San Diego Symphony Announces Its 2022-2023 Concert Season

ANNOUNCING
THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY’S
2022-23 JACOBS MASTERWORKS CLASSICAL SEASON

The Symphony continues its tour of San Diego County,
with 16 programs at 6 venues,
prior to returning to the renovated Jacobs Music Center in the fall of 2023
__

Music Director Rafael Payare leads 8 programs including Verdi’s Requiem, Shostakovich Symphony No. 12, Brahms Symphony No. 1, and Estevez’ “Cantata criolla”

WORLD PREMIERE of Gity Razaz Commission and US PREMIERE
of Thomas Larcher Co-Commission

Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Simone Lamsma make their
Rady Shell at Jacobs Park™ debuts

San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare to release their first commercial recording together

8 new orchestra members join the ensemble

San Diego, CA (May 1, 2022)— The San Diego Symphony today announced its 2022-23 Jacobs Masterworks Classical concert season, offering 16 programs of classical and contemporary masterworks from October 1, 2022 through May 27, 2023.  Following its popular 2022 winter-spring “Hear Us Here” classical season, the San Diego Symphony will continue its tour of San Diego County, performing a diverse array of classical concerts at 6 venues throughout the region. The forthcoming season will be the Symphony’s last before it returns to its refurbished indoor concert-hall at the Jacobs Music Center in the Fall of 2023, which is currently undergoing a $125 million renovation.

Concerts this season will be led by acclaimed conductors, including Music Director Rafael Payare and Principal Guest Conductor Edo de Waart; guest conductors Domingo Hindoyan, Robert Spano, Elena Schwarz, Tarmo Peltokoski and more. Additionally, the 2022-23 season will feature a distinctive lineup of renowned guest soloists, including pianists Emanuel Ax, Marc-André Hamelin, Benjamin Grosvenor, Ingrid Fliter, Awadagin Pratt, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Garrick Ohlsson; violinists Anne Akiko Meyers, San Diego Symphony Concertmaster Jeff Thayer (Deborah Pate and John Forrest Chair), Simone Lamsma and Paul Huang; and cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Guest performers will present a varied collection of repertoire, spanning classical eras and styles, including Prokofiev’s masterful Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra, Korngold’s illustrious Violin Concerto, two of Beethoven’s most iconic piano concertos No. 2 and No. 3, one of Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s newest works, Fandango for Violin and Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds for Piano and String Orchestra which is inspired by the imagery and themes from T.S. Eliot’s epic poem Four Quartets.

Also in the 2022-23 season, the Symphony will present the World Premiere of a new work by Iranian-American female composer Gity Razaz (commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation) and the US Premiere of a new co-commissioned work by Thomas Larcher (other co-commissioners include the Montreal Symphony, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Tonkuenstler Orchestra, and Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.) Other notable symphonic highlights include Verdi’s Requiem, Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, Brahms Symphony No. 1, Witold Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, Dvorák's Symphony No. 7, and Antonio Estévez’s Cantata criolla, “Florentino, el que canto con el Diablo” which will feature the symphony’s longtime artistic partners, the San Diego Master Chorale.

Succeeding its 2022 winter-spring “Hear Us Here” tour of San Diego and while its indoor home at Jacobs Music Center undergoes renovations, the Symphony will extend its tour of San Diego County for indoor performances this season. The Symphony will perform 16 programs in 6 venues throughout the County, from Southwestern College’s new state-of-the-art performing arts center in Chula Vista to Escondido’s California Center for the arts, the Symphony’s programming will be presented in all corners of the County north and south. Also, the Symphony will present several weeks of programs at their now famed Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, including concerts with Music Director Rafael Payare. Other venues include San Diego’s downtown Civic Theatre, the gorgeous Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla and the Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe. 

