. The piece is very difficult and requires so much concentration between all the tempo and meter changes.

How do you like to spend your free time when not performing?

We spend so much time inside the hall rehearsing and performing during the week that I try to make sure I get outside on my days off. I Iove going to the beach, going hiking, or hitting some balls at the driving range.

What symphonic work are you looking most forward to performing this season at Jacobs Music Center and why?

There are a lot of firsts for me this 2024-2025 season that I can’t wait to play. If I must pick one, I’d have to say I’m really looking forward to playing Mahler 3 in our season finale. I’ve never played the piece before and can’t wait to hear Chris Smith play the offstage solo in the 3rd movement. Mahler is one of my favorite composers and I’ve had the pleasure of playing his 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and the unfinished 10th symphony.

What is an interesting fact about yourself that you’d like to share?

I have an amazing big Maine Coon cat named Tyrion that I adopted. He has been with me through it all. He’s moved around the country with me from Georgia, New York, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, back to Arizona, and finally California. He has FIV which is HIV for felines, which means he can’t go outside, can’t be around other cats, and he sneezes A LOT. He is the most affectionate and goofy cat ever and I love him so much. Any time I sit down around my apartment, he will always join me for a quick snuggle.

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PROGRAM GITY RAZAZ Legend of Sigh Inbal Segev, cello SAHBA AMINIKIA Tar o Pood (Warp and Weft) Film by Vafa Khatami NILOUFAR SHIRI Goldfish GITY RAZAZ String Quartet No. 2 -INTERMISSION-

THURSDAY, MARCH 20 7:30PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 CURRENTS SERIES

THE WONDERS WE CARRY INSIDE Gity Razaz, composer & curator Inbal Segev, cello Niloufar Shiri, kamancheh & composer Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, composer Sahba Aminikia, composer Musicians of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra

SAHBA AMINIKIA One Day; Tehran Film by Sahyeh Sorkh KIMIA KOOCHAKZADEH-YAZDI Seeds IV Niloufar Shiri, kamancheh and improviser GITY RAZAZ Chance Has Spoken

Total Program Duration: Approximately 1 Hour, 15 mins (includes one 20 minute intermission).

PROGRAM NOTES

Music is a vessel for memory, identity, and cultural storytelling. In The Wonders We Carry Inside, Iranian American composer Gity Razaz curates an evening of contemporary works featuring compositions by Sahba Aminikia and Niloufar Shiri.

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Nowruz, the Persian New Year, offers a fitting lens through which to experience these works. A celebration of renewal and connection, Nowruz has, for over 3,000 years, embraced music—through poetic song, intricate rhythms, and resonant melodies. Razaz, Aminikia, and Shiri each weave Persian influences into contemporary language, reflecting an evolving dialogue between past and present.

Like Nowruz, The Wonders We Carry Inside honors tradition while embracing the future, inviting us to listen across cultures and recognize music’s power to unite. n

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ARTIST BIOS | THE WONDERS WE CARRY INSIDE

ABOUT THE ARTIST artistic merit in mid-career”, the Jerome Foundation award, the Libby Larsen Prize in 28th International Search for New Music Competition, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Composer Institute, Juilliard Composers’ Orchestra Competition, multiple ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer awards, ASCAP Plus Awards, Juilliard’s Palmer Dixon Award for the outstanding composition of the year in 2010 and 2012, as well as special recognition from the Brian Israel Composition Prize, Margaret Blackburn Memorial Competition, the League of Composers (ISCM), to name a few.

Ms. Razaz’s debut album, The Strange Highway, which was recently released on Sweden’s preeminent BIS Records, has garnered international praise. As described by BBC Music Magazine, “There’s an uncompromising beauty to these works by the Iranian-born American composer, the opening title work, for cello octet, is a wild rhythmic ride, while the closing Metamorphosis of Narcissus offers some fantastic musical storytelling. Impressive.”

Photo by Ronald Andrew Schvarztman

GITY RAZAZ

Her music hailed as “ravishing and engulfing” (New York Times) and of an “uncompromising beauty” (BBC Music Magazine), Gity Razaz composes music that ranges from concert solo pieces to large symphonic works. Ms. Razaz’s music has been commissioned and/or performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, National Sawdust, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, former cellist of the Kronos Quartet Jeffrey Zeigler, cellist Inbal Segev, violinist Jennifer Koh, League of the American Orchestras, violinist Francesca dePasquale, Metropolis Ensemble, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, and Amsterdam Cello Biennale among many others.

Recent works include a piece for Alisa Weilerstein and her ground-breaking project Fragments, a commission from BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo for the prestigious Last Night of the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and a world premiere with San Diego Symphony under Rafael Payare as part of an ambitious multiple-orchestra spanning initiative from the League of American Orchestras. Upcoming commissions include a collaboration with Israeli Chamber Project and the Grammy-winning tenor, Karim Sulayman, as well as a concerto for flautist Sharon Bezaly and London’s Wigmore Soloists.

Aside from her ongoing engagements in composition, Ms. Razaz is also active as a teacher and an educator. She has appeared as a guest artist presenting master classes across the nation while teaching composition privately in New York. Ms. Razaz joined the faculty of Ramapo College of New Jersey, where she taught music theory and ear training in 2012-2013, and served on the advisory committee for the American Federation of Teachers Graduate Scholarship. From 2017-2021, Ms. Razaz offered composition teaching and mentorship for the Luna Composition Lab, a program founded in partnership with the Kaufman Music Center, while holding a teaching artist position at the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers Program. She is a composition faculty at Mannes School of Music prep division and has served as composer and jurist for the Irving M. Klein International String Competition.

Iranian-American composer Gity Razaz started her musical studies in piano at a young age and began composing music at age nine. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music in Composition from The Juilliard School. She has studied with Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser, and John Corigliano. n

Ms. Razaz was named a 2022 “Rising Star” by BBC Music Magazine. Her compositions have earned numerous national and international awards, such as the Andrew Imbrie Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters that is “is given to a composer of demonstrated S A N DI EGO SY M PHON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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INBAL SEGEV

Inbal Segev is “a cellist with something to say” (Gramophone). Combining rich tone and technical mastery with rare dedication and intelligence, she has appeared with orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Dortmund Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Pittsburgh Symphony, Polish National Radio Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony, collaborating with such prominent conductors as Marin Alsop, Stéphane Denève, Edward Gardner, Kirill Karabits, Lorin Maazel, Cristian Măcelaru, and Zubin Mehta. Committed to reinvigorating the cello repertoire, she has commissioned and premiered new cello concertos from Timo Andres, Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman, Fernando Otero, Victoria Poleva, and Dan Visconti.

Recorded with Alsop and the London Philharmonic for Avie Records, Segev’s premiere recording of Clyne’s new cello concerto, DANCE, was an instant success, topping the Amazon Classical Concertos chart. Its opening movement was chosen as one of NPR Music’s “Favorite Songs of 2020,” receiving more than eleven million listens on Spotify. To encourage creative recovery during the early pandemic lockdowns, Segev launched 20 for 2020, a commissioning, recording, and video project for 20 cutting-edge composers, including John Luther Adams, Viet Cuong, and Angélica Negrón, all of whom wrote new works in response to the worldwide crisis. Segev’s previous discography includes acclaimed recordings of the Elgar Cello Concerto, Romantic cello works, and Bach’s Cello Suites, while her popular YouTube masterclass series, Musings with Inbal Segev, has inspired a generation of cellists.

A native of Israel, at 16 Segev was invited by Isaac Stern to continue her cello studies in the U.S., where she earned degrees from Yale University and the Juilliard School, before co-founding the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. Segev started composing during the pandemic: her cello quartet, Behold, can be heard on her album 20 for 2020; her cello octet, B Natural, premiered at Yale in 2023; her string trio premiered in Fort Worth in 2024; her clarinet trio premieres in Israel this summer; and I’m Nobody! Who are you?, for unaccompanied women’s choir, premieres next season. Segev’s cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673. n

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NILOUFAR SHIRI

Niloufar Shiri is a freelance kamancheh player, composer, and improviser born and raised in Tehran, Iran. Her work bridges the traditional, experimental, and Bedahe music, weaving them into a singular musical language. Rooted in the Radif (the classical Persian music repertoire), Shiri’s music navigates the textural and timbral spaces of an instrument’s harmonic and sonic properties. Drawing inspiration from the intervallic relationships and pitch settings of traditional Iranian music, she analyzes and incorporates the spectral qualities of these extended intervals, uncovering their latent possibilities.

Her compositions explore the dynamic interplay of tones and challenge conventional instrumental functions, where each attack and vibration—shaped by its surrounding sonic periphery—unfolds into a rich spectrum of extended sonic possibilities. Shiri has composed solo works as well as pieces for small ensembles and orchestras. She is actively collaborating with artists such as Jessika Kenney, Antonin Fajt, Jennifer Curtis, Kyle Motl, and Chatori Shimizu. Additionally, she has worked on installations and projects with Farahnaz Hatam.

Her recent album, OSHI, is a collaboration with Isaac Otto, an L.A.-based composer and multi-woodwind performer, released on Infrequent Seams. n

KIMIA KOOCHAKZADEH-YAZDI

Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi is a composer and performer.

She writes for hybrid instrumental/electronic ensembles, creates electroacoustic and audiovisual works, builds instruments, and performs electronic music. She explores S A N D IEGO SY MPH ON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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ARTIST BIOS | THE WONDERS WE CARRY INSIDE the unfamiliar within the familiar while being motivated by musical extremes; finding ways to play with various musical thresholds is something she is currently drawn to.

“Accidents” in music excite her because they have often become the basis of her pieces. Incorporating her Iranian background and her experiences living in Iran is important to her compositional process, and she currently focuses on merging Iranian music with what she has learned from living in Canada and the US. n

SAHBA AMINIKIA

Sahba Aminikia is an independent composer and educator who believes in music to be a catalyst for change.

Born in post-revolutionary wartime in Iran, Aminikia was raised during a newly configured democracy that evolved from mass-executions, war, and violence into a society that—through the use of internet and technology—challenges the current political and social infrastructure. Highly influenced by the poetry of Hafiz, Rumi, and Saadi, as well as traditional, classical and jazz music and the albums of Pink Floyd, Beatles, and Queen, Aminikia cites music to be an immersive, transcendent, yet visceral human experience. He is curious about the duality in existence, and musically explores subjects that confront the pursuit of enlightenment amid darkness. A conscientious soul, due to his upbringing, he attempts at finding a common understanding for communication and dialogue through music. And, as a result, throughout his career, he has composed pieces that express the inevitability and triumph of hope.

Today, Aminikia collaborates with other artists to create and compose meaningful work. He has been trained in musical composition under Iranian pianists Nikan Milani, Safa Shahidi, and perhaps most influenced by work with his first classical teacher, Mehran Rouhani, a postgraduate of Royal Academy of Music and a former student of Sir Michael Tippet. He later relocated to Russia where he studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory under Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko—a post-graduate student of Dimitri Shostakovich. He received his Bachelor of Music and his Master of Music with honors from San Francisco Conservatory of Music under David Garner and David Conte where he was the proud recipient of Phyllis Wattis Foundation scholarship. He has also received individual lessons in life and in music from David Harrington,

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Aleksandra Vrebalov, Conrad Susa, Luciano Chessa, John Corigliano, and Oswaldo Golijov as well.

Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle has referred to Aminikia as “an artist singularly equipped to provide a soundtrack to these unsettling times.” His musical pieces have been widely performed in United States, Canada, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Italy, Poland, China, Greece, Turkey and Israel and at venues such Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Le Poisson Rouge, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF Exploratorium, SFJAZZ and Saint Anne’s Warehouse.

Aminikia’s compositions have been commissioned by theatre troops, contemporary classical ensembles, film scores, Persian traditional music groups as well as jazz bands including Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Symphony Parnassus, San Francisco Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble, Mobius Trio, Delphi Trio and Living Earth Show. His third string quartet, A Threnody for Those Who Remain, commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Kronos Performing Arts Association, was described by Financial Times as “An experience not to be easily forgotten”. And similarly, his widely known Tar o Pood (Warp and Weft)—commissioned by Nasrin Marzban for Kronos Quartet—was the second-place recipient of the American Prize 2015 in composition, professional chamber music category. Aminikia has recently been the artist-in-residence at Kronos Festival 2017, an annual festival held by legendary Kronos Quartet at San Francisco SFJAZZ throughout which ten of his works including four new pieces were performed. His most recent piece for the same festival, was a collaboration between Kronos Quartet, San Francisco Girls Chorus and Afghanistan National Institute of Music which resulted in a 20-minute choral piece named Music of Spheres.

