The curtain is ready to rise again for the San Diego Symphony at Jacobs Music Center, the historic concert venue formerly known as Copley Symphony Hall. But it will do so on a somber note, following Tuesday’s announcement of the death of Joan Jacobs, who — with her husband, Irwin Jacobs — was the symphony’s biggest benefactor.
The 114-year-old orchestra, the oldest in California, will take the stage on Sept. 28 in its newly renamed downtown concert hall, following an extensive, top-to-bottom $125 million renovation that began in earnest in early 2021. Unanticipated construction challenges led to a one-year delay in the originally planned fall 2023 reopening of the 95-year-old venue at 750 B St. in downtown San Diego.
It will now boast significantly improved acoustics, state-of-the-art new audio, visual and lighting systems, new aisles and seats angled to face the stage — plus an array of other key new design elements — while retaining much of the hall’s historic essence. Eight rows of seating have been removed from the rear of the orchestra-level audience section, the back wall on the main floor has moved forward and a permanent elevated choral terrace has been built at the rear of the venue’s reconfigured stage.
“This is like getting a new instrument, the hall, for the orchestra to play in,” said Martha Gilmer, the symphony’s CEO.
“It is a completely different instrument,” agreed Rafael Payare, the symphony’s music director.
“It’s the same place — you can recognize the proscenium — but it’s different in so many ways. Oh my god, people are going to flip out! We’ll be going into the hall to do some fine-tuning before our first concert, but we already have something great.”
The venue’s rebirth comes just three years after the symphony unveiled its bayside amphitheater, the $85 million Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, which is just a few miles from Jacobs Music Center.
Gilmer announced the hall’s reopening and some likely season highlights to the audience at Tuesday night’s San Diego Civic Theatre concert by the Payare-led symphony and cello legend Yo-Yo Ma. She also paid tribute to Joan Jacobs’ legacy of giving.
Season ticket packages are now on sale at sandiegosymphony.org and (619) 235-0804. Prices for each concert could change because of dynamic pricing.
Payare and the orchestra will kick off their 2024-25 Jacobs Masterwork season in their new/old hall with a star-studded Sept. 28 concert. It will feature cello star Alisa Weilerstein, soprano Hera Hyesang-Park, pianist (and La Jolla Summerfest music director) Inon Barnatan, the symphony’s concertmaster, Jeff Thayer, and the multidisciplinary visual theater company Animal Cracker Conspiracy. The opening-night repertoire will spotlight works by Ravel, Rossini, Rachmaninoff, Paganini and the world premiere of Korean-born San Diego composer Texu Kim’s aptly titled “Welcome Home!!”
New name, new era
A free community celebration with a yet-to-be-announced program will be held Sept. 29 at the hall, which opened in 1929 as the Fox Theater.
The Fox was renamed Copley Symphony Hall in 1985 after Helen Copley, the now-deceased publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune, donated $2 million to help the orchestra acquire the venue as a permanent performance space. In 2013, it was renamed the Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center in honor of Joan and Irwin Jacobs, who have given more than $130 million to the nonprofit orchestra over the past two decades alone.
Now, the David C. Copley Foundation — named for Helen Copley’s late son, who became the Union-Tribune’s publisher after her death — has given the naming opportunity of the hall back to the symphony. This will enable a new donor to step forward and provide a fresh infusion of funding for the orchestra.
“In recognition of the symphony entering into an exciting new era, with the reopening of its renovated venue that will provide new naming opportunities to other community-minded philanthropists like Helen Copley, we are pleased to gift this naming opportunity back to San Diego Symphony in order to inspire a new generation of philanthropic support,” Dean P. Dwyer, president and CEO of the David C. Copley Foundation, said in a statement.
Similar forward-looking sentiments were expressed by Irwin Jacobs, the founding chairman and CEO emeritus of Qualcomm.