Music Director Rafael Payare said, “This season, I’m very excited to lead the orchestra in works that showcase their talents as an ensemble.” Payare continued, “we open this classical season with Verdi’s iconic Requiem, a work I have wanted to perform with this orchestra for quite some time. And then, of course another great program will be our performance of Cantata criolla, “Florentino, el que canto con el Diablo” by the great Venezuelan composer Antonio Estévez. This Venezuelan folk tale is something I grew up learning about and I am excited to bring it to life through Estévez’ music. This is just a taste of the amazing year we have ahead and something we can all be excited for. ”

“It has been so gratifying to greet so many new audiences during our 2022 touring spring season, and we are excited to continue our performances throughout the San Diego region in the 2022-23 Jacobs Masterworks Season” said Martha Gilmer, San Diego Symphony CEO. “This season we also anticipate welcoming more new members of the orchestra as a result of the many auditions that have taken place since the fall of 2021.  Rafael Payare has created a vibrant 2022-23 season that emphasizes our desire to be more connected to our community and reflect a wide palette of repertoire.  As we continue to work toward the orchestra’s return to a renovated Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center in the fall of 2023, we are excited to bring symphonic music to many of San Diego County’s fantastic performance spaces, engaging with new audiences closer to where they live.”

Renovation of Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center
The San Diego Symphony is performing throughout the county while it completes its $125 million renovation of the historic Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center, one of the best-preserved original Fox Theater movie palaces in America. This major project largely represents the long-term commitment the organization has to contributing to the vitality of downtown San Diego while investing in the artistic ambitions of the orchestra. The renovation and restoration will honor the legacy of the Jacobs Music Center’s historic building, which opened in 1929, while greatly enhancing the musical and performance experience for artists and audiences alike. Until then, audiences have the unique opportunity to hear the orchestra throughout some of the County’s other fine concert venues and get a glimpse of the excitement that is to come when Jacobs Music Center reopens in 2023.

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
The Symphony’s outdoor home, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, is currently preparing for the start of its Conrad Prebys 2022 Summer Season. This season, announced in March of 2022, will feature a thrilling lineup of artists including Common, Boyz II Men, Jennifer Hudson, Bernadette Peters and The Beach Boys, who will perform alongside the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Over the 14 weeks of concerts, from June through September, the symphony will present 38 performances. Later in the year its beloved holiday programming will return to The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. This 2022 season will mark only the second time in the Symphony’s history that its holiday programming—including San Diego’s long-standing tradition Noel, Noel—will be held outdoors, in a beautiful setting along the Embarcadero. The full holiday season lineup will be announced at a later date.

New Members of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra
As the San Diego Symphony continues to look towards the future and all that the next few seasons hold, the symphony’s artistic staff and musician committees have worked over the last season to hold auditions and fill the orchestra’s vacant positions. Eight new musicians will join the orchestra by the fall of 2023, including Principal Tuba, Associate Principal Second Violin, Piccolo, Oboe and section string positions, with two more auditions taking place in May. The new musicians, who will be officially announced in the coming months, come to join the Symphony from leading orchestral institutions and conservatories throughout the world. Moreover, throughout this process, the San Diego Symphony has been proud to work with the Sphinx Organization, a social justice organization dedicated to diversity in the arts, as an orchestral partner to their National Alliance for Audition Support. This partnership includes masterclass coaching’s and participation in the Sphinx Orchestral Partner Auditions in which symphony musicians consider Sphinx musicians for performance opportunities.

Shostakovich Symphony No. 11 Album Release
Additionally of note, this spring the Symphony will release its next commercial recording and first album featuring Music Director Rafael Payare. Recorded in February 2020, Music Director Rafael Payare led the San Diego Symphony in a live account of Shostakovich’s searing Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905.” This performance – Payare’s last at Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center before the pandemic lockdowns – is due for release by Platoon on May 6, 2022, marking the company’s first title to feature an American orchestra and the first commercial recording of the Venezuelan conductor’s career. On its release date the album will be available for streaming everywhere.

2022-23 Season Highlights

Concerts with Music Director Rafael Payare
Audiences will have a chance to see Rafael Payare conduct the orchestra in 8 weeks of magnificent concerts. Beginning with the opening of the 2022-23 season (October 1 & 2), Payare will lead the orchestra, a roster of top vocalists, and the San Diego Master Chorale in Verdi’s Requiem. This will mark the first performance of this extraordinary work by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in almost a decade and first at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. On October 7, Payare will lead the orchestra and cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Prokofiev’s enigmatic Sinfonia concertante for Cello & Orchestra for the first time in the Symphony’s 100-year history. Following this, Payare returns (November 12 & 13) to present the US Premiere of a San Diego Symphony co-commissioned work by the leading contemporary-classical Austrian composer Thomas Larcher, a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Emanuel Ax and a follow-up to the spring’s album release with a performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12, “The Year 1917.” Also in the fall (November 17 & 18) Payare will lead Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 for audiences in San Diego and Escondido.