Aminikia is also the Artistic Director for Flying Carpet Festival, a mobile music festival which serves children in need in war zones. He also serves as the Musical Director for Sirkhane, a non-profit organization based in Mardin, Southern Turkey which serves around 40,000 children through circus arts and music. n

PERSIAN CULTURAL CENTER (PCC)

Is a non-profit, non-religious and non-political 501(c) (3) national cultural organization, established in 1989 in San Diego, California. PCC strives to provide an enriching and welcoming environment to strengthen the bonds of community, culture and cross-cultural understanding through art and culture. PCC’s programs and events are nonpartisan, secular, and focus on artistic and cultural values including musical concerts, lectures and interviews, movie screenings, literature workshops, art exhibitions, theater, dance, traditional instruments and art and language classes.

PCC has built strong collaboration partnerships and works with many art and culture organizations and routinely cosponsoring programs in the community such as museums, public libraries, movie festivals organizers, symphonies, colleges, schools and others in and out of the community of San Diego. PCC has several affiliated entities to enable it achieve its goals more efficiently such as the Iranian School of San Diego with around 300 annual attendance, the Persian Dance Academy, the PCC Foundation, and PCC’s bimonthly magazine, Peyk, with an approximate circulation of 6,000.

PCC derives its strength from its members, volunteers and overall community support. n

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UPCOMING SUMMER CONCERTS AT THE RADY SHELL AT JACOBS PARK

TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE – MIGHT NOT MAKE IT HOME TOUR

June 7 | 6PM

Grammy®-winning horn player Trombone Shorty puts a New Orleans spin on everything he plays. Prowling the stage with his band, Orleans Avenue, he delivers an explosive performance blurring the lines between funk, jazz and R&B.

“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC: BIGGER & WEIRDER 2025 TOUR with Special Guest Puddles Pity Party August 29 | 7:30PM

Weird Al brings his legendary full-production multimedia comedy rock show back to the concert stage with the BIGGER & WEIRDER 2025 Tour, playing his iconic hits as well as some never-performed-live-before fan favorites.

Al’s long-time band is joined by four additional players to create a super-sized concert experience.

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CLASSIC ALBUMS LIVE PERFORMS DAVID BOWIE’S THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS

June 20 | 7:30PM

Classic Albums Live performs David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, exactly as you remember hearing it, note-for-note, cut-for-cut, at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. This groundbreaking album—featuring hits such as “Suffragette City,” “Moonage Daydream,” and the title track “Ziggy Stardust”—can be found on virtually every list of the greatest albums of all time.Take the A Train”, “Satin Doll”, “Something to Live For” and many more.

AN EVENING WITH CHICAGO

September 10 | 7:30PM

Hailed as one of the “most important bands in music since the dawn of the rock and roll era,” Chicago continue to be true ambassadors for their beloved hometown, carrying the city’s name with pride and dignity around the world. From the signature sound of the Chicago horns, their iconic vocalists, and a few dozen of everclassic songs, this band’s concerts are celebrations. 2025 marks the band’s 58th consecutive year of touring!

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T IS

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THE NEW 2025-26 SEASON IS HERE!

HERE’S A SNEAK PEEK OF SOME EXCITING CONCERTS COMING UP SOON: OCT 3 & 5 | 2025

FEB 27 & 28, MAR 1, 6, & 7 | 2026

Rafael Payare, conductor Liv Redpath, soprano San Diego Symphony Chorus Gerard McBurney, director

Rafael Payare, conductor Leonidas Kavakos, violin Julie Boulianne, soprano Michael Sumuel, bass-baritone San Diego Symphony Chorus

FRENCH FAIRYTALES: RAVEL AND DEBUSSY

BRAHMS FESTIVAL

DEBUSSY The Joyful Island (L’Isle Joyeuse) DEBUSSY (orch. Caplet) The Toy Box (La Boîte à joujoux) RAVEL The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts (L’enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties)

BRAHMS A German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem) Symphony No. 1, 2, 3, & 4 Violin Concerto

OCT 17 & 18 | 2025

MAY 22 & 24 | 2026

MUSIC OF THE HEAVENS: HOLST’S PLANETS

Gemma New, conductor Geneva Lewis, violin Women of the San Diego Master Chorale LERA AUERBACH Icarus VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending HOLST The Planets

ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA & BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE

Rafael Payare, conductor Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano R. STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra BARTÓK Bluebeard’s Castle

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ANNUAL GIVING HONOR ROLL

The Musicians, members of the Board of Directors and the Administrative Staff wish to gratefully acknowledge the growing list of friends who give so generously to support the San Diego Symphony. To make a gift, please call (619) 615-3901.

The following listing reflects pledges entered as of January 15, 2024.

San Diego Foundation

Rancho Santa Fe Foundation

STRADIVARIUS CIRCLE: $100,000 AND ABOVE

GUEST ARTIST CIRCLE: $25,000-$49,999

Raffaella and John* Belanich City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture Carol and Richard Hertzberg Joan* and Irwin Jacobs Dorothea Laub The Miller Fund The Conrad Prebys Foundation Jennie Werner

Anonymous Eloise and Warren* Batts David Bialis The Bjorg Family Annette and Daniel Bradbury Dee Anne and Michael Canepa Nicole A. and Benjamin G. Clay Karen and Donald Cohn Stephanie and Richard Coutts Ann Davies Drs. Edward A. and Martha G. Dennis Karin and Gary Eastham Shirley Estes Anne L. Evans Lisette and Mick Farrell, Farrell Family Foundation Kelly Greenleaf and Michael Magerman Hervey Family Fund Helen and Sig Kupka Carol Ann and George Lattimer Lisa and Gary Levine Sandy and Arthur* Levinson Eileen Mason Anne and Andy McCammon Padres Foundation Deborah Pate and John Forrest Allison and Robert Price Carol Randolph, Ph. D. and Robert Caplan Sally and Steve Rogers Jeanette Stevens Elizabeth and Joseph* Taft Sandra Timmons and Richard Sandstrom University of San Diego Sheryl and Harvey White Young Presidents’ Organization San Diego Gold The Zygowicz Family (John, Judy, and Michelle)

MAESTRO CIRCLE: $50,000-$99,999 Anonymous (1) Michele and Jules Arthur Terry L. Atkinson Dianne Bashor Alan Benaroya Julia Richardson Brown Foundation John and Janice Cone Kevin and Jan Curtis Una Davis and Jack McGrory Mr. and Mrs.* Brian K. Devine Daniel J. and Phyllis Epstein Pam and Hal Fuson Elaine Galinson and Herbert Solomon Arlene Inch The Janecek Family Foundation Karen and Warren Kessler Brooke and Dan* Koehler Monica and Robert Oder Maryanne and Irwin Pfister Linda and Shearn* Platt Price Philanthropies Qualcomm Charitable Foundation Marie G. Raftery and Robert A. Rubenstein, M. D. Jacqueline and Jean-Luc Robert Elena Romanowsky Penny and Louis Rosso Colette Carson Royston and Ivor Royston San Diego Foundation Jean and Gary Shekhter Karen and Kit Sickels Karen Foster Silberman and Jeff Silberman, Silberman Family Fund Les J. Silver and Andrea Rothschild-Silver Gayle* and Donald Slate Dave and Phyllis Snyder Gloria and Rodney Stone Jayne and Bill Turpin Vail Memorial Fund, Meredith Brown, Trustee Leslie and Joe Waters Sue and Bill* Weber Kathryn A. and James E. Whistler Cole and Judy Willoughby Mitchell Woodbury Sarah and Marc Zeitlin

CONCERTMASTER CIRCLE: $15,000-$24,999 Anonymous Diane and Norman Blumenthal Dr. Anthony Boganey Gisele Bonitz The Boros Family Gordon Brodfuehrer Sally Cuff Kathleen Seely Davis Ana de Vedia The Donald C. and Elizabeth M. Dickinson Foundation Hon. James Emerson Joyce Gattas, Ph. D. and Jay Jeffcoat Jill Gormley and Laurie Lipman Janet and Wil Gorrie Judith Harris* and Robert Singer, M.D. Laurie Sefton Henson Marilyn James and Richard Phetteplace

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Jewish Community Foundation *Deceased

Jo Ann Kilty Dr. William and Evelyn Lamden Linda and Tom Lang Carol Lazier and James Merritt Marshall Littman, M.D. Rena Minisi and Rich Paul The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation Val and Ron Ontell Jane and Jon Pollock Pamela and Stephen Quinn Dr. Andrew Ries and Dr. Vivian Reznik Cathy and Lawrence* Robinson Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation Chris and Kris Seeger Stephen M. Silverman Sylvia Steding and Roger* Thieme R.V. Thomas Family Fund Julie and Stephen Tierney Isabelle and Mel* Wasserman Lisa and Michael Witz VIRTUOSO CIRCLE: $10,000-$14,999 Anonymous Guity Balow Ina Cantor and Sammy Krumholz Barbara and Salvatore Capizzi Anna Curren Nina and Robert* Doede Karin and Alfred Esser Norman Forrester and Bill Griffin Scott and Tracy Frudden Lynn and Charles Gaylord Martha and William Gilmer Hanna and Mark Gleiberman Lehn and Richard Goetz Vicki Garcia-Golden and Tim Jeffries Georgia Griffiths and Colleen Kendall Kay and Bill Gurtin Jason and Somi Han Dwight Hare and Stephanie Bergsma Beverley Haynes Richard A. Heyman and Anne E. Daigle Family Foundation Nellie High-Iredale Angela and Cory Homnick The Hong-Patapoutian Family Nancy and Stephen Howard Krumholz Family Trust Jeffrey and Claudia Lee Bill and Michelle Lerach Susan and Peter Mallory Larry McDonald and Clare White-McDonald Oliver McGonigle Elizabeth and Edward McIntyre Morrison & Foerster Trupti and Pratik Multani Donald and Clara Murphy Dave and Jean Perry Dana and Stella Pizzuti

Claudia Prescott Sandy and Greg Rechtsteiner ResMed Foundation Carol Rolf and Steven Adler Harold and Evelyn Schauer Jayne and Brigg Sherman Sandra Smelik and Larry Manzer Hon. Stephanie Sontag and Hon. David Oberholtzer Mike Stivers and Alan Dwyer Tim and Jean Valentine Ingrid M. Van Moppes K. Nikki Waters Shirli Weiss Edward and Anna Yeung Joan Zecher ORCHESTRA CIRCLE: $5,000-$9,999 Anonymous (2) Nicole Acuff Cheryl and Rand Alexander Bonnie and Krishna Arora Kevin and Michelle Aufmann Rena and Behram Baxter Edgar and Julie Berner Sophie Bryan and Matthew Lueders Donna Bullock and Kenneth Bullock Wendy Burk and Harold Frysh Joseph Caso Marilyn Colby Elaine Darwin The den Uijl Family Brett Dickinson Jon and Karen Dien Nina and Robert* Doede Karen Dow Susan Dubé Berit and Tom Durler Jennifer and Eugene Rumsey Jr., M.D. Susanna and Michael Flaster Gertrude B. Fletcher Karen Forbes Leonard and Marcia* Fram Calvin Frantz Ira Gaines and Cheryl Hintzen-Gaines and Ira Gaines Marie and Bob Garson Carrie and James Greenstein David and Claire Guggenheim Ivy Hanson Beau Haugh Suzanne and Lawrence Hess Janet and Clive Holborow Maryka and George* Hoover James B. Idell and Deborah C. Streett-Idell Virginia and Peter Jensen Sabby Jonathan Marge Katleman and Richard Perlman Carol and Mike Kearney Angela and Matthew Kilman Ann and Joseph Lipschitz

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Steve Lyman and Diane McKernan Mark C. Mead Dr. Laurie Mitchell and Brent Woods Lorna* and Adrian Nemcek David and Judith Nielsen Alex and Jenny Ning Aradhna and Grant Oliphant Mary Ann and David Petree Peggy and Peter Preuss Jennifer and Eugene Rumsey Jr. M.D. Sage Foundation Robert and Barbara Scott Bonnie and Josef Sedivec Ruey and Marivi Shivers Jennifer Stainrook Larry and Pamela Stambaugh Iris and Matthew* Strauss Richard and Susan Ulevitch Aysegul Underhill Ronald and Diane Walker Mary L. Walshok, Ph.D. Shara Williams and Benjamin Brand Debi and Robert Young Leo and Emma Zuckerman SYMPHONY CIRCLE: $2,500-$4,999 Ellie and David Alpert Lauren Lee Beaudry Dr. Thomas Beers Mark and Ellen Bramson Ralph Britton Loyce Bruce John Cochran* and Sue Lasbury Household Mayra Curiel and Carlos Larios Andrea da Rosa Trevor and Patricia Daniel Steven Davis Caroline S. DeMar Don Duda Doris and Peter Ellsworth Judy and Neil Finn Richard Forsyth and Katherine Leonard Ms. Linda Fortier Marilyn Friesen and John Greenbush Brenda and Dr. Michael Goldbaum Robert And Carole Greenes Sharon and Garry Hays Mert and Joanne Hill Mr. Clifford Hollander and Mrs. Sharon Flynn Hollander Sonya and Sergio* Jinich Leon and Sofia Kassel Thian Kheoh Kris J. Kopensky Stephen Korniczky Brian and Nancy Littlefield Sylvia and Jaime* Liwerant Robin and Charles* Luby Elizabeth Wohlford MacCleod and Clay MacLeod Pamela Maher Glen P. Middleton Takenori Muraoka Elizabeth Pille Sandra and David Polster Pratt Memorial Fund Jeff and Clare Quinn Christa and Gerald Reynolds Gagandeep Sheena Sahni Linda J. & Jeffrey M. Shohet Timothy Snodgrass and