“If someone else comes along and wants to obtain naming rights to the hall itself — as opposed to it being called the Jacobs Music Center — that would be welcome,” he told the Union-Tribune in a late April interview. “I am exceedingly excited by the new hall. It is quite an impressive achievement.”
The season-opening September performances will be followed by the most extensive concert season in the orchestra’s history.
It will feature the Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 world premiere of six-time Grammy Award-winner Billy Childs’ latest work, Concerto for Orchestra, which was commissioned by the symphony.
“His orchestrations are really great,” Payare said. “I’m very excited because Billy has the ability to do it all. We played his Diaspora: Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra last fall at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, and you could hear how he has such a distinctive way of painting a musical story.”
The upcoming season will feature such high-profile performers as pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leila Josefowicz, saxophonist Steven Banks and Weilerstein, who will perform at the Sept. 28 concert.
On Feb. 15 and 16, renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will make his long-overdue San Diego debut. He will lead the orchestra in performances of his composition, Street Song for Symphonic Brass, along with Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor, “Winter Daydreams.”
The season will be book-ended by two Mahler compositions, beginning with three performances of his epic Symphony No. 2, also known as the Resurrection Symphony.
It will be performed Oct. 4-6 and teams Payare and the orchestra with the San Diego Symphony Festival Chorus and two guest singers — soprano Angela Meade and Anna Larsson. The season will close with May 23-25 performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, with Payare conducting and mezzo soprano Karen Cargill as the featured vocalist.
“We knew we were going to do two Mahler symphonies and Rafael has always wanted to open a season with Mahler’s Second,” Gilmer said.
“Mahler used to say every symphony is like a universe,” Payare noted, “a galaxy on its own. This will showcase the orchestra in an amazing way, with a choir and solo singers. We can bring to life the dreams of the orchestra and our new hall with the phenomenal music of Mahler.”
Jazz returns, new series debut
The new season will see the return of the Jazz @ The Jacobs series, which has been expertly curated since its inception in 2015 by trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, the founder of San Diego’s Young Lions Jazz Conservatory.
The symphony will debut three new series at its transformed venue. They include Currents, which will use music to explore timely social and civic issues; Friday Matinee Masterworks, which will have an 11 a.m. starting time; and the interactive, family-friendly Symphony Kids.
The orchestra has not performed a public concert in Jacobs Music Center since early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of public events worldwide. The 2021 opening of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park allowed the symphony to pivot to health-conscious outdoor performances while its concert hall was being rebuilt.
The one-year delay in the hall’s reopening — caused by unanticipated construction challenges — has resulted in an as-yet-unspecified cost increase to the $125 million rebuilding budget.
“We don’t have a (final) price yet, given that we’re not done with construction,” Gilmer said. “It will exceed that (original budget), of course, as construction projects sometimes do, but $125 million is still valid.”
San Diego Symphony 2024-25 season
Season ticket packages are now on sale at sandiegosymphony.org and (619) 235-0804. Prices for each concert could change because of dynamic pricing.