In 2023, he will return for a concert at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido (March 1), and in April he returns to The Rady Shell for two concerts (April 21 & 22) featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and a rare performance of Debussy’s Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra with Jean-Yves Thibaudet. In Payare’s final season appearances at The Rady Shell he partners with the pianist and Music Director of The La Jolla Music Society Inon Barnatan for two concerts (May 20 & 21) and then leads the orchestra in two concerts featuring the Cantata criolla, “Florentino, el que canto con el Diablo” (“Florentino, the One who Sang with the Devil”) by the renowned Venezuelan composer Antonio Estévez, which depicts the tale of a musical contest between the forces of good and evil.

A Leading Lineup of Conductors and Soloists
This season, the varied roster of famed conductors and soloists includes the San Diego Symphony debuts of 10 individuals. The Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan makes his debut with the orchestra presenting Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s Fandango for Violin and Orchestra, featuring the soloist that premiered the work in 2021 Anne Akiko Meyers, who joins the San Diego Symphony for the first time since 2018. Other conductors who make their San Diego Symphony debuts include Elena Schwarz, a Swiss-Australian conductor and former Los Angeles Philharmonic Dudamel Fellow, and Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, named Young Musician of the Year by the Pro Musica Foundation. Meanwhile, additional soloists scheduled to make their debuts include the Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter who will present her rendition of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23; in October, Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Paul Huang will perform with the orchestra, including an appearance at The Rady Shell; vocalists debuts this season include Leah Crocetto, Limmie Pulliam, Aleksey Bogdanov and Hera Hyesang Park;  and the Israeli violinist and former Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster Guy Braunstein is set to present his debut concerts alongside Rafael Payare visiting the California Center for the Arts in Escondido.

Additionally, the orchestra is thrilled to welcome back celebrated artists like pianists Emanuel Ax, and Marc- André Hamelin who make their Rady Shell at Jacobs Park debuts; Principal Guest Conductor Edo de Waart who will lead the orchestra in Aaron Copland’s iconic suite from Appalachian Spring; conductor Robert Spano will lead the orchestra in Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra and a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with pianist Garrick Ohlsson; Simone Lamsma will perform Korngold’s Violin Concerto; pianist Awadagin Pratt will perform a work he commissioned by leading American composer Jessie Montgomery; and Benjamin Grosvenor who made his last appearance with the orchestra at a pre-renovated Copley in 2020 will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

For the 2022-23 Jacobs Masterworks Season, the symphony will offer a Four-Concert Subscription package with prices from $88-324. All packages will go on sale Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 10 AM. Single tickets will go on sale to the public later this summer. Single-ticket pricing varies by location, but will range from $25-90 plus taxes and fees. Visit www.SanDiegoSymphony.org for additional information. 

San Diego Symphony 2022-2023 Jacobs Masterworks Season

Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 6:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 5:00 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Rafael Payare, conductor
Leah Crocetto, soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano
Limmie Pulliam, tenor
Aleksey Bogdanov, baritone
San Diego Master Chorale
Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem

Friday, October 7, 2022 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7:30 PM – California Center for the Arts, Escondido - Concert Hall
Rafael Payare, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Serge Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 125
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
Further programming to be announced

Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Sunday, October 16, 2022 at 5:00 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Edo de Waart, conductor
Simone Lamsma, violin
Aaron Copland: Suite from Appalachian Spring
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
Antonin Dvorák: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Elena Schwarz, conductor
Paul Huang, violin
Samuel Barber: First Essay for Orchestra, Op. 12
Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14
Lei Liang: Bamboo Lights
Igor Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements

Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 5:00 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Rafael Payare, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Thomas Larcher: SDSO Co-Commissioned Work US PREMIERE
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112, “The Year 1917”

Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Friday, November 18, 2022 at 7:30 PM - California Center for the Arts, Escondido - Concert Hall
Rafael Payare, conductor
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Richard Wagner: Prelude & Liebestod, from Tristan und Isolde
Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