Elaine King DeAnne Steele and Carlo Barbara Steve and Carmen Steinke Jacqueline Thousand and Richard Villa Col. and Mrs. Joseph C. Timmons Norton S. and Barbara Walbridge Fund Thomas P. Ward and Rosemary T. Ward Carolyn and Eric Witt Luann and Brian E. Wright David A. Wood Gary and Amy Yin Dr. and Mrs. Philip Ziring Herb* and Margaret Zoehrer CONCERTO CIRCLE: $1,000-$2,499 Anonymous (3) B.J. Adelson Dede and Michael Alpert Janet Anderson and Victor Van Lint Nicole Anderson Hector and Jennifer Anguiano Lyndsey and Allan W. Arendsee Patricia and Brian Armstrong Roberta Baade Mary Barranger Rusti Bartell David and Jasna Belanich Sondra Berk Ivy and Mark Bernhardson Mary Ann Beyster Virginia and Robert Black Joseph H. Brooks and Douglas Walker Ercil Brown and Linda Silverman Rew P. Carne Caroline Chen and George Boomer Stan Clayton Colwell Family Fund Jeanette and Hal Coons Bob and Kathy Cueva Georgia and Emery Cummins Dr. Peter Czipott and Marisa SorBello Dr. Michael D’Angelo William A. Davidson Mary G. Dawe Anne and Charles Dick Marguerite Jackson Dill and Carol Archibald Sandra Dodge John E. Don Carlos Gail Donahue Philip L. Dowd Julie and Mitchell Dubick Max Fenstermacher Marilyn Field Kenneth Fitzgerald Douglas Flaker and Rikk Valdivia Stan Fleming, Forward Ventures Jean Fort The Samuel I. and John Henry Fox Foundation Nicholas R. Frost, MD Judith Fullerton Nancy and Mike Garrett Jon and Carol Gebhart Kenneth F. Gibsen Memorial Fund Linda R. Gooden James and Donna Gordon

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Laurie M. Gore Sally and Dave Hackel Fred Hafer and Noel Haskins-Hafer Household Stephanie and John Hanson Thomas Hawkins Michelle Hebert Joan and Richard Heller Sarah Hillier and Paul Strand Barbara and Paul Hirshman Peggy and John* Holl Lulu Hsu Borden E. Hughes Jeanne Curtis Hurwitz Arthur Johnson Dr. Henry J. Judd Gina Kakos Dr. Enoch Kariuki Maurice Kawashima Dwight A. Kellogg Cynthia King Tandy and Gary Kippur – JCF of Southern AZ Betty and Leonard Kornreich Martha and Jerry Krasne Anona Kuehne Rhea and Armin Kuhlman Robert* and Laura Kyle George and Mei Lai Gautam and Anjali Lalani Colleen and Jeffrey Lambert Philip Larsen Dr. Mary Lawlor Eliza Lee Greg Lemke Pat and Steve Lending Gayle M. Lennard Kiyoe MacDonald Daniel and Chris Mahai Sally and Luis Maizel Amy and John Malone Eugene Malone Suzanne S. Manley Arnulfo Manriquez Madonna Christine Maxwell David McCall and Bill Cross Janet McClure Susan and Douglas McLeod Menard Family Foundation Richard Michaels Dr. Sandra E. Miner Martha and Chuck Moffett Bibhu P. Mohanty Dr. Thomas Moore David Morris Drs. Elaine and Douglas Muchmoore Shelley Neiman Patricia R. Nelson Dr. Jon Nowak Cynthia Obadia Frank O’Dea Larry and Linda Okmin Household Thomas O’Neill and Mary Ann Kennedy Barry Parker Sally and Phillip Patton James Pea and Sandra Petersen Ricki Pedersen Cathleen C. Pilkington The Porter Family Jim Price and Joan Sieber Drs. Radmilla and Igor Prislin Arlene Quaccia and Robin Hughes Matthew and Sue Quinn Barbara Rabiner Janet and Bill Raschke Keith Record

Dr. Marilyn Friesen and Dr. Michael Rensink The Ryde Family Memorial Foundation Gloria and Dean Saiki Susan and Edward Sanderson Household Thomas Schwartz Judith and Robert Sharp Lari Sheehan Professor Susan Shirk Anne and Ronald Simon Drs. Eleanor J. Smith and John D. Malone Darryl and Rita Solberg Suzy Soo Valerie Stallings James Storelli Emily Renee Stroebel Diane Strong John E. Sturla II Kathleen Sullivan Swinton Family Fund Elliot Tarson William Tong Fred and Erika Torri Jennifer and Stephen Toth Janis Vanderford Kathleen Victorino Carol and Thomas Warschauer Dr. Jeffrey and Barbara Wasserstrom Margaret Weigand Ruth Wikberg-Leonardi and Ron Leonardi Eileen Wingard Joseph and Mary Witztum Karen and Rod Wood Olga and Oscar Worm Barbara A. Yost Britt Zeller Charles Ralph Zellerback SONATA CIRCLE: $500-$999 Anonymous (6) June and Daniel Allen Dr. Robin Allgren Philip Anderson Arleene Antin and Leonard Ozerkis Maureen Arrigo Nancy and James Balderrama Elaine Baldwin and Carl Nelson Joe Baressi Jr. Patricia and Bruce Becker Elena Bernardi Dr. Leonard and Beverly Bernstein Terri Bignell Jerry and Karen Blakely Marcus and Kimberley Boehm Stephen and Priscilla Bothwell Mary Catherine Bowell Gloria and Sed Brown Alyssa Brzenski Jolie and Glenn Buberl Ed Budzyna and Zack Zaccaria Robert and Carolyn Caietti Judith Call Margaret Carrol Gloria and Maurice Caskey Juliana Caso Tanya and Sutton Chen Raymond Chinn Mary Ellen Clark Geoff and Shem Clow Dan Collins and Nancy Shimamoto Household Dale Connelly Patrick and Lisa Cooney

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Joe Costa John Cuthbertson and Elizabeth Hamilton Cuthbertson Dr. Peter Czipott and Marisa SorBello Dr. Dalia Daujotyte Erle Frederick Davis Morgan Day and Amy Larson Julie and Don De Ment Debra Deverill Dr. Greg Dixon Douglas P. Doucette Elizabeth and Richard Dreisbach Jim Eastman Jeffrey Edwards Drs. Eric and Barbara Emont Robyn Erlenbush Jeane Erley Arlene Esgate Joel Ewan and Carol Spielman-Ewan Dr. Thomas Fay and Fabiola Lopez Linda Lyons Firestein Louise Firme Darlene and Robert Fleischman Nynke Fortuin Michele Fournier Michelle Fox Dr. Laura Gomez-Freeman and William Freeman Judith and William Friedel Roy Gilmour Diane Glow Kathleen and John Golden Ser Andre Gonzalez Robert Griffin Stephanie and H. Griswold Dean Haas Georgette Hale Gerald Hansen and Marilyn Southcott Helen Hansen Lydia Harris The Herr Family Christine Hickman and Dennis Ragen Richard Himmelspach Harold Hoch Anne S. Holder-Erdman Sandra Hoover Thomas Houlihan Ralph Hull Nancy Hylbert Stefan Hyman Robert Jentner Dimitri and Elaine Jeon Bruce A. Johnson R. Douglas and Jeanette Johnson Thesa Lorna Jolly Dr. James Justeson Julia Katz Wilfred Kearse and Lynne Champagne John and Sue Kim Michael and Patricia Klowden Toby Kramer Robert and Elena Kucinski Bernard Kulchin and Paula Taylor Mary Kyriopoulos Laura Laslo Elizabeth Leech Lewis Leicher Kathleen Lennard Claudia Levin Ronald and Elizabeth Livingstone David Louie

Claudia Lowenstein Scott Luttgen Anne Macek Kyong Macek Vonnie Madigan Annie Cruz Magill Richard Manion Sue Marberry Beverly and Harold Martyn James R. Mathes Mac McKay Jeanne and Roger McNitt Ellen and Hal Meier Maggie and Paul Meyer Dr. Grant Miller Anne and John Minteer Patricia Moises Judith Morgan Ann Morrison Phillip Musser Jan and Mark Newmark Sherryl A. Nicholas Barbara and Donald Dean Niemann James and Jean O’Grady Abraham Ordover Brent Orlesky and Ronald T. Oliver Dr. Robert Padovani Marilyn Palermo Julie Park Kellogg Parsons James and Gale Petrie Edward Phelan Robert Plimpton II Sheila and Ken Poggenburg Terri Pontzious Dean and Sharon Popp Joseph and Sara Reisman Cindy and Daniel Reynolds Patrick Ritto Steve and Cheryl Rockwood Richard Rojeck Louis Rosen Alice Rosenblatt Ronnie and Stuart Rosenwasser Sheryl Rowling Rose Marie and Allan Royster Norman and Barbara Rozansky Joel Schaller Mr. Daniel H. Schumann David and Martha Schwartz Lu and Georgina Sham Dr. Bruce Shirer Martha Shively Hano and Charlotte Siegel David Skinner Linda Small Holland M. Smith II Marilyn and Brian Smith James and Phyllis Speer Gregory Stanton Judy S. Stern Valerie Stewart John L. Stover Helga and Sam Strong Derek Stults Nancy and Michael Sturdivan Nelson Surovik Kay and Cliff Sweet William Tappen Thomas Templeton and Mary Erlenborn Paul and Mary Anne Trause Orlando S. Uribe Paul Van Deusen Allen Voigt VOSA Student Symphony Ticket Fund John Walsh Karen Walter

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Rex and Kathy Warburton Alexandra and Stephen Waterman J. Susan Watson Cynthia Weiler and E. Blake Moore Irene, David* and Diana Weinrieb Evette and Nathan Weiss Mike and Janet Westling Charles and Annis White Vernon White Mindy Wilcox Joyce Williams Mary Michele Wilmer Stephen Wilson Peter and Terry Yang Naima and Mike Yelda Tanya Young and Michael McManus Maria and Randy Zack Sandra and Peter Zarcades Bart Ziegler MEMORIAL GIFTS In memory of Warren Batts Ms. Sharon Sweet Edward and Helen Hintz Amy and Anthony Volpe Barbara and Lawrence Wilson Thomas O’Neill and Mary Kennedy Household Barry Parker Earl Frederick Linda Newman Marti and Leo Parrish Gary and Mary Coughlan Diane Root Don Duda Nancy and Philip Hablutzel Shelton Family Fund In memory of William Callaway Anonymous

In memory of my husband Roland DeFields Ann DeFields In memory of Jim Dawe Mary Dawe In memory of Bob Doede: In support of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park Ms. Catherine Mackey Kenneth Jensen Drs. Edward A. and Martha G. Dennis Ms. McKay Iris and Matthew* Strauss Michael T. and Susan D. Gursky Elspeth H. and James A. Myer Cynthia Weiler Roger and Marilynn Boesky Karen Dow Cynthia Weiler and Blake Moore

In memory of Matthew Garbutt Shirley Estes

In memory of James Jessop Hervey Linda Hervey In memory of Joan Jacobs Alan Benaroya Stuart and Barbara Brody Sheri Broedlow and Kyle Van Dyke Dr. Peter Czipott and Marisa SorBello Susan and Steven Davis Roy Devries Nina and Robert* Doede Stan Flemming, Forward Ventures Globalstar Pamela Hartwell Jewish Community Foundation Douglas and Susan McLeod Karen and Jeffrey Silberman Family Fund Frank O’Dea Andrea Oster Linda and Shearn* Platt Anne Porter Claudia Prescott Allison and Robert Price Alicia Rockmore Lea Schmidt-Rogers and Larry Rogers Jack Strecker Allen and Helene Ziman In memory of my dear mother, Liz Jackson Jennie Werner In memory of Sergio Jinich Sonya Jinich In memory of Bob Kyle Laura Kyle

In memory of John Cochran Sue Lasbury

In memory of Peter Eros, Georgia Eros, Dale Klabunde Eileen Wingard

In memory of Michael Gay Bob and Marie Garson Karen Wahler

In memory of Ruby and Vernon Langlinais Anonymous In memory of Gilbert and Miriam Lapid Sharon Lapid In memory of Gladys McCrann Margaret Carroll In memory of Jane Micheri Dario Micheri In memory of Lorna Nemcek, wife of Adrian Nemcek from their friends at Mason Investment Advisors David Engler Lois Richmond (of blessed memory) Jewish Community Foundation In memory of Bruce Sutherland Jo-Anne Brownwood In memory of Ursula Stroebel Emily Renee Strobel In memory of Kenrick G. Wirtz Tracy Ferguson and Gloria Shepard

