San Diego Symphony 2025 Inaugural Season
in Transformed Jacobs Music Center
The San Diego Symphony announced the wide-ranging programs of its 2025 Jacobs Music Center season. The milestone season introduces audiences to the orchestra’s revitalized indoor home, Jacobs Music Center, following a complete renovation which transforms the nearly-100-year-old-theater into an intimate concert hall designed to match the artistry of the San Diego Symphony. The inaugural season features 20 expansive and ambitious programs for its Jacobs Masterworks series, comprised of numerous new works, beloved masterpieces, rarely heard compositions, acclaimed and rising star soloists, and esteemed guest conductors. In addition, its Jazz @ The Jacobs and Family Concert series will return and San Diego Symphony will expand its offerings in three new series, including a Friday Matinee Jacobs Masterworks series, Currents and Symphony Kids.
The celebratory season has been carefully curated to showcase the virtuosity of the world-class musicians of San Diego Symphony Orchestra and bring to life the enhanced acoustics, features, and capabilities of the newly transformed hall. The Masterworks series opens and closes with monumental works by Gustav Mahler, with the Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” opening the series and the Symphony No. 3 bringing the season to a dramatic close. Both works require massive orchestral resources, powerhouse singers, and full choruses, showcasing one of the hall’s new features—its Choral Terrace. The Choral Terrace serves as one of the most visually striking additions to the new hall and will not only be used for musical purposes but also as extra seating for audiences at select concerts, giving audiences a unique point of view and acoustical experience. The refurbished pipe organ—another key feature of the new hall—will be the centerpiece of Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3.
A Transformed Jacobs Music Center Opens a New Era
The San Diego Symphony’s 2025 season ushers in an exciting new era for California’s first orchestra as it welcomes audiences to a revitalized home.
The transformation of Jacobs Music Center began in early 2022 to enhance the musical and performance experience for artists and audiences alike while honoring the legacy of the nearly 100-year-old Fox Theatre. Elements of the renovation designed to elevate the hall’s acoustics include a custom-designed permanent orchestra enclosure, a tunable acoustic canopy, and the reconfiguration of both the stage and the audience seating, with the addition of a choral terrace behind the orchestra and a completely reshaped main seating level. The hall features new seating and finishes; restored architectural details; modernized lighting, sound, video and recording equipment; updated and expanded support spaces for musicians; and enhanced audience amenities.
Rafael Payare returns to perform an impressive program featuring Strauss’ Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streich, and leads Inon Barnatan in Shostakovich’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (December 6-8).
2025 starts with the debut of French conductor and Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic Morlot, in a program including Californian composer Gabriella Smith’s Bioluminescence Chaconne and Augusta Holmès La Nuit et l’amour; and two works by Saint-Saëns, the Symphony No. 3 “Organ” and Violin Concerto No. 3 performed by Jeff Thayer, who holds the Deborah Pate and John Forrest Concertmaster Chair of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra (January 10-11). Brazilian conductor Eduardo Strausser leads Beethoven Symphony No. 2, Anna Clyne’s Kaleidoscopic Color Field, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with renowned Spanish pianist Javier Perianes in both of their San Diego Symphony debuts (January 17-18). Italian conductor Daniele Rustioni makes his debut in an Italian-themed program with Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini, Respighi’s Roman Festivals, and Busoni’s Violin Concerto featuring celebrated violinist Francesca Dego, also making her debut (January 24 & 26). The last concert in January offers Rafael Payare leading the World Premiere of Los Angeles composer Billy Childs’ Concerto for Orchestra commissioned by San Diego Symphony, along with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by the young Russian rising star Alexander Malofeev in his San Diego Symphony debut, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (January 31 – February 1).
In February, Taiwanese violist and the Karen and Warren Kessler Chair and Principal Viola of San Diego Symphony, Chi-Yuan Chen, tackles Walton’s Viola Concerto in a program including Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, led by Rafael Payare (February 8-9). Michael Tilson Thomas make his highly anticipated debut and conducts his work Street Song for Symphonic Brass, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Parker van Ostrand in his debut, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1 “Winter Daydreams” (February 15-16). Finnish conductor Osmo Vanska and acclaimed Finnish pianist Paavali Jumppanen make their debuts in Sibelius’ Tapiola, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 (February 28 – March 1).
Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient violinist Alexi Kenney makes his debut and plays Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in a performance led by renowned German conductor Matthias Pintscher, which also includes Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (March 7 & 9). Rising star Tianyi Lu makes her first appearance and conducts Gareth Farr’s From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs: The Invocation of the Sea, Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Paul Lewis also making his debut, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (March 29-30). German conductor Ruth Reinhardt, who made numerous North American debuts in the 2023-24 season, returns to San Diego to lead Smetana’s Overture and Three Dances from The Bartered Bride, Yoshimatsu’s Soprano Saxophone Concerto with Steven Banks as soloist, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 (May 3-4).
Rafael Payare returns to lead the season’s three final programs: Unsuk Chin’s Cello Concerto with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and Bruckner Symphony No. 7 (May 10-11); followed by celebrated pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet playing Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5, coupled with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7; “Leningrad” (May 16-17); and Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill making her debut in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with chorus (May 23-25).
Jazz @ The Jacobs
In its return to Jacobs Music Center, the Symphony is pleased to reintroduce its Jazz @ The Jacobs series. Jazz @ The Jacobs will include three thrilling concerts: A Tribute to Ella, Billie, and Sarah (Nov 23), Piano Paragons: The Music of Monk, Powell, Tatum and Corea (March 22), and Jazz @ The Jacobs: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (April 26.) The series – curated by musician, composer, arranger, educator and trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos – features three evenings in the intimate, newly reconfigured concert hall.
New for the 2025 season
A groundbreaking, interdisciplinary contemporary classical series called Currents showcases San Diego Symphony’s commitment to innovative programming, using the power of music to illuminate stories of our world, taking audiences on a multimedia journey to explore modern stories through music, visual art, dance, electronics, and spoken word. In this year, the concerts explore identity – the search for it, the celebration of it, the ways we fight for it, and the courage sometimes needed to express it. Artists featured across this series include GRAMMY® nominated cellist Seth Parker Woods, innovative dancer and choreographer Roderick George, Iranian American composer Gity Razaz, rising star composer Nicolas Lell Benavides, librettist Marella Martin Koch, San Diego Symphony Orchestra musicians, and more.
Family Concert and Symphony Kids series
Concerts for families with children of all ages reaffirm the Symphony’s commitment to the community through interactive and accessible programming. Family Concerts for children 6-12 will take place Saturdays at 11am and include Because: A Symphony of Serendipity(Nov 2) featuring a musical score Jesse Montgomery inspired by Mo Williams’ award-winning book Because, Mason Bates’s exciting Philharmonia Fantastique (Mar 15), and composer Caroline Shaw’s musical adaptation of Alice McLerran’s story The Mountain that Loved a Bird (Apr 26). Additionally, Symphony Kids, a new concert series for families with children 0-5, will feature San Diego Symphony musicians sharing their favorite sing-a-longs, rhymes, dances, and musical games in a series that introduces young listeners to the instruments of the orchestra. This series will also feature pre-concert activities in the lobby.
For subscriptions, ticket prices and more information on the San Diego Symphony’s 2024-25 Jacobs Music Center season, please visit www.JacobsMusicCenter.org
