2 minute read
THE VERY GREAT OUTDOORS
San Diego Symphony looks to its new Shell to reconnect with audiences.
BY STEPHANIE THOMPSON
WHEN THE SAN DIEGO Symphony’s new music director and principal conductor took the podium for a series of season-opening concerts in fall 2019, the excitement was palpable. Rafael Payare drew masterful performances out of the orchestra and electrified audiences and critics alike. Everyone agreed—a new era was born.
Then, in March, the world, and that era, came to a screeching halt.
“Rafael Payare had six weeks of performances as our new music director before the coronavirus shutdown,” recalls San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer. “Everyone was able to see his incredible energy and his connection with the musicians. Now he is a conductor without an orchestra.”
Payare—who is from Venezuela and lives in Berlin with his wife, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and their young daughter —flew into San Diego on one of the last flights before the shutdown.
He had a full slate of performances scheduled for cities all over the world this year—Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, Zurich, Boston, Leipzig and London among them. Instead, he says cheerfully, “I’m getting to know this beautiful city and get more in touch with San Diego” —studying scores and dreaming big.
An ambitious 2020–21 season announced by Payare and Gilmore has tentatively been pushed to spring. More than a dozen compositions get their San Diego Symphony premieres; eight of the composers were born elsewhere— ”composers that helped shape music in this country who, like me, were immigrants, mixing cultures, putting it all on a plate,” Payare says.
—Martha Gilmer, San Diego Symphony CEO
RENDERING OF THE SHELL ON SAN DIEGO BAY.
And with outdoor and socially distanced events topping arts wish lists, the orchestra has an ace up its sleeve: The Shell, its $42 million venue on San Diego Bay, is due to open next summer.
“The Shell is close to complete and will be the San Diego Symphony’s outdoor home, not just for summer pops concerts,” Gilmer says.
“We are very fortunate to have a permanent outdoor venue with that level of sophistication, all the amenities, wonderful sound, surrounded by water and a steady breeze. With a capacity of 10,000, we can easily socially distance an audience of 3,000.”
Payare and his brass players gathered at the unfinished Shell in May, safely distanced, to record a performance of “Simple Gifts” released online July 4.
“We played to break the silence,” Payare says. “The orchestra had not played since March 6. The sound was phenomenal.”
Reflects Gilmer, “For San Diegans to hear their orchestra and feel that sense of pride, that connection.... Having been deprived of it for months, we realize it is more necessary and life-affirming than ever.
“The first-line workers are doing the critical work right now,” she says. “But when we come out of isolation, music, the arts, the San Diego Symphony will all be part of the healing process.
“We will all stand at that first concert and weep, because we will all realize how fragile life is and how much we have missed it.”
TOP: NEW MUSIC DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR RAFAEL PAYARE.