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HONORARIA GIFTS In honor of the retirement of Marcia Bookstein Eileen Wingard In honor of Jan and Kevin Curtis Claudia Levin In honor of Elaine Galinson’s birthday Anonymous In honor of Martha Gilmer Bart Ziegler In honor of James and Theresa Grant and Maria Atkins Thao Hughes In honor of the retirement of Doug Hall Eileen Wingard In honor of JCF Fund Holders who are passionate about the work of the San Diego Symphony Jewish Community Foundation Fund Holders In honor of Warren O. Kessler, MD Gayle M. Lennard In honor of Lang Lang, Martha Gilmer and the wonderful San Diego Symphony Orchestra for a fantastic musical experience at The Rady Shell Dr. and Mrs. Philip Ziring In Honor of Harriett Mallory Kris and Pam Mallory In honor of Rabbi Matthew Marko in care of Tifereth Israel Synagogue Laurie M. Gore In honor Maureen Campbell Melville Wendy Reuben In honor of Dr. Dianne Moores Ralph Hull In honor of Dr. Richard Perlman and Marge Katleman Sandra and Mark James Honoring the dedication to the Symphony of my dear friends Linda Platt, Sherron Schuster and Gloria Stone Andrea Oster In honor of Dave and Phyllis Snyder Barbara and Robert Scott In honor of Mr. Gene Summ’s 93rd birthday Dr. and Mrs. Philip Ziring In honor of Leslie and Joseph D. Waters Judith Call

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Photo by Sam Zausch

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CORPORATE HONOR ROLL

THESE PARTNERS CURRENTLY MAINTAIN AN ANNUAL SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SPONSORSHIP:

$200,000+

$100,000+

SAN DIEGO BAYFRONT

$50,000+

$25,000+

$15,000+

$10,000+

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BUILDING A SOUND TOMORROW

JACOBS MUSIC CENTER RENOVATION & ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN The San Diego Symphony acknowledges the following donors who have made a gift of $10,000 or more toward the BUILDING A SOUND TOMORROW campaign, which supports the renovation of Jacobs Music Center and the San Diego Symphony Foundation’s endowment fund.

With profound gratitude, we celebrate these generous supporters who have made a commitment to the future of music in our community.

To make a gift, please call (619)237-1969 or email campaign@sandiegosymphony.org.

The following listing reflects pledges or gifts entered as of December 31, 2024. *Deceased

$3,000,000 AND ABOVE

$1,000,000 to $2,999,999

$500,000 - $999,999

Joan* and Irwin Jacobs Pamela Hamilton Lester In memory of James A Lester The Miller Fund Price Philanthropies Foundation

Willis J. Larkin Marie G. Raftery and Robert A. Rubenstein, MD Lou and Penny Rosso and the Rosso Family Pauline* & Stan* Foster and Karen Foster Silberman & Jeff Silberman Elaine Galinson and Herbert Solomon Through the Glickman Fund of the S.D. Jewish Community Foundation Haeyoung Kong Tang Katherine “Kaylan” Thornhill Artistic Initiatives Fund Timmstrom Family

Anonymous The James Silberrad Brown Foundation Dr. Paul and Geneviève Jacobs Mitchell R. Woodbury

$250,000 - $499,999

$100,000 - $249,999

$50,000 - $99,999

Anonymous Michele and Jules Arthur The Bjorg Family Julia R. Brown Arlene Inch Debby and Hal Jacobs Karen and Warren Kessler Jerry and Terri Kohl Sandy and Arthur* Levinson Imozelle and Jim McVeigh Robert Glenn Rapp Foundation Colette Carson Royston and Ivor Royston Donald and Gayle* Slate Kathryn A. and James E. Whistler

Anonymous Eloise and Warren* Batts David Bialis Drs. Edward A. and Martha G. Dennis The Fuson Family Tom and Carolina Gildred Annie and Jeffrey Jacobs The Littman Jonkman Community Engagement and Education Fund Susan and Peter Mallory In honor of Martha Gilmer Robert, Monica, and Celeste Oder Debby Parrish and Lori Moore Chris and Kris Seeger Dr. Seuss Foundation In honor of Ted and Audrey Geisel Dave and Phyllis Snyder Sue and Bill* Weber Jo and Howard* Weiner

Lisa and Ben Arnold Carol Rolf and Steven Adler Richard A. Samuelson

$25,000 - $49,999

$10,000 - $24,999

Kathleen S. and Stephen J.* Davis Una Davis Family Janet and Wil Gorrie The Hong-Patapoutian Family Carol and George Lattimer Amy and John Malone David Marchesani In loving memory of Alex and Judy McDonald In memory of Lorna Nemcek Linda and Shearn* Platt Ingrid M. Van Moppes In honor of Willard Howard Kline Karen Wahler In memory of Michael Gay* Waldron Family Trust

James and Lynn Caughey Susan and Peter Crotty Peter Czipott and Marisa SorBello Monica Fimbres Gertrude B. Fletcher Jason and Somi Han In memory of Lillian Hauser Wolfgang* and Erika Horn The Rev. Michael Kaehr Sharon Lapid in honor of Gilbert & Miriam Lapid Karen Zurawski Leland Sylvia and Jaime* Liwerant Joan Lewan Trust Jack McGrory Joani Nelson Deborah Pate and John Forrest Joan Salb Trust Diane and Bill Stumph Linda Thomas In honor of John Zygowicz

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PROGRAM CHOPIN Prélude in D-flat major, Op. 28, No. 15 Prélude in A-flat major, B. 86 J. S. BACH Prelude No.1 in C major, BWV 846 RACHMANINOFF Prelude in D minor, Op. 23, No. 3 SZYMANOWSKI Preludes Op. 1 No. 1 in B minor · Andante ma non troppo No. 2 in D minor · Andante con moto No. 3 in D minor · Andantino

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 7:30PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 JACOBS MUSIC CENTER SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

JAN LISIECKI IN RECITAL: “PRELUDES” Jan Lisiecki, piano

MESSIAEN Préludes pour piano No. 1 La colombe No. 2 Chant d’extase dans un paysage triste No. 3 Le nombre léger CHOPIN Prélude in C-sharp minor, Op. 45 RACHMANINOFF Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2 GÓRECKI Four Preludes Op. 1 No. 1 Molto agitato No. 4 Molto allegro quasi presto J. S. BACH Prelude No.2 in C minor, BWV 847 RACHMANINOFF Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5 -INTERMISSION-

This concert is made possible, in part, through the generosity of Alan Benaroya.

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CHOPIN Préludes, Op. 28 No. 1 in C major · Agitato No. 2 in A minor · Lento No. 3 in G major · Vivace No. 4 in E minor · Largo No. 5 in D major · Molto allegro No. 6 in B minor · Lento assai No. 7 in A major · Andantino No. 8 in F-sharp minor · Molto agitato No. 9 in E major · Largo No. 10 in C-sharp minor · Allegro molto No. 11 in B major · Vivace No. 12 in G-sharp minor · Presto No. 13 in F-sharp major · Lento No. 14 in E-flat minor · Allegro No. 15 in D-flat major · Sostenuto No. 16 in B-flat minor · Presto con fuoco No. 17 in A-flat major · Allegretto No. 18 in F minor · Molto allegro No. 19 in E-flat major · Vivace No. 20 in C minor · Largo No. 21 in B-flat major · Cantabile No. 22 in G minor · Molto agitato No. 23 in F major · Moderato No. 24 in D minor · Allegro appassionato Total Program Duration: Approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes (includes one 20 minute intermission).

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ARTIST BIO | JAN LISIECKI IN RECITAL: “PRELUDES”

ABOUT THE ARTIST JAN LISIECKI

Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki looks back on a career spanning a decade and a half on the world’s greatest stages. He works closely with the foremost conductors and orchestras of our time, performing over a hundred concerts a year.

The 24-25 season will see him returning to Boston Symphony, London Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and Seattle Symphony. He will lead the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in a tour of 19 concerts throughout Germany and Austria, including the complete Beethoven cycles in residencies at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, in Munich and Cologne. As Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence, he will inaugurate the orchestra’s season and return to lead them from the piano in a complete cycle of Beethoven concertos.

Photo by StefanoGaluzzi

He will be bringing his acclaimed Preludes solo recital programme, recently celebrated at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, to La Scala in Milan, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, at BOZAR Brussels and the Klavier-Festival Ruhr. A duo programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann together with Julia Fischer brings him to 15 venues across Europe and the United States, including New York’s Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Center, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Munich Prinzregententheater.

Recent return invitations include the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Staatskapelle Dresden. He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in spring 2024. Lisiecki is a fixture at major summer festivals across Europe and North America, has performed at the Salzburg Festival and recently made his third appearance at the BBC Proms. His previous recital programme was celebrated in over 50 cities around the globe.

Jan Lisiecki was offered an exclusive recording contract by Deutsche Grammophon at the age of 15. Since then, he has recorded nine albums which have been awarded with the JUNO Award, ECHO Klassik, Gramophone Critics’ Choice, Diapason d’Or and Edison Klassiek.

At 18, he received both the Leonard Bernstein Award and Gramophone’s Young Artist Award, becoming the youngest ever recipient of the latter. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012. n

AN INTRODUCTION TO AN INTRODUCTION WRITTEN BY JAN LISIECKI

In concert, the artist is usually sharply focused on the present. In playing the preludes, however, there is always a sense of anticipation, of preparing and looking towards the next piece. By definition, and certainly by tradition, a prelude anticipates the main presentation, setting the stage by creating a mood and colour. Can a recital be composed entirely of such introductions, then, one leading directly into the next, and still be profound?

A master of the short form, Chopin brought the Prelude out from the shadows and into the spotlight. Using its concise format and flexible structure, he embraced its ability to establish a mood. The collection of 24 Preludes, Op. 28 is a colour wheel of emotions, showcasing all twenty-four keys and the atmospheres they can convey. Instead of foreshadowing the masterpiece, they become the focal point, and despite their individual brevity, Chopin was always able to fully develop his melodic concepts.

Certainly there is a sense of each Prelude “falling” into the next one, and there are even some indications in the score that span between individual pieces. Yet, these works can also be taken out of context, so to speak. For this reason I am presenting Chopin’s Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 twice in this programme, to demonstrate its different function as a worthy standalone piece, as compared to when it forms part of the greater whole (in this case the set of Op. 28 Preludes).

While Chopin reinvented the Prelude format with the aforementioned set, other composers also embraced this openended musical form with newfound purpose, stamping it with their individuality. In this recital, I hope to showcase the broad possibilities of the humble Prelude, from Bach to Górecki, taking the audience on a musical expedition and answering the aboveposed rhetorical question with an emphatic “yes”. n

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PROGRAM TO BE ANNOUNCED ON STAGE

Total Program Duration: Approximately 3 Hours (includes one 20 minute intermission).

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 7:30PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 JAZZ @ THE JACOBS

PIANO PARAGONS – THE MUSIC OF MONK, POWELL, TATUM, AND COREA Eric Scott Reed, piano Helen Sung, piano Tyler Bullock, piano Peter Washington, bass Carl Allen, drum set Pre-show concert: Young Lions Jazz Conservatory All Stars, jazz band

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ARTIST BIOS | PIANO PARAGONS

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Hancock Institute in 2019) of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music and win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition.

In addition to her own band and projects (her ninth leader album Quartet+ features her compositions and music by landmark women in jazz arranged for her quartet together with a classical string quartet, and her big band project Portraits in Jazz is slated for release in 2025), Helen has also worked with such luminaries as Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Regina Carter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Lea Delaria, and the Mingus Big Band.

ERIC SCOTT REED

Pianist Eric Scott Reed has been a vital figure on the music scene for over 35 years. His musical journey began on Philadelphia’s church scene, continued through formal training at South Philly’s Settlement Music School, and expanded in Los Angeles and New York, where he established himself among jazz greats. Known for his versatility, Reed has led numerous ensembles, performed solo, composed, produced, and educated aspiring musicians. He has collaborated with legends such as Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Buster Williams, and Wynton Marsalis. Including his latest release Black, Brown, and Beige, Reed has an extensive discography of twenty-seven recordings as a leader that highlight his innovative interpretations and original compositions. As an educator, he has influenced many young talents at prestigious institutions. Recently returning to Los Angeles, Reed balances performing, mentoring, and exploring his spiritual and artistic evolution. His work remains a testament to his dedication to jazz and his continuous search for creative expression. Be on the lookout for his newest work, Out Late on the Smoke Sessions label. n

Helen currently teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Columbia University, where she was also the first jazz artist-in-residence at its Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute: exploring intersections of jazz & neuroscience, she partners with the Institute and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem to present multimedia programs examining how the brain experiences and engages with music. A Steinway Artist, “Sung plays with crisp swing and elegant invention, her rhythms drawing from the music’s deepest blues roots – and setting listeners’ heads bobbing – while she explores her own fresh ideas, often inspired from her classical training.”

