The San Diego Symphony winter-spring 2022 concert season offers 31 performances of classical and contemporary masterworks and chamber music through May 28.

Presented as “Hear Us Here,” the season will give the San Diego Symphony the opportunity to bring its music to a wider audience, with concerts performed at nine venues in the city and across the county, including the Symphony’s newest venue, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.

Led by music director Rafael Payare, principal guest conductor Edo de Waart, conductor Laureate Jahja Ling and distinguished guest conductors Christopher Dragon, Jonathon Heyward, Ankush Kumar Bahl, and Tianyi Lu and featuring renowned soloists including Yefim Bronfman, Veronika Eberle, Pacho Flores, Simone Lamsma, George Li, Gabriela Martinez, Elena Urioste, and Alisa Weilerstein, the season’s concerts will span the symphonic repertoire, from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, and Debussy’s La mer to Still’s Darker America, Paquito D’Rivera’s Concerto venezolano (a co-commission and U.S. premiere; co-commissioners include Orquesta de Minería, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orquesta de Valencia), Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round, and a Double Bass Concerto by Tijuana-based composer Andrés Martín.

Notably the spring programs will feature 10 female guest artists, three guest conductors from the BIPOC community, and seven works by composers of color, in keeping with San Diego Symphony’s dedication to present a diverse range of artists and composers and connecting with different San Diego communities at large.

The San Diego Symphony is conducting its “Hear Us Here” tour of San Diego on the heels of opening The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, a public park and event venue that was inaugurated last August. The venue hosted 28 performances in its first two months, drawing more than 88,000 people for events, in addition to those visiting the park for free programs, rehearsals, exercise, and leisure.

“Hear Us Here” will offer winter-spring 2022 performances of multiple programs at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, Civic Theatre in Downtown San Diego, the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center: Baker-Baum Concert Hall in La Jolla, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park on San Diego Bay, and at The Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe. Individual performances will also be presented at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre at Salvation Army Kroc Center in La Mesa, the PHAME Performing Arts Center at Patrick Henry High School in Del Cerro (see below), the Poway Center for the Performing Arts in Poway, and the Southwestern College Performing Arts Center in Chula Vista. Additionally, the San Diego Symphony will be presented by Palm Springs Friends of Philharmonic at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, sponsored by The Barbara Fremont Foundation. 

In addition to the winter-spring season performances, the San Diego Symphony will bring back its Music Connects programs. Available for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, this program features free one-hour concerts for all ages presented throughout the county and geared towards individuals who would like to experience classical music for the first time. Planned venues include Foothills United Methodist Church (La Mesa), St. Brigid Parish (Pacific Beach), St. Mark’s United Methodist Church (Clairemont), and Southwestern College (Chula Vista). Programming and further details to be announced at a later date.

The season includes four intimate chamber concerts, featuring members of the San Diego Symphony and special guest artists at The Conrad’s Baker-Baum Concert Hall in La Jolla. On May 1, pianist Benjamin Hochman will perform the Brahms’ Piano Quintet.

The Jacobs Masterworks winter-spring season features 12 programs of nearly 40 works spanning more than 300 years of musical composition. This will include Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 (May 21 & 22), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (May 27 & 28), among others.

Guest conductors include Tianyi Lu leading Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (May 6 & 7), and conductor laureate Jahja Ling with Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite (May 14 & 15).

The distinguished guest artists featured across the season include violinists Simone Lamsma, Elena Urioste, concertmaster Jeff Thayer (Deborah Pate and John Forrest Chair), Aubree Oliverson, and Veronika Eberle; pianists George Li, Yeol Eum Son, Gabriela Martinez, and Yefim Bronfman; Pacho Flores, trumpet; Jeremy Kurtz-Harris (pictured above), principal double bass (Sophie and Arthur Brody Foundation Chair); soprano Tasha Koontz; and cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

One local show will be Saturday, April 23 at 2 p.m. – PHAME Performing Arts Center at Patrick Henry High School, Del Cerro.

For more information, visit www.sandiegosymphony.org.

Photo courtesy of San Diego Symphony.