Saturday, Sept. 28 at 6 p.m.: Jacobs Music Center Opening Night: Texu Kim’s Welcome Home!! Fanfare for Brass, Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Rossini’s “Una Voce Poco Fa” from Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë: Suite No. 2, featuring music director Rafael Payare, concertmaster Jeff Thayer, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, soprano Hera Hyesang-Park and pianist Inon Barnatan. ($113-$211)
Friday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.:Larcher’s Time, Three Movements for Orchestra (co-commissioned by the San Diego Symphony) and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection,” featuring music director Rafael Payare, soprano Angela Meade, mezzo-soprano Anna Larsson and the San Diego Symphony Festival Chorus, led by Andrew Megill. ($39-$120)
Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m.: Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major, Schoenberg’s Pelleas und Melisande, featuring music conductor Rafael Payare and violinist Sergey Khachatryan. (($39-$120)
Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m.: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503, and Prokofiev’s Excerpts from Romeo & Juliet, featuring conductor Rafael Payare, pianist Emmanuel Ax; directed by Gerald McBurney, with projections by Mike Tutaj. ($39-$120)
Friday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m.: Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas Overture, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor, featuring conductor Antonio Méndez and violinist Paul Huang. ($39-$120)
Saturday, Nov. 2. at 11 a.m.: Because: A Symphony of Serendipity, featuring conductor Beatriz Fernández Aucejo. ($29-$52)
Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m.: Mozart’s Overture Die Zauberflöe, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Mozart’s Overture to La Clemenza di Tito and Haydn’s Symphony No. 103 in E-flat Major, “Drumroll,” featuring conductor Bernard Labadie and pianist Jonathan Biss. ($39-$120)
Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.: Adam’s The Chairman Dances, Adès’ Violin Concert, “Concentric Paths” and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” featuring conductor Elena Schwarz and violinist Leila Josefowicz. ($39-$120)
Friday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m.: Currents: Tres Minutos, composer Nicolas Lell Benavides and libretto by Marella Martin Koch. ($35)
Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m.: Jazz @ The Jacobs: A Tribute to Ella, Billie and Sarah, featuring trumpeter Gilber Castellanos, vocalist Mary Stallings, vocalist Sherry Williams, vocalist/pianist Champion Fulton, pianist Sam Hirsh, tenor saxophonist Rickey Woodard and drummer Jeff Hamilton. ($39-$93)
Saturday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m.: Leslie Odom, Jr. “The Christmas Tour” ($39 to $140)
Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday Dec. 8 at 2 p.m.: Strauss’ Don Juan, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor and Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streich, featuring music director Rafael Payare and pianist Inon Barnatan. ($39-$120)
Friday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m.: “Noel Noel,” featuring conductor Christopher Dragon, director Jonathan Gilmer, San Diego Master Chorale and the San Diego Children’s Choir. ($39-$93)
Thursday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m.: Voctave “It Feels like Christmas” ($39-$93)
Saturday Dec. 21 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. and Sunday Dec. 22 at 7:30 p.m.: “Elf in Concert,” featuring conductor Bruce Kiesling. ($47-$109)
Friday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m.: Smith’s Bioluminescence Chaconne, Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Holmès’ “La nuit et l’amour” from Ludus pro patria and Saint Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, “Organ Symphony,” featuring conductor Ludovic Morlot and violinist Jeff Thayer. ($39-$120)
Friday, Jan. 17 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m.: Clyne’s Color Field, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, featuring conductor Eduardo Strausser and pianist Javier Perianes. ($39-$120)
Saturday, Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.: Symphony Kids: Meet the Brass ($22)
Friday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m.: Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Busoni’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Respighi’s Roman Festivals, featuring conductor Daniele Rustioni and violinist Francesa Dego. ($39-$120)
Friday, Jan. 31 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m.: Billy Childs’ Concerto for Orchestra (world premiere, commissioned by the San Diego Symphony), Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, featuring music director Rafael Payare and pianist Alexander Malofeev. ($39-$120)
Saturday, Feb 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday Feb. 9 at 2 p.m.:Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, Walton’s Viola Concerto and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major, featuring music director Rafael Payare and violist Chi-Yuan Chen. ($39-$120)
Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.: “What the World Needs Now,” featuring director and pianist Rob Fisher, and vocalists Ross Lekites and Bianca Marroquin. ($39-$93)