(New York Times). n

TYLER BULLOCK

Tyler Bullock II is a dynamic up-and-coming pianist and composer from Nashville, Tennessee. At 21 years old, Tyler is already establishing himself as one of the most promising pianists of his generation, having worked with Sean Jones, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bruce Williams, Herlin Riley, Willie Jones III, Sherman Irby, Ulysses Owens Jr., Curtis Lundy, and The Roy Hargrove Big Band since moving to New York City to attend the Juilliard School in 2021. He has been the regular pianist with the Roy Hargrove Big Band since 2022, and he recently recorded with Sean Jones for an upcoming album.

HELEN SUNG

Helen Sung is an acclaimed pianist and composer and a Guggenheim Fellow. A native of Houston, Texas, and alumna of its High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), she diverged from her classical training after a chance encounter with jazz during studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Helen went on to graduate from the Thelonious Monk Institute (renamed the Herbie S A N DI EGO SY M PHON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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Tyler regularly leads his own band in venues around New York City and abroad. While his trio serves as the foundation for most of Tyler’s performances, he frequently collaborates with horn players and vocalists to bring into fruition the full range of color that he hears while writing his original compositions. Intending to combine the lineage of jazz with his own fresh perspective, Tyler weaves powerful musical narratives in his compositions that serve as a framework for his group to unleash their creativity. n PER FOR M A N C ES M AG A Z IN E

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ARTIST BIOS | PIANO PARAGONS

PETER WASHINGTON

In 1986, while performing in San Francisco with alto saxophonist John Handy, he was asked by Art Blakey to move to New York and join the seminal Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Washington remained with the Jazz Messengers from 1986 to 1989, and during this time was able to establish himself as a ubiquitous, first-call freelance bassist; a position he has occupied to this day.

In the early 1990’s Washington joined the Tommy Flanagan Trio, called by many “the greatest trio in jazz”, and remained until Flanagan’s death, in 2002. For the past ten years he has been a member of the very highly acclaimed Bill Charlap Trio.

In addition to these long-term commitments Washington has worked and recorded with an extremely large number of top-tier artists, of all generations. A partial list of those he has recorded and performed “live” with would include Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, Benny Carter, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Phil Woods, Cedar Walton, Joe Henderson, Ray Bryant, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Lionel Hampton, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, the Newport All Stars, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Gerald Wilson, Lou Donaldson, Barry Harris, Lew Tabakin, Sweets Edison, Johnny Griffin, Jackie McLean, Sir Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony, Richard Wyands, Teddy Edwards, Johnny Coles, and Frank Morgan.

Of the younger generations, Washington has recorded and performed with Mulgrew Miller, Tom Harrell, the Brecker Brothers, Don Grolnick, David Sanchez, Eric Alexander, Benny Green, Javon Jackson, Brian Lynch, David Hazeltine, One For All, Steve Nelson, James Carter, Renee Rosnes, Steve Turre, Regina Carter, Kenny Washington, Grant Stewart, Robin Eubanks, Joe Magnarelli, Geoff Keezer, Billy Drummond, Jeremy Pelt, Ryan Kisor, and Walt Weisokopf.

Peter Washington has also enjoyed associations with vocalists as diverse as Andy Bey, Freddie Cole, Karrin Allyson, Chris Conner, Mark Murphy, Georgie Fame, Ernie Andrews, Paula West, Eric Comstock, Anne Hampton Calloway, Marlena Shaw, and Ernestine Anderson.

A complete discography would list, as of this writing, over 350 recordings, and is expanded on a weekly and monthly basis. n

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CARL ALLEN

With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades.

Born on April 25, 1961, Allen grew up on gospel, R&B, and funk, but later turned to jazz after hearing an LP by the legendary saxophonist Benny Carter. He studied with drum instructor Roy Sneider and band director Robert Siemele. His first hometown gigs were with sax greats Sonny Stitt and James Moody. Allen studied at The University of Wisconsin at Green Bay from 1979 to 1981, and transferred to William Patterson College in New Jersey, where he graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies and Performance.

Allen joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation, served as his Musical Director for eight years, and recorded several recordings with the trumpeter including Double Take and Life Flight. Allen also played with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Lena Horne, Ruth Brown, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Mike Stern, Nellie McKay, Terence Blanchard, Phil Woods, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Henderson, Billy Childs and many others. Allen’s phenomenal sideman discography also includes Jackie McLean (Dynasty), Donald Harrison (Indian Blues, Noveau Swing), Donald Byrd (A City Called Heaven), and Art Farmer (The Company I Keep).

Piccadilly Square (Timeless) was Allen’s first CD as leader, released in 1989, followed by The Dark Side of Dewey (Evidence), The Pursuer (Atlantic), Testimonial (Atlantic), and Get Ready, his 2007 Mack Avenue gospel/Motown accented debut release with co-leader, bassist Rodney Whitaker followed up by Work to Do (Mack Avenue Records) featuring Kirk Whalum.

Education has always been part of my mission Allen says.

Art Blakey taught me the importance of nurturing the next generation of musicians. “Every generation needs someone to help them get to the next level and this what I am hoping to do”. In May of 2012 Allen received an honorary doctorate from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah in Humane Letters.

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ARTIST BIOS | PIANO PARAGONS Allen is also an accomplished businessman. He cofounded Big Apple Productions in 1988 with saxophonist Vincent Herring, produced several recordings for several Japanese labels with future stars Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton. Several years ago he created Nella Productions which produces projects and developed an education component to the company called The New York Jazz Symposium where he runs workshops around the world on jazz. Allen has also produced recordings for pianist Eric Reed, Dewey Redman. Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Kris Bowers and guitarist Lage Lund, the winner of the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Monk Competition and many others totaling nearly 70 credits as a producer.

Carl Allen’s multifaceted career provides the perfect template for what a modern musician should be. As Sid Gribetz of Jazz Times wrote, “more than just another fine drummer, Carl Allen has it all together as a bandleader, businessman, and producer, becoming a force in today’s jazz world.”

every Wednesday in the Young Lions Series at Panama 66 at the San Diego Museum of Art. In addition, conservatory combos perform at Jazz @ The Jacobs, Adams Avenue Street Fair, KSDS Jazz 88.3 Live Series, Bayside Summer Nights at Embarcadero Marina Park, and more. Students also have the opportunity to attend jazz education festivals throughout the state, including Next Gen Monterey Jazz Festival.

In his youth Mr. Castellanos was provided many opportunities by established jazz musicians and has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Diana Krall, Al Jarreau, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Dr. John, Charlie Hayden, Charles McPherson, John Clayton, and Natalie Cole, just to name a few.

It’s been his ambition to provide today’s young musicians with some of the same opportunities he was fortunate enough to experience. Young Lions Jazz Conservatory is the fruition of this long-held dream. n

Allen maintains an exhaustive schedule of recording, touring and teaching. He remains active as a sideman with Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Benny Golson and others. As a leader most recently leading The Carl Allen Quartet as well as The Art of Elvin, a tribute band dedicated to his two drum influences, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones was started after the passing of Elvin Jones in 2004. n

YOUNG LIONS JAZZ CONSERVATORY ALL STARS

Young Lions Jazz Conservatory (YLJC) was founded by its artistic director, jazz trumpet virtuoso Gilbert Castellanos.

Mr. Castellanos has a passion for jazz education and in 2013 started The Young Lions Series, a program (currently presented weekly at Balboa Park’s Panama 66 restaurant) that showcases young blooming jazz artists (ages 11-18) with whom he works closely as instructor and mentor.

Building on the success and momentum of the Young Lions Series, Castellanos expanded his vision and passion to raise up the next generation of jazz with the launch of Young Lions Jazz Conservatory. The non-profit organization focuses on the educational components of music: jazz theory, history, cultural context, latin/afro/ brazilian rhythms, and master classes with internationally recognized musicians. Conservatory students are placed in small combos of seven or eight students and rehearse weekly. One or more conservatory students are featured S A N DI EGO SY M PHON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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Building a Sound Tomorrow Jacobs Music Center Renovation and Endowment Campaign

“To have the opportunity to improve the beautiful hall we call home, and to improve the musical communication on stage with the musicians, and to create a more intimate connection with our audiences, is a fantastic dream.”

– Rafael Payare, Music Director, San Diego Symphony Under the leadership of Music Director Rafael Payare and Chief Executive Officer Martha Gilmer, the San Diego Symphony has completed a historic renovation of its indoor home. The renovation of The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Music Center complements The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park and provides San Diego with two extraordinary venues designed to celebrate music and community. Likewise, in the same way that these venues promise an ever-brighter future, the San Diego Symphony Foundation’s endowment provides long-term financial stability for the organization, ensuring that the power of live music continues to inspire and uplift our community for generations to come.

PLAY A PART IN BUILDING THE SYMPHONY’S FUTURE The San Diego Symphony Foundation manages our Endowment, the cornerstone of our long-term stability and artistic excellence. By contributing to the Endowment, donors play a crucial role in sustaining our orchestra’s ability to present worldclass performances, expand our educational outreach, and foster innovation in the arts.

We invite you to join us in this enduring legacy by supporting the Endowment, securing the future of music in San Diego, and leaving an indelible mark on our cultural landscape.

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101 | Susan & Thomas Smith

NAME A SEAT! The beauty of the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center will be most enjoyed from the reconfigured seating in the hall. We ask you to join this historic campaign by investing in the San Diego Symphony and NAMING A SEAT. The named seats serve as a celebration of all individuals who helped make the renovation possible. With a gift of $10,000, you can name a seat on the Orchestra level, or with a gift of $25,000, you can name a seat in the Grand Tier. Your contribution can be pledged and paid over a period of one to five years.

A gift toward the renovated Jacobs Music Center supports the orchestra, elevates the audience experience, and impacts the growing vitality of downtown San Diego. To learn more, send an email to: campaign@sandiegosymphony.org

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PROGRAM GARETH FARR “The Invocation of the Sea” from From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs BEETHOVEN Piano Concert No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro Paul Lewis, piano -INTERMISSION-

SATURDAY, MARCH 29 7:30PM SUNDAY, MARCH 30 2PM Jacobs Music Center 2025 JACOBS MASTERWORKS

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F minor Andante sostenuto Andantino in modo di canzona Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato Finale: Allegro con fuoco Total Program Duration: Approximately 2 Hours (includes one 20 minute intermission).

FROM THE DEPTHS: LU LEADS TCHAIKOVSKY’S FOURTH SYMPHONY Tianyi Lu, conductor Paul Lewis, piano San Diego Symphony Orchestra

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ARTIST BIOS | FROM THE DEPTHS: LU LEADS TCHAIKOVSKY’S FOURTH SYMPHONY

ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR TIANYI LU Internationally known for her thrilling energy on the podium, her deeply creative approach to the repertoire and her open-hearted style of leadership, Chinese-born New Zealander Tianyi Lu collaborates with major orchestras and opera houses worldwide. Her work is driven by an ethos of empowerment, creating connection, and compassion across diverse communities through music.

After winning first prize in 2020 at both the Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition and the International Conducting Competition ‘Guido Cantelli’ in Italy, Tianyi Lu was appointed Conductor-in-Residence with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway, a position she held until the end of the 2023/24 season. Lu was Principal Conductor of the St Woolos Sinfonia in the UK until 2024, and Assistant Conductor of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019.

Recent highlights include concerts and recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, Hallé Orchestra Manchester, Orchestre National de Lyon, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Residentie Orkest, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. A former Dudamel Fellow, Lu made her Hollywood Bowl debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in July 2021, and returned for her Disney Hall debut in April 2023. In autumn 2021, Lu conducted performances of Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen, and in 2023, she appeared at Theater Basel to conduct the world premiere of Bobbi Jene Smith’s production of Marie & Pierre, composed for the Theater Basel by Celeste Oram. ​

The 2024/25 season began with Tianyi Lu making her debut at the BBC Proms in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sol Gabetta as soloist. She also makes debuts with the New York Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, and Staatsorchester Stuttgart. Return engagements include re-invitations to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Seattle Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Duisburger Philharmoniker, and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

Passionately committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to building a more empathetic world through the arts, Tianyi Lu is on the Board of Directors for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and an Artist Ambassador for Opera for Peace. She is regularly invited to work with and speak to communities and institutions about her experiences in empowering leadership, transforming cultures, resilience, and wellbeing. She has appeared in and hosted Welsh National Opera’s Podcast The O Word, has spoken as a guest for London Marathon Events and the Do More Good podcast, and conducted and hosted Ears Wide Open concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. n

ABOUT THE ARTIST PAUL LEWIS Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was awarded CBE for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world.

This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with whom he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. His close relationship with Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood.

With a natural affinity for Beethoven, Lewis took part in the BBC’s three-part documentary Being Beethoven and performed a concerto cycle at Tanglewood in summer 2022. He has performed the cycle all over the world, and was the first pianist to play the complete cycle in a single season at the BBC Proms in 2010.

