The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. The orchestra is resident at Copley Symphony Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera. [1]
The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. The orchestra is resident at Copley Symphony Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera. [1]
On December 6, 1910, the orchestra gave its first concert as the San Diego Civic Orchestra. The orchestra encountered several periods of fiscal trouble over its history which forced it to cease operations. The first such period was from 1921 to 1926. The orchestra resumed limited summer concerts in 1927, but disbanded again in 1936. In 1949, the symphony began to play concerts again.
Copley Symphony Hall was built in 1929 as a French Rococo style luxury movie theater, the Fox Theater. The venue was conferred to the Symphony in 1984. [2] From 1996 to 1998, the fiscal troubles of the orchestra led it to file for bankruptcy in May 1996 [3] and to cease operations. [4]
With a bankruptcy plan centered on a $2 million gift from Larry Robinson [3] and through the pro bono efforts of prominent bankruptcy attorneys Ted Graham and Jeff Garfinkle of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, and receiver, Thomas F. Lennon, who managed the finances, the orchestra reorganized and restarted in 1998, with Jung-Ho Pak serving as artistic director. He had become the symphony's assistant conductor in 1994. [5]
Several years after the orchestra's reorganization, on January 14, 2002, the San Diego Symphony announced the single largest donation ever made to a symphony orchestra – US$120 million by Joan and Irwin Jacobs. One report stated that the arrangement is for $50 million to be donated over a period of 10 years, at $5 million a year. The remainder would then be left to the orchestra as a bequest. [6] [7]
In 2001, the orchestra had ratified an agreement which would increase the musicians' annual base salary from $25,920 to $45,750, with an expansion of the concert season from 26 weeks to 41 weeks. In 2006, the orchestra ratified a new 5-year contract that raised the annual minimum salary from $45,750 to $57,776 over five years. The 41-week season will also expand to 42 weeks. As of 2006, the annual budget of the orchestra was $14 million. [8] In September 2016, the San Diego Symphony announced a new 5-year contract which will increase base musician salaries from just under $70,000 to $80,000 per year. [9]
In January 2016, the San Diego Symphony won approval to construct a new outdoor pavilion to host its Summer Pops programs. [10]
Jahja Ling [11] was music director from 2004 to 2017, and now has the title of conductor laureate of the orchestra. From 2006 until his death in 2012, the principal pops conductor of the orchestra was Marvin Hamlisch. [12] [13] The current chief executive officer of the orchestra is Martha Gilmer, since October 2014.
In January 2015, Edo de Waart first guest-conducted the orchestra. In January 2019, the orchestra announced the appointment of de Waart as its first-ever principal guest conductor, effective with the 2019-2020 season. [14]
In January 2018, Rafael Payare first guest-conducted the orchestra. On the basis of this concert, in February 2018, the orchestra named Payare its next music director, effective July 1, 2019. His initial contract is for 4 years, and he assumed the title of music director-designate with immediate effect. [15] [16] In October 2020, the orchestra announced an extension of Payare's contract as music director through the 2025-2026 season. [17]
Melvin G. Goldzband, the San Diego Symphony's archivist, has published a book about the orchestra, San Diego Symphony From Overture to Encore. [18]
The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (1972) are part of the organization. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995, and concluded his tenure in 2020 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over the position.
The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, numbering over 130 annually, in Verizon Hall.
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orchestra in the world that possesses an octobass.
Edo de Waart is a Dutch conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (2011-2016), Artistic Partner with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (2010-2014), and music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019).
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra that was initially formed in 1908. Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has been its home concert hall. Simone Young is the orchestra's chief conductor and first woman in the role.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The orchestra performs primarily at the Bradley Symphony Center in Allen-Bradley Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for Florentine Opera productions.
Jahja Ling is a conductor, music director and pianist. From 2004 to 2017, he was the music director and conductor at the San Diego Symphony. Following his retirement in 2017, he plans to do guest conducting, as well as teaching and volunteering. He is of Hokkien Chinese descent, formerly an Indonesian citizen and is now an American citizen. He was the first conductor of Chinese descent to serve as music director of a major U.S. orchestra.
David Atherton is an English conductor and founder of the London Sinfonietta.
Jonathan Nott is an English conductor.
Stefan Sanderling is an orchestral conductor. He is the son of the conductor Kurt Sanderling and the double-bass player Barbara Sanderling. His half-brother is the conductor Thomas Sanderling. His brother Michael Sanderling is a cellist and conductor.
The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including performances at the Belfast Festival, the BBC Proms, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The orchestra currently employs 63 full-time musicians and 17 administrative support staff.
Alisa Weilerstein is an American classical cellist. She was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.
Jaap van Zweden is a Dutch conductor and violinist. He is Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and of the New York Philharmonic, and the music director-designate of the Seoul Philharmonic.
The Symphony Orchestra of India is a symphony orchestra based in Mumbai, India. It was founded in 2006 by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai, which is also its home.
JoAnn Falletta is an American conductor.
Yoav Talmi (Hebrew: יואב תלמי; born April 28, 1943, is an Israeli conductor and composer.
Brett Mitchell is an American conductor, composer, and pianist. He began a three-year term as Artistic Director & Conductor of the Sunriver Music Festival in August 2022. He previously served as music director of the Colorado Symphony from 2017 to 2021, Associate Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra from 2013 to 2017, Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre National de France from 2006 to 2009, Assistant Conductor of the Houston Symphony from 2007 to 2011, Music Director of the Moores Opera Center in Houston from 2012 to 2013, and Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra from 2010 to 2015.
Joseph Julián González is an American composer based in Los Angeles, California. Working primarily as a composer for television and film, he also composes for live orchestra and choir performance.
Rafael Payare is a Venezuelan conductor and a graduate of El Sistema, Venezuela’s social action music programme.
Ken-David Masur is a German-born American conductor.
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