Friday, January 6, 2023 at 7:30 PM - California Center for the Arts, Escondido - Concert Hall
Sunday, January 8, 2023 at 5:00 PM - McCallum Theatre; Presented by Palm Springs Friends of the Philharmonic
Domingo Hindoyan, conductor
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Jacques Ibert: Escales  (Ports of Call) 
Arturo Márquez: Fandango for Violin and Orchestra 
Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka (1947 version) 

Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 7:30 PM - California Center for the Arts, Escondido - Concert Hall
Friday, February 3, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Southwestern College Performing Arts Center
Tarmo Peltokoski, conductor
Jeff Thayer, violin
Kaija Saariaho: Ciel d’hiver (Winter Sky)
W.A. Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216, “Strassburg”
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

Friday, February 24, 2023 at 8:00 PM - San Diego Civic Theatre
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 8:00 PM - San Diego Civic Theatre
Case Scaglione, conductor
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
Igor Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at 7:30 PM - California Center for the Arts, Escondido - Concert Hall
Rafael Payare, conductor
Guy Braunstein, violin
Maurice Ravel: Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess)
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
W.A. Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, “Jupiter”

Friday, March 10, 2023 at 8:00 PM - San Diego Civic Theatre
Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 8:00 PM - San Diego Civic Theatre
Edo de Waart, conductor
Ingrid Fliter, piano
John Adams: The Chairman Dances; Foxtrot for Orchestra
W.A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 7:30 PM – Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, La Jolla
Friday, April 14, 2023 at 7:30 PM - Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, La Jolla
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 7:30 PM – The Village Church
Yaniv Dinur, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 1 for strings 
Serge Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Classical” 
Jessie Montgomery: Rounds for Piano and String Orchestra 
Franz Jospeh Haydn: Symphony No. 104 in D Major, “London”  

Friday, April 21, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Rafael Payare, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Hera Hyesang Park, soprano
Claude Debussy: Prélude à “L'après-midi d'un faune” (Prelude to “Afternoon of a Faun”)
Claude Debussy: Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major

Friday, May 5, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Robert Spano, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Brian Raphael Nabors: Onward
Witold Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 5:00 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Rafael Payare, conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2, in B-flat Major, Op. 83
Gity Razaz: New Commissioned Work WORLD PREMIERE
Antonin Dvorák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70

Friday, May 26, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 7:30 PM - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Rafael Payare, conductor
San Diego Master Chorale
Vocalists to be announced
Gabriel Fauré: Suite from Pelleas et Melisande, Op. 80
Paul Dukas: La Péri, Poème Dansé (Dance Poem in One Scene)
Evencio Castellanos: Santa Cruz de Pacairigua
Antonio Estévez: Cantata criolla, “Florentino, el que canto con el Diablo”
(Florentino, the One who Sang with the Devil)

VENUE INFORMATION
San Diego Symphony has selected six different venues throughout the greater-San Diego area for its 2022-23 season.
California Center for the Arts: 240 N. Escondido Boulevard, Escondido
Civic Theatre: 1100 Third Avenue, San Diego
The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center - Baker-Baum Concert Hall: 7600 Fay Avenue, La Jolla
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park: 220 Marina Parkway, San Diego
Southwestern College Performing Arts Center: 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista
The Village Church: 6225 Paseo Delicias, Rancho Santa Fe

ABOUT THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1910, the San Diego Symphony is the oldest orchestra in California and one of the largest and most significant cultural organizations in San Diego. The Orchestra performs for more than 250,000 people each season, offering a wide variety of programming at its two much-loved venues, Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center in downtown San Diego (now under renovation) and The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park on San Diego Bay. In early 2018, the San Diego Symphony announced the appointment of Rafael Payare as music director. Payare leads the orchestra’s 82 full-time musicians, graduates of the finest and most celebrated music schools in the United States and abroad. The San Diego Symphony also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera each season, as well as performing at several regional performing arts and community centers. For more than 30 years, the San Diego Symphony has provided comprehensive learning and community engagement programs reaching more than 65,000 students annually and bringing innovative programming to San Diego’s diverse neighborhoods and schools. For more information, visit www.sandiegosymphony.org.

Media Contact
Kristen Turner | Director of Communications, Content and Digital Strategies
kturner@sandiegosymphony.org