Beyond many award-winning Beethoven recordings, his discography with Harmonia Mundi also demonstrates his characteristic depth of approach in Romantic repertoire such as Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt.

Between 2022 and 2024, Lewis embarked on a Schubert Piano Sonata Series, presenting the completed sonatas from the last 12 years of Schubert’s life at venues around the world. The cycle continues into 2025, when he will also give the premiere of a new Piano Sonata by Thomas Larcher.

In chamber music, he works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world – they have recorded three Schubert song cycles together – and he is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.n S A N DI EGO SY M PHON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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PROGRAM NOTES | FROM THE DEPTHS: LU LEADS TCHAIKOVSKY’S FOURTH SYMPHONY

ABOUT THE MUSIC “The Invocation of the Sea” from From the Depths of the Sea the Great Gongs Sound GARETH FARR

Born February 29, 1968,Wellington, New Zealand APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 9 MINUTES New Zealand composer and percussionist Gareth Farr studied first at the University of Auckland, then came to the United States and spent three years at the Eastman School of Music.

He returned to New Zealand and established his career as both composer and as a member of the percussion section of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. A vastly prolific composer, he has written for a variety of ensembles, including large-scale memorial works in memory of the victims of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and of the New Zealanders killed in World War I. Farr also has a nice sense of humor, which is evident in many of his works. As a percussionist, he has been particularly drawn to the rhythms of Balinese gamelan music and to the music of the Pacific Island peoples in general.

For its fiftieth anniversary season in 1996-97, the New Zealand Symphony commissioned a work from Farr, and for that occasion he wrote From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs. This is a substantial two-movement work inspired in part by the majesty of the ocean, and this concert opens with the first section of that work, titled Invocation of the Sea, which incorporates music from many different cultures that border the Pacific. The composer has provided a brief introduction: In Invocation of the Sea the sounds gather in the air, music from the far reaches of the Pacific, the drums of Rarotonga in the East, the Gamelan of Bali in the West, the taiko of Japan in the North. The sounds dart over the waves, mingling into the great crescendo, millions of voices singing, millions of hands drumming, as one.

Invocation of the Sea may be thought of – generally – as an eight-minute crescendo for large orchestra. Beginning very quietly, the music gathers energy – and volume – as it proceeds, and soon we hear extended solos for the percussion section built on the different kinds of drumming Farr mentions. These alternate with some brilliant writing for the full orchestra, and the music drives to an exciting conclusion that helps make clear why Invocation of the Sea has become Farr’s most popular composition. n

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Opus 37 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Born December 16, 1770, Bonn Died March 26, 1827, Vienna

APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 34 MINUTES When Beethoven completed his Third Piano Concerto early

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in 1800, he was 29 years old and on the edge of the most important transition of his life. He had spent the previous decade mastering the classical style of Haydn and Mozart, and now he was about to strike out in directions of his own–he would begin work on the Eroica only weeks after the premiere of this concerto. The Concerto in C Minor may look backward to the classical style of Haydn and Mozart, but at the same time it offers intimations of what was about to come.

Brahms was haunted by the overpowering example of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, but Beethoven himself was just as intimidated by Mozart’s piano concertos. He knew how good those concertos were and recognized that any concerto he wrote would stand in their shadow. Once, after hearing a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C Minor, K.491, Beethoven turned to his friend, the pianist Jean-Baptiste Cramer, and cried: “Cramer! Cramer! We shall never be able to do anything like that!” But Beethoven resolved to try, and many have noted the influence of that particular Mozart concerto on Beethoven’s own Piano Concerto in C Minor. Beethoven comes very close to “lifting” Mozart’s opening theme for his own–both concertos begin with the same quiet rise and fall on the notes of a C-minor triad. And the influence of Mozart can be felt in many other ways in Beethoven’s concerto, particularly in the imaginative writing for solo woodwinds. But this music is at the same time unmistakably the work of Beethoven: in the choice of C minor, a key he reserved for his most dramatic music; in the aggressive, edgy quality of the first movement; and in the virtuosity of the solo part–Beethoven wrote this music for his own use, and it is a real display concerto.

The form of the Third Piano Concerto, however, is right out of the classical concerto: a sonata-form first movement, a singing slow movement, and a rondo-finale. The opening Allegro con brio is based on two themes, both announced by the orchestra: the ominous opening (what energy is coiled within this simple figure!) and a flowing second subject.

The entrance of the piano on fierce octave runs is strident, and much of what follows is dark and dramatic. Beethoven composed the powerful cadenza, probably as late as 1809, and the orchestra makes an impressive return as the timpanist very quietly taps out the rhythm of concerto’s very beginning.

Beethoven mutes the strings in the Largo and sets the movement in the remote key of E major and in a slow 3/8 meter. From the inspired simplicity of the piano’s solo beginning, the music grows increasingly ornate, and the writing for solo winds here is particularly distinguished. The finale is a propulsive rondo based on its powerful opening idea, again introduced by solo piano. Along the way, Beethoven offers some wonderful episodes, each strongly characterized; one of these is a brief fugato on the rondo theme. That same tune is magically transformed at the coda: Beethoven moves into C major, re-bars the music in 6/8, and marks it Presto. On this bright energy the concerto dances to its energetic close.

Beethoven may have “completed” this concerto early in 1800, but he continued to revise it right up to the time of its premiere on April 5, 1803, and at that premiere he played the piano part from his pencil-scrawled manuscript. He asked the young conductor at the Theater an der Wien, Ignaz von Seyfried, to turn pages for him. Seyfried later remembered

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PROGRAM NOTES | CONTINUED

how harrowing that experience had been: “I saw almost nothing but empty leaves; at the most on one page or the other a few Egyptian hieroglyphics, wholly unintelligible to me, scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all of the solo part from memory . . . He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages and my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly. He laughed heartily at the jovial supper we had afterwards.” n

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Born May 7, 1840, Votkins Died November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 44 MINUTES The Fourth Symphony dates from the most tumultuous period in Tchaikovsky’s difficult life, and its composition came from a moment of agony. As he worked on this score in the spring of 1877, one of his students at the Moscow Conservatory – a deranged young woman named Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova – declared her love for him. Knowing that such a prospect was hopeless, Tchaikovsky put her off as gently as he could, but she persisted, even threatening suicide at one point. As fate would have it, Tchaikovsky was also at work on his opera Eugen Onegin at this time and was composing the scene in the which the bachelor Onegin turns down the infatuated young Tatiana, to his eventual regret. Struck by the parallel with his own situation – and at some level longing for a “normal” life with a wife and children – Tchaikovsky did precisely the wrong thing for some very complex reasons: he agreed to Antonina’s proposal of marriage. His friends were horrified, but the composer pressed ahead and married Antonina on July 18, 1877. The marriage was an instant disaster. Tchaikovsky quickly abandoned his bride, tried to return, but fled again and made what we would today call a suicide gesture. His doctors prescribed complete rest, a recommendation Tchaikovsky was only too happy to follow. He abandoned his teaching post in Moscow and fled to Western Europe, finding relief in the quiet of Clarens in Switzerland and San Remo in Italy. It was in San Remo – on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean and far from the chaos of his life in Moscow – that he completed the Fourth Symphony in January 1878.

The Fourth Symphony has all of Tchaikovsky’s considerable virtues – great melodies, primary colors and soaring climaxes – and in this case they are fused with a superheated emotional content. The composer’s friends guessed, perhaps inevitably, that the symphony had a program, that it was “about” something, and Tchaikovsky offered several different explanations of the content of this dramatic music.

For his patroness, Madame Nadezhda von Meck, who had supplied the money that enabled him to escape his marriage, Tchaikovsky prepared an elaborate program detailing what his symphony “meant.” One should inevitably be suspicious of such “explanations” (and Tchaikovsky himself later suppressed the program), but this account does offer some sense of what he believed had shaped the content of his music.

hampers our search for happiness. This power hangs over our heads like the sword of Damocles, leaving us no option but to submit.” The principal subject of this movement, however, is a dark, stumbling waltz in 9/8 introduced by the violins: “The main theme of the Allegro describes feelings of depression and hopelessness. Would it not be better to forsake reality and lose oneself in dreams?” Like inescapable fate, the opening motto-theme returns at key points in this dramatic music, and it finally drives the movement to a furious close: “Thus we see that life is only an everlasting alternation of somber reality and fugitive dreams of happiness.”

After so turbulent a beginning opening, the two middle movements bring much-needed relief. The contrast is so sharp, in fact, that Taneyev complained that these were essentially ballet music made to serve as symphonic movements; Taneyev may have a point, but after that scalding first movement, the gentle character of the middle movements is welcome. The Andantino, in ternary-form, opens with a plaintive oboe solo and features a more animated middle section. Tchaikovsky described it: “Here is the melancholy feeling that overcomes us when we sit weary and alone at the end of the day. The book we pick up slips from our fingers, and a procession of memories passes in review . . .”

The scherzo has deservedly become one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular movements. It is a tour de force for strings (which play pizzicato throughout), with crisp interjections first from the woodwinds and then from brass. Tchaikovsky makes piquant contrast between these quite different sounds, combining all his forces only in the final moments of the movement.

The composer notes: “There is no specific feeling or exact expression in the third movement. Here are only the capricious arabesques and indeterminate shapes that come into one’s mind with a little wine . . .”

Out of the quiet close of the third movement, the finale explodes to life. The composer described this movement as “the picture of a folk holiday” and said, “If you find no pleasure in yourself, look about you. Go to the people. See how they can enjoy life and give themselves up entirely to festivity.” Marked Allegro con fuoco, this movement simply alternates its volcanic opening sequence with a gentle little woodwind tune that is actually the Russian folktune “In the field there stood a birch tree.” At the climax, however, the fate-motto from the first movement suddenly bursts forth: “But hardly have we had a moment to enjoy this when Fate, relentless and untiring, makes his presence known.”

Given the catastrophic events of his life during this music’s composition, Tchaikovsky may well have come to feel that Fate was inescapable, and the reappearance of the opening motto amid the high spirits of the finale represents the climax – both musically and emotionally – of the entire symphony. This spectre duly acknowledged, Tchaikovsky rips the symphony to a close guaranteed to set every heart in the hall racing at the same incandescent pace as his music. n -Program notes by Eric Bromberger

The symphony opens with a powerful brass fanfare, which Tchaikovsky describes as “Fate, the inexorable power that

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THE FUTURE IS HEAR CAMPAIGN The San Diego Symphony Orchestra acknowledges the following donors who have made a gift of $10,000 or more toward The Future is HEAR campaign, our current $125 million campaign supporting the San Diego Symphony’s construction of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park and its wide-ranging artistic and community programs. We are extremely grateful! To make a gift, please call (619) 237-1969.

The following listing reflects pledges or gifts entered as of January 15, 2024.

San Diego Foundation

$1,000,000 AND ABOVE Terry L. Atkinson Bank of America Dianne Bashor Malin and Roberta Burnham Harry and Judy Collins Foundation Daniel J. and Phyllis Epstein Ted and Audrey Geisel* The George Gildred Family and The Philip Gildred Family Joan* and Irwin Jacobs Sheri Lynne Jamieson The Kong Tang Family Dick* and Dorothea Laub Jack McGrory The Alexander and Eva Nemeth Foundation The Conrad Prebys Foundation Allison and Robert Price Evelyn and Ernest Rady Lou and Penny Rosso and the Rosso Family Colette Carson Royston and Ivor Royston Sahm Family Foundation T. Denny Sanford Karen and Christopher “Kit” Sickels Karen and Jeff Silberman Donald and Gayle* Slate The State of California Gloria and Rodney Stone Sycuan Casino Resort Roger* Thieme and Sylvia Steding Sue and Bill* Weber $250,000 AND ABOVE Anonymous Raffaella and John Belanich Alan Benaroya Susan and Jim Blair The James Silberrad Brown Foundation Julia Brown Family David C. Copley Foundation Sam B. Ersan*

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Rancho Santa Fe Foundation

Jewish Community Foundation * Deceased

Esther Fischer Pam and Hal Fuson Karen and Warren Kessler Carol Ann and George Lattimer The Payne Family Foundation M&I Pfister Foundation Linda and Shearn* Platt Robert Glenn Rapp Foundation Dave and Phyllis Snyder Elaine Galinson and Herbert Solomon Elizabeth and Joseph* Taft Jayne and Bill Turpin Kathryn A. and James E. Whistler $100,000 AND ABOVE Jules and Michele Arthur Denise and Lon Bevers David Bialis Catherine & Phil Blair, Linda & Mel Katz, Manpower San Diego Nicole A. and Benjamin G. Clay Stephanie and Richard Coutts Diane and Charles Culp Diane and Elliot Feuerstein Walt Fidler Anne and Steve Furgal Lisa Braun Glazer and Jeff Glazer Linda & Melvyn Katz In memory of Jim Lester The Hering Family Carol and Richard Hertzberg Arlene Inch Brooke and Dan* Koehler Bill and Evelyn Lamden Curt Leland and Mary DiMatteo Sandy and Arthur* Levinson The Alex C. McDonald Family Lori Moore, Cushman Foundation The Parker Foundation (Gerald T. & Inez Grant Parker) Bill and Clarice Perkins Marilyn James and Richard Phetteplace Jeanne and Arthur* Rivkin