Saturday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.:Michael Tilson Thomas’ Street Song for Symphonic Brass, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor, “Winter Daydreams,” featuring conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and pianist Parker van Ostrand. ($39-$120)
Friday, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, Mar. 1 at 7:30 p.m.: Sibelius’ Tapiola, Op. 112, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, “Emperor” and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, featuring conductor Osmo Vanska and pianist Paavali Jumppanen. ($39-$120)
Saturday March 1 at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.: Symphony Kids: “Meet the Winds” ($22)
Sunday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m.: Michael Feinstein in “Because of You My Tribute to Tony Bennett,” featuring the Carnegie Hall Big Band ($39-$140)
Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m.: Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, featuring conductor Matthias Pintscher and violinist Alexi Kenney. ($39-$120)
Saturday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.:Brahms X Radiohead. ($39-$113)
Saturday, March 15 at 11 a.m.: Family Concert: Philharmonia Fantastique, featuring conductor Conner Gray Covington. ($29-$52)
Sunday, March 16 at 6:30 p.m.: Rock ‘n Radio, featuring vocalists Jessica Hendy, Alex Getlin and Scott Coulter, with pianist John Boswell, bassist Mark Vanderpoel and drummer Mike Holguin. ($39-$93)
Thursday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.: Currents: “The Wonders We Carry Inside In Support Of Women, Life, Freedom.” ($35)
Friday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.:Jan Lisiecki in Recital: Chopin’s Prelude for Piano, Op. 28, No. 15 (“Raindrop Prelude”), J.S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846 (from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Bk. 1), Rachmaninoff’s Selected Preludes for Piano, Op. 23, Szymanowski’s Nine Preludes, Op. 1, Messiaen’s Eight Preludes for Piano (1928/29), Chopin’s Prelude in C# minor, Op. 45, Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5 and Chopin’s Selected Preludes for Piano, Op. 28. (Prices to be determined)
Saturday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m.:Jazz at The Jacobs: “Piano Paragons — The Music of Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Chick Corea, featuring pianists Eric Reed and Helen Sung, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Carl Allen. ($39-$93)
Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday March 30 at 2 p.m.:Farr’s From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs: The Invocation of the Sea, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, featuring conductor Tianyi Lu and pianist Paul Lewis. ($39-$120)
Tuesday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m.: Alisa Weilerstein — Fragments III. (Prices to be determined)
Saturday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m.: “When The Saints Go Marching In,” featuring trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling. ($39-$93)
Saturday April 26 at 7:30 p.m.: Jazz @ The Jacobs: “Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn,” featuring trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, vocalist Johnaye Kendrick and tenor saxophonist Billy Pierce. ($39-$93)
Saturday, April 26 at 11 a.m.:Family Concert: The Mountain that Loved a Bird, featuring conductor Tristan Rais-Sherman. ($29-$52)
Saturday, May 3 at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.: Symphony Kids: Meet the Percussion. ($22)
Saturday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m.: Smetana’s Overture and Three Dances from The Bartered Bride, Yoshimatsu’s Soprano Saxophone Concerto, “Albireo Mode” and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major, featuring conductor Ruth Reinhardt and saxophonist Stephen Banks. ($39-$120)
Saturday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 11 at 2 p.m.: Chin’s Cello Concerto and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E Major, featuring music director Rafael Payare and cellist Alisa Weilerstein. ($39-$120)
Friday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m.: Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C Major, “Leningrad,” featuring music director Rafael Payare and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. ($39-$120)
Friday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 25 at 2 p.m.:Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in D minor, featuring music director Rafael Payare and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill. ($39-$120)
Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m.: Difficult Grace, featuring cellist Seth Parker Woods and dancer/choreographer Roderick George. ($35)
2024/2025 season packages
Prices include subscription fees
Jacobs Masterworks (full series, 1 percent off singles)
Friday A (9 Concerts) $241-$826
Friday M (3 Concerts) $97-$292
Saturday A (18 Concerts) $457-$1,627
Sunday A (14 Concerts) $361-$1,271
Jacobs Masterworks (partial series, 1 percent off singles)
Friday B (5 Concerts) $155-$495
Friday C (4 Concerts) $129-$401
Saturday B (9 Concerts) $259-$871
Saturday C (9 Concerts) $259-$871
Sunday B (7 Concerts) $207-$683
Sunday C (7 Concerts) $207-$683
Jazz @ The Jacobs (3 concerts, 1 percent off singles) $103-$238
Family Concerts (3 concerts, $5 off singles) $70-$130
Currents (3 concerts, 10 percent off singles) $91
george.varga@sduniontribune.com
