Under the direction of its people-pleasing maestro, Jung-Ho Pak, San Diego Chamber Orchestra is tuning up for its 2007-2008 season, which begins Oct. 19, presenting six concert programs in three distinct venues, Downtown’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, La Jolla’s Sherwood Auditorium and Del Mar Country Club.
The largest growth involves the series at St. Paul’s Cathedral, located at 5th Avenue and Nutmeg Street Downtown.
Pak, former artistic director and principal conductor of San Diego Symphony, left that post at the close of the 2001-2002 season and became SDCO artistic director last year.
He immediately set about to rid the term “chamber orchestra” of its starchy, formal image.
To say the 35-member orchestra is reinvigorated would be to put it mildly. So are audiences. Since Pak’s arrival, ticket sales climbed 10.5 percent, with a phenomenal rise of 80 percent at St. Paul’s, where the series ended with three sold-out concerts.
“We did well and I’m grateful,” said Pak. “I don’t know whether it’s where I am in my life or in my career, but I’m just interested in making people happy.”
Thus, the current season is meant to be “very, very warm and friendly.” His basic belief is that inside every musician, whether seasoned or just beginning, there is a great artist full of optimism and hope, just waiting to be discovered.
He’s been experimenting for the past 15 years with trying to inspire that life-affirming kind of playing, in which the musicians feel more virtuosic and are more connected to the audience.
Those wanting to know more about the individual musicians can visit www.sdco.org/ meet_the_ musicians.html.
Quick Info
With a curtain at 7:30 p.m., the Friday Downtown series is as follows:
Oct. 19: “Mozart: The Soul of Genius” Acclaimed pianist Andreas Haefliger plays Piano Concerto No. 15, and also programmed is Symphony No. 40.
Nov. 9: “Baroque Pearls” With Bach Collegium, choir and soloists, a program of music by J.S. Bach, including the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from George Fredric Handel’s “Messiah.”
Jan. 18: “Music for the Seasons” Young violinist Lindsay Deutsch is special guest in Vivaldi’s “Summer” from “The Four Seasons” and other works, all with seasonal themes, by Piotr Ilyich Tchiakovsky, Astor Piazzolla, John Cage and Alexander Glazunov, among others.
Feb. 15: “A Russian Romance” Music by Tchaikovsky, Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Borodin, Sergei Rachmaninov, Aram Khachaturian and Sergei Prokofiev.
March 14: “Surprise, Surprise!” A concert inspired by Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony, which features Scott Paulson in Concerto for Theramin by Linda Kernohan, and soprano Mary Ann Car in Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Irish Songs.”
April 11: “The Beethoven Experience” Avery Fischer Prize recipient Jennifer Frautschi performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto; the orchestra performs Symphony No. 2.
For tickets ($20-$55) and information visit www.sdco.org or phone (858) 350-0290.