Sage Foundation In memory of Bob Nelson who loved the music, the bay and San Diego Tucker Sadler Architects Katherine “Kaylan” Thornhill U.S. Bank Jo and Howard* Weiner Cole and Judy Willoughby Richard* and Joanie Zecher $50,000 AND ABOVE Carol Rolf and Steven Adler Bonnie & Krishna Arora and Family David A. and Jill Wien Badger Carolyn and Paul Barber Cindy and Larry Bloch Lisa and David Casey The John D. & Janice W. Cone Family Trust Scotty Dale Kathleen Seely Davis The den Uijl Family Richard and Elisa Jaime In Loving Memory of LV Gary and Karin Eastham In loving memory of Kenrick “Ken” Wirtz* Jose Fimbres Moreno* Karen Wahler and Michael Gay* William and Martha Gilmer The Jaime Family Trust Roy, Peggy, Dean, and Denise Lago The Peggy and Robert Matthews Foundation Admiral Riley* D. Mixson Gerry and Jeannie Ranglas Marilyn & Michael Rosen, Juniper and Ivy Restaurant Richard Sandstrom and Sandra Timmons Congresswoman Lynn Schenk Kris and Chris Seeger Deborah Heitz and Shaw Wagener Emma and Leo Zuckerman

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$25,000 AND ABOVE Anonymous Lisa and Dennis Bradley Gordon Brodfuehrer Pamela and Jerry Cesak County of San Diego The Druck/Silvia Family Susan E. Dubé Lisette & Mick Farrell Dr. John and Susan Fratamico Janet and Wil Gorrie Virginia and Peter Jensen Jeff Light and Teri Sforza Sig Mickelson* Sandy and Greg Rechtsteiner The Segur Family In honor of Robert (Bud) Emile, SDS Concertmaster 1960-1975 Bill and Diane Stumph Gayle and Philip Tauber In memory of my husband Raymond V. Thomas, Lover of the Symphony The Bartzis-Villalobos Family RANAS Leslie and Joe Waters John J. Zygowicz and Judy Gaze Zygowicz $10,000 AND ABOVE Erina Angelucci Aptis Global, A subsidiary of The Kimball Group DeAnne Steele, Carlo Barbara and Cole Barbara Eloise and Warren* Batts Lauren Lee Beaudry Karl and Christina Becker Edgar and Julie Berner Diane and Norm Blumenthal The Boros Family Sarah* and John Boyer Annette and Daniel Bradbury Lori and Richard Brenckman Sheri Broedlow and Kyle Van Dyke Beth Callender & Pete Garcia Carol Randolph, Ph. D. and Robert Caplan, Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek The Casdorph Family Angela Chilcott Kurt and Elizabeth Chilcott Dr. Samuel M. Ciccati and Kristine J. Ciccati Thomas Jordan and Meredith M. Clancy P. Kay Coleman & Janice E. Montle Dr. William Coleman Peter V. Czipott and Marisa SorBello Ann Davies Caroline S. DeMar Drs. Edward A. and Martha G. Dennis George & Jan DeVries

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Robert and Nina Doede In loving memory of Karen Cooper Ferm* Michael and Susan Finnane Gertrude B. Fletcher K. Forbes Deborah Pate and John Forrest 4040 Agency - Mary, Bill & John Judith and William Friedel Barbara and Doug Fuller Cheryl J. Hintzen-Gaines and Ira J. Gaines Vicki Garcia-Golden and Tim Jeffries, Gardiner & Theobald Inc. Joyce M. Gattas, PhD Lynn and Charlie Gaylord In memory of Royce G. Darby* Kimberly and Jeffrey Goldman In memory of Samuel Lipman* Clarinetist The Granada Fund Robert and Carole Greenes Carrie and Jim Greenstein Georgia Griffiths and Colleen Kendall Lulu Hadaya Jeff and Tina Hauser In memory of Lucille Bandel* In Memory of Dick Hess* Richard A. Heyman and Anne E. Daigle Family Foundation Let the music play on, Drew!

Mary Ann and John Hurley Cynthia Thornton and Michael Keenan Keith and Cheryl Kim Katherine Kimball Helen and Sig Kupka Linda and Tom Lang Alexis and Steven Larky Tom and Terry Lewis Foundation The Li Family Larry Low and Mikayla Lay Josephine & Alex Lupinetti* Scott MacDonald and Patti Kurtz Daniel and Chris Mahai Sally and Luis Maizel Susan and Peter Mallory, in honor of Martha Gilmer David Marchesani Family Anne and Andy McCammon The McComb Family Katy McDonald Larry McDonald and Clare WhiteMcDonald Mark, Amy, Auguste & Paris Melden In Memory of James C. Moore* Judith and Neil* Morgan Clara and Donald Murphy Patricia R. Nelson The Lorna* & Adrian Nemcek Family The Ning Family Frank O’Dea O’Dea Hospitality Val and Ron Ontell Carol and Vann Parker The Hong-Patapoutian Family The Pollock Family

The Quintilone and Cooper Families Phillip Rand, M.D., dedicated Ob-Gyn, kind and gentle soul, humanitarian In loving memory of Long “Chris” Truong* Dr. Vivian Reznik and Dr. Andrew Ries Burton X and Sheli Rosenberg Marie G. Raftery and Robert A. Rubenstein, M. D. The Ryde Family Memorial Foundation at The San Diego Foundation Shari and Frederick Schenk Colin Seid and Dr. Nancy Gold Susan and Michael Shaffer Brigg and Jayne Sherman Shinnick Family Ruey & Marivi Shivers Stephen M. Silverman Janet Simkins Hon. Stephanie Sontag and Hon. David B. Oberholtzer Jeanette Stevens Sudberry Properties Beatriz & Matthew Thome Jacqueline Thousand and Richard Villa Glenda Sue Tuttle Michael and Eunicar Twyman Susan and Richard Ulevitch Aysegul Underhill Patricia and Joe Waldron Lori and Bill* Walton The Warner Family The K. Nikki Waters Trust Shirli, Damien and Justin Weiss Mike and Susan Williams Jeffrey P. Winter and Barbara Cox-Winter The Witz Family In loving memory of Ching H. Yang Howard and Christy Zatkin

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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ADMINISTRATION EXECUTIVE Martha A. Gilmer President and Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Larsen Director, Executive Office and Board Relations Maritza Aragón Executive Assistant to the President and CEO ARTISTIC Lea Slusher Vice President of Artistic Administration and Audience Development Theodora Bellinger Director of Artistic Operations Liam McBane Artistic Coordinator and Assistant to the Music Director Maggie de Lorimier Artistic Department Consultant Jeffrey Jordan Director of External Events Seasonal Artistic Assistants: Kristen Garabedian, Michael Hull, Melyssa Mason, Sade Rains, Evelyn Zuniga Angela Chilcott Managing Director, Orchestra Operations Shea Perry Orchestra Personnel Manager Diego Plata Orchestra Operations Manager Courtney Cohen Principal Librarian Rachel Fields Librarian Gerard McBurney Creative Consultant FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Maureen Campbell Melville Chief Financial Officer Ashley Madigan Controller

Ashley Smith, Brie Witko Graphic & Production Designers Maria Kusior Digital Media Specialist Savanna Hunter-Reeves Marketing Specialist Noëlle Borrelli-Boudreau Marketing Coordinator Sabina Spilkin Digital Systems Analyst Beverly Feinberg Downtown Sales Ambassador TICKETING AND PATRON SERVICES Casey Patterson Director of Ticketing Services, Partnerships and Premium Seating Kym Pappas Manager of Ticketing and Subscriptions Anastasia Franco Manager of Ticket Operations and Training Cheri LaZarus Ticket Service Associate - Lead Subscriptions Ticket Services Associates: Kailey Agpaoa, Clelia Cabezas, Levan Korganashvili, Eden Llodrá, Nayeli Valencia INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Sheri Broedlow Vice President of Institutional Advancement Rick Baker Director of Advancement, Institutional Giving Jennifer Nicolai Director of Advancement, Campaign and Major Gifts Ida Sandico-Whitaker Director, Donor Programs and Special Events Bob Morris Major Gifts Officer Theresa Jones Major Gifts Officer, Corporate Relations

Jeanette Bunch Assistant Controller

Maya Steinberg Institutional Advancement Gift Officer

Whitney Hall Revenue Accountant

Sydne Sullivan Associate Director of Advancement Operations

Dan Stack Staff Accountant Mariah Riley Senior Accounts Payable Specialist Kimberly Vargas Director of Human Resources Susan Cochran Payroll and Benefits Manager Amanda Gminski Human Resources Generalist MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Craig Hall Vice President of Marketing and Communications Elizabeth Holub Director of Marketing J.D. Smith Director of Marketing and Sales Technology John Velasco Communications Manager

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Sydney Wilkins Annual Fund Manager Kirby Lynn Tankersley Special Events Manager Brenda Jones Advancement Manager, Planned Giving

VENUE OPERATIONS Travis Wininger Vice President of Venue Operations Rob Arnold Managing Director, Venue Operations Paige Satter Director of Operations Administration Diane Littlejohn Venue Operations Manager Devin Burns Event Operations Manager Roberto Castro Director of Guest Experience Drew Gomes Director, Event Operations and Security Danielle Litrenta Manager, Guest Experience Front of House Managers: Christine Harmon, Kay Roesler, Karen Tomlinson Front of House Staff: Corinne Bagnol, Judy Bentovim, Sue Carberry, Julio Cedillo, Kerry Freshman, Kimberly Garza, Sharon Karniss, Laurel Nielsen, Paula Rivera, Linda Thornhill, Marilyn Weiss Event Operations Leads: Mateo Alvarez, Luke Ban, Gabriel Carlo De Guzman, Garrett Lockwood, Slaine Miller, Tom Rufino

Event Operations Staff: Joshua Albertson, Kayla Aponte, Tyler Bao Buu, Sydney Berman, Jason Boucher, Lily Castillo, Jafet Chavez, Kinsey Claudino, Brandon Croft, Stephen De La Cruz, Jessica Dau, Jesus Delgado, Kerragan Dellinger, Ryan Fargo, Jacey Greene, Brook Hill, Sophia Hirasuna, Jocelyn Jenkins, Ben Kelly, Edward Manzo, Harry McCue, Logan McKerring, Shannon McElhaney, Casey Meyer, Abraham Montoya, Cyrille Morales, Valerie Navarrete, Taryn O’Halloran, Brennan Owen, Gabriela Perez, Chance Pettit, Zoe Pollack, Riane Rosanes, James Renk, Dylan Renk, Mario Ruiz, Gabriel Sheaffer, Adam Schaffner, Brandon Scott, Mia Sevilla, Katarina Spinella, Aden Starr, Owen Stiefvater, Nicholas Stroh, Elias Valdvia, Paige Vigiletti, Angelina Walsh, Chris Wilson, Connor Wilson, Kaloni Yong, Yadira Zuniga Facilities Staff: Dan Weaver Facilities Manager Robert Saucedo Senior Technician Peter Perez Lead Facilities Technician Arturo Ardilla Facilities Technician

Luke Wingfield Stewardship Manager

IT Staff: Sean Kennedy Director of Information Technology

Citli Mejia Advancement Operations Manager and Assistant

Jovan Robles IT Operations Manager

LEARNING & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Laura Reynolds Vice President of Impact and Innovation

Production Staff: Ed Estrada Director of Production

Stephen Salts Director of Learning and Youth Programs Lauren Rausch Social Impact & Leadership Programs Manager

IT Specialists Shane Cutchall, German Luna

Pete Seaney Director of Stage Operations, Presentations and Rentals

Connor Schloop Director of Stage Operations, Orchestra Santiago Venegas II Technical Director S A N D IEGO SY MPH ON Y M A RCH 2 02 5

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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ADMINISTRATION Joel Watts Audio Director

Adam Day Carpentry Department Head, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

Beth Hall Production Stage Manager

RJ Givens Audio Department Head, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

Stage Personnel: Shafeeq Sabir Property Department Head, Jacobs Music Center

Hunter Stockwell Video Department Head, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

Jason Chaney Audio Department Head, Jacobs Music Center Michael Moglia Carpentry Department Head, Jacobs Music Center

Zach Schwartz Electrics Department Head, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park Jonnel Domilos Piano Technician

John Stewart Electrics Department Head, Jacobs Music Center

OUR MISSION: CHANGING LIVES THROUGH MUSIC The San Diego Symphony, through unquestionable commitment to the highest levels of artistic achievement, seeks to elevate human potential by providing a shared sense of pride and belonging to something bigger than any of us can achieve alone. We offer audiences the wonder of live music and transformative learning experiences that develop an understanding and passion for the arts. To ensure we are an enduring force in the region we commit to fiscal responsibility. We serve and shape the culture of the region, by being for all and with all, the musical heart of San Diego.

Strive: Always the Best Learn: Creative, Expressive, Curious Reach: Music for Everyone Ignite: Spark Passion

Photo by Sam Zausch

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UC San Diego is proud to be the official UC San Diego proud to be Engagement the official Education andisCommunity Education Community Sponsor and of the San DiegoEngagement Symphony.

ST

Sponsor of the San Diego Symphony.

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DINING D IN IN G

Dinnertime at Wildland

Dining & Imbibing in March GAGE FORSTER

From All-Day Eats in Carlsbad to Craft Cocktails in North Park / by SARAH DAOUST /

New in Carlsbad Village, Wildland is an all-day restaurant, bar and bakery by restaurateur John Resnick and chef Eric Bost (both of Carlsbad’s Campfire and Michelin-starred Jeune et Jolie fame). With the help of design firm Bells & Whistles, the new neighborhood hub is a stunner, taking up 8,000 square feet of the former Morey Boogie Boards factory with 30-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, concrete floors, warm woods, industrial-rustic accents, an open kitchen, an oak-treeshaded front patio, and a casual energy that’s both stimulating and low-key. It’s a place that beckons you to stroll on in and hang out—whether at the standing bar

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New cocktails at Polite Provisions; slices at Pop Pie Co.

or along wood-backed banquette seating, at a communal table or a hightop. (Reservations can be made for Wildland’s private dining room, accommodating parties of 12 to 18.) Chef Bost’s menu is decidedly California comfort cuisine interwoven with subtle Mediterranean influences. Think: house-

made pastries, wood-fired eggs and olive-oil-honey lattes for breakfast; and wood-fired pizzas, pastas and rotisserie chicken for lunch and dinner. Standout dishes include the rigatoni with oxtail ragu, Iberico Pork Secreto with polenta, and Cacio e Pepe pizza. For a sweet finish, try the chocolate-buck-

FROM LEFT: SHANNON PARTRICK; COURTESY OF POP PIE CO.

wheat tart with earl-grey whipped cream. And keep an eye out for Wildland’s finer-dining sibling, Lilo, opening next door later this spring. 2598 State St., Carlsbad, 442.339.4812, wildlandallday.com Also in Carlsbad, all-day pie shop Pop Pie. Co. has opened a new location at Roosevelt Cottages.

Pies come by the slice, as a whole, or as hand pies, with sweet flavors such as salted-caramelapple-crumble; and savory flavors like classic chicken and slow-braised beef with dark ale gravy; plus quiches, coffees and teas.

2956 Roosevelt St., Unit 3, Carlsbad, 442.325.3158, poppieco.com At Liberty Station, chef Phillip Esteban debuts his newest culinary concept: Wildflour Delicatessen.

Inspired by Scandinavian minimalist bakeries and bustling NYC delis, the

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FROM LEFT: SHANNON PARTRICK; COURTESY OF POP PIE CO.

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new restaurant offers something for everyone.

Come for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner, and feast on locally sourced California fare with a focus on seafood. Wildflour also offers an extensive coffee menu, a full bar and natural wines. Think of it as one part heritage bakery,

one part deli service, one part fast-casual eatery, and one part cocktail bar.

2690 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 103, Liberty Station, returntothewild.com Featured on the Food Network’s list of “40 Best Bars in America for Food Lovers,” downtown hotspot The Lion’s Share

marks its 13th year in business, and to celebrate, executive chef Dante Romero has debuted a new dinner menu. Indulge in dishes such as beerbattered tempura chicken tenders with Kaluga caviar; duck and rabbit terrine with Kabocha-squash mole, black-winter truffle,

carrots, arugula and l’orange sauce; bone-in elk chops with an eggplantchile puree and crispy potatoes; patatas bravas with seared scallops, chorizo and tomatillo; and more. 629 Kettner Blvd., downtown, 619.564.6924, lionssharesd.com In the heart of downtown Oceanside, the Brick Hotel welcomes a new tropical escape, The Lobby Tiki Bar & Grill.

Step inside a midcenturyinspired tiki lounge, complete with low-lit booths, beaded fringe partitions, greenery and warm wood accents. On the menu: rum-forward cocktails from Mai Tais to Zombies, served in festive mugs; and Island-inspired American fare, such as the Nacho Volcano, kalua tacos, poke inari bombs, and Hawaiian donuts. Come for Mai Tai Mondays for $7 Mai Tais and $10 Huli Huli chicken wings; and hula performances every Friday evening. 408 Pier View Way, Suite 101, Oceanside, 760.688.7249, lobbytikibar.com Beloved Leucadia bistro Valentina has released an updated happy hour “Barra” menu. Grab a

COURTESY OF VALENTINA

Oysters at Valentina; pair with a libation from its Barra menu.

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YOU’RE HERE. Congrats, You’ve Picked a Great Performance!

Check out the interactive version of this theater program magazine and enjoy even more insight into the performers, creative talent and theater activities that are behind it all.

LINKS TO PERFORMERS’ SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS MULTI - MEDIA PRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE.

UNDERSTUDY UPDATES

THEATER SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES

UPCOMING SHOWS AND CONCERTS AROUND TOWN INSIDER SCOOPS FROM THEATER AND MUSIC PROFESSIONALS

COURTESY OF VALENTINA

It’s the new way to read the program, it’s

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seat at the bar or on the sidewalk patio and enjoy $5 beer, house wine and vermouth; $10 signature cocktails, such as a martini, mojito, Old Fashioned and negroni; and a shareable pitcher of sangria for $28. Stay for dinner and enjoy dishes like the popular chicken paillard, pork schnitzel, fried Iberian ham croquettes, Mussels Marinieres, and classic patatas bravas. Valentina's happy hour menu is available daily, from 5 to 6 p.m. 810 N. Coast Hwy. 101, Leucadia, 760.943.6686, restaurantvalentina.com After a brief hiatus, CH Projects’ apothecary- and soda-fountain-inspired bar, Polite Provisions (a staple of North Park for 12 years), has reopened— welcoming patrons back with an extensive, brand-new cocktail menu.

“Rebirth” is sectioned 18 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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COURTESY OF THE LOBBY TIKI BAR & GRILL

DI NI NG

COURTESY OF THE LOBBY TIKI BAR & GRILL

Tiki-inspired decor and the Cobra Kai cocktail at The Lobby Tiki Bar & Grill

into five hefty chapters spanning 30 new drinks— most of which are cleverly described with an illustration and quote penned by a notable author, thinker or bartender: Current Yet Timeless; Clarified Offerings; Next Generation; Crafted Tonics, Sodas & Libations; and The Classics. Grab a seat at the bar, beneath the soaring atrium-style ceiling, or on the sidewalk patio; and sip on creations with fun names like the Uncle Jalapeño, Cactus Jack, Speak of the Devil, Expect the Unexpected, Easy Does It, Fit Check, and Strictly Business. You’ll also find plenty of traditional cocktails on the menu, such as the Old Fashioned, gin martini, Manhattan, negroni and gimlet. Bottoms up! 4696 30th St., North Park, 619.269.4701, politeprovisions.com PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 19

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F EA TURE

CONT’D. FROM PAGE 11

starting to evolve, but when you play Beethoven on period instruments it feels like they’re going to blow up.”

The opening four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony—dada-da-dum—may be the most recognizable in all of classical music.

But Valenzuela says no composed work had ever started that way before.

“It’s so familiar to us now, but was shocking at the time,” he says.

“Beethoven was making a political statement,” Valenzuela continues.

“On modern instruments, you lose the revolutionary sense of the piece, but the way we’re performing it, it’s an opportunity to peel back the layers and get a glimpse of what it sounded like when Beethoven played it for the first time.

Something you know very well is going to sound like something you’ve never heard before.”

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Ruben Valenzuela (left) with librettist Mario Montenegro

Valenzuela relishes leading his musicians in exploring the Fifth Symphony in a different way. “We really don’t know how it went down when Beethoven did it,” he says. “We have some clues, but we’re interpreting it to the best of our understanding. Now we look at it through the lens of the 21st century—we have in the backs of all our minds the history of the 20th and 19th centuries, these musical experiences that are part of our process. But we have to remember that this music was, of course, brand new when it was premiered.”

But where does the name “Total Sound Explosion” come from?

Valenzuela says it’s an ongoing theme at BCSD. He credits a band he used to see in Hollywood in his college days, called Jump With Joey. “They played everything from Afro-Cuban to jazz to swing; and when the piece PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 21

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F EA TURE

“Explosive theater that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.” – TheaterMania

MARCH 27 -APRIL 13

By Sam Shepard Directed by Phil Johnson

JASON MADDY DAVID MCBEAN

For Info and Tickets:

619.568.5800 · www.theroustabouts.org

involved the whole band the bandleader would yell out ‘Total sound explosion!’ as a way to really bring it on. At BCSD when we’re in rehearsals and it’s a big piece that calls for everyone, I would use that phrase. It’s very apropos when performing Beethoven—a perfect explosion of sound!”

Juxtaposing music genres will continue with Bach Collegium’s final concert of the 22nd season, “Knockout Sounds with Reginald Mobley: The Return of Bach to Bop” in May. In it, acclaimed countertenor Reginald Mobley showcases the thin lines between the worlds of baroque and jazz. Valenzuela says the repertoire—from J.S. Bach and Purcell to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald—explores the world of improvisation, ornamentation, pulsating bass lines, and most importantly, groove.

“Mobley is such a standout in his field.

He can straddle those two worlds of baroque and jazz, which actually have a lot of similarities,” Valenzuela says. “Both rely heavily on basslines— the music is built from the ground up. Also, improvisation is a key component to both genres. That’s where the two worlds meet. A lot of the music

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is not written down, but created in the moment.

It’s left to the performer, unlike in other types of music.”

Valenzuela says in a baroque concert the keyboard player has the bassline and their role is to improvise all of the harmony based on numbers in real time. “We’re able to live in those two worlds, similar to a jazz musician—creating harmonies based on chord symbols.

That’s what makes it really fun, because it’s never the same way twice and it’s bespoke.” In the concert, Mobley will be improvising the ornamentation, “giving him the opportunity to change things, veer off the written page a bit, as you do in jazz,” Valenzuela adds. “Scatting—vocal improvisation—he will do that as well.”

“Total Sound Explosion 2” will be performed on March 15 at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Cardiff-by-the-Sea; and on March 16 at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Point Loma. “Knockout Sounds with Reginald Mobley: The Return of Bach to Bop” will be performed on May 3 at The Conrad Performing Arts Center in La Jolla; and on May 4 at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Point Loma.

THE CONRAD

Home of La Jolla Music Society

One Night Only

Ballet Folklórico de México Sunday, March 23 • 7 PM Balboa Theatre

“

Visually arresting, sleekly choreographed and theatrically savvy” — The Guardian

The artistic legacy of Ballet Folklórico de México founder Amalia Hernández continues to flourish in an evening of exquisite works featuring great technical difficulty, elaborate costumes, and world-class dancers. Don’t miss this thrilling dance spectacle for one night only in San Diego.

Great seats are available!

Visit TheConrad.org or call our Box Office at 858.459.3728 for tickets.

For tickets and more info, visit bachcollegiumsd.org PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 23

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PARTIN G TH O U G H T

reprogra mmed!

Performances Magazine unveils a digital program platform for shows and concerts

DROP DOWN MENU Table of app contents.

SEARCH Find whatever it is you want to know—easily.

REGISTER Stay arts-engaged, access past programs.

SIGN IN Link to your performing-arts companies and venues.

THE ESSENTIALS Acts, scenes, synopses, repertory and notes.

THE PLAYERS Bios and background for cast, crew and creators.

CONTRIBUTORS Donors and sponsors who make it all possible—you!

other arts-centric features.

Audiences receive a link and a code word that instantly activate the app; QR codes are posted, too.

Screens go dark when curtains go up and return when house lights come back on.

Updates—such as repertory changes, understudy substitutions and significant new donations —can be made right up to showtime, no inserts necessary.

Other plusses include video and audio streams, translations and expanded biographies.

For those who consider printed programs to be keepsakes, a limited number, as well as commemorative issues for special events, continue to be produced. Collectibles!

Meanwhile, there is less deforestation, consumption of petroleum inks and programs headed for landfills.

For the ecologically minded, the platform gets a standing ovation.

The digital Performances is but one more reason for audience excitement. Activate your link and enjoy the shows. —CALEB WACHS

PHOTO IS COURTESY OF THE OLD GLOBE

NO RUSTLING PAGES, no killing trees . . . the digital Performances program platform has proved to be one of the more enduring recent theater innovations.

The touchless platform provides the programs for 20 Southern California performing-arts organizations, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Ahmanson Theatre to San Diego Opera, where the app made its debut.

Among a variety of features, it provides cast and player bios, donor and season updates, and numerous

WHAT’S ON What’s coming at a glance and ticket information.

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