San Diego Holiday Concerts & Monumental Music Festival That Kicks Off New Year
By: A.A. Cristi Nov. 13, 2017
Following spectacular fall programming like the triple-header of Mozart's Requiem this weekend and a very special Jazz @ The Jacobs series kickoff on Nov. 25, The First Lady of Song: An Ella Fitzgerald Tribute, the San Diego Symphony is set to deliver a particularly memorable holiday season with special festive concerts throughout December and into the new year. There's no doubt that music plays a big part in making it feel like the holidays, and these concerts will make a trip to the Symphony one of your favorite holiday traditions if it isn't one already:
- It's A Wonderful Life (Dec. 3 at 2 p.m.): An unforgettable and magical experience for the entire family, nothing is more festive than the beloved It's A Wonderful Life that will be screened while the cherished score is performed by the Symphony orchestra LIVE!
- Noel Noel (Dec. 16 at 8 p.m., Dec. 22 at 8 p.m., and Dec. 23 at 2 & 8 p.m.): You don't want to miss San Diego's favorite holiday music tradition that's returning with your favorite songs of the season and a quest for the true meaning of the holidays.
- Noel Noel - A Family Concert (Dec. 17, 2 p.m.): In one short afternoon concert, the orchestra will perform loved holiday tunes alongside the San Diego Master Chorale, the San Diego Children's Choir and maybe even a certain jolly North Pole resident. Arrive early for fun pre-concert activities beginning at 1 p.m. in the lobby where the kids can try their hand at playing an instrument in the Discovery Zone, meet the Symphony's musicians and more.
- Fanfares And Celebrations (Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m.): Another opportunity to feel very merry, the talented musicians of the San Diego Symphony orchestra will perform an additional array of holiday music with that special festive sparkle.
Come 2018, the San Diego Symphony launches its annual month-long January music festival "It's About Time: A Festival of Rhythm. Sound. And Place." that will uniquely move beyond its concert hall to connect the community. In the span of 30 days, January 11 - February 11, the "It's About Time" festival will include over 25 events hosted by 13 of San Diego's top performing arts organizations for one of the first times.
- A true first will take place on January 27, when the festival will move beyond the confines of the concert hall in an outdoor performance of John Luther Adams's Inuksuit, at the US/Mexico border for a US/Mexican bi-national percussion group of more than 50 players. Each will perform on its own side of the border wall, using the international language of sound to reflect a landscape of beautiful sounds, fascinating cultures and close neighbors. The piece will reveal not just the sonic landscape of the border, but also qualities of its cultural and social topography.
- This concert is part of a weekend of performances specially curated for travelers looking to experience San Diego's culture. This weekend includes:
- PERCUSSION LOVEFEST presented by Fresh Sound - January 25 at 7:30 p.m.
- STORIES IN TIME presented by the San Diego Symphony - January 26 at 8 p.m. and January 28 at 2 p.m.
- MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES, BY Astor Piazzolla presented by the San Diego Opera - January 26 at 7 p.m., January 27 at 7 and 10 p.m., and January 28 at 2 p.m.
- INUKSUIT - A CROSS-BORDER PRESENTATION by the San Diego Symphony including percussionists from Mexico - January 27 at 1 p.m.
- THE ROOTS OF RHYTHM presented by the San Diego Symphony, Jazz @ the Jacobs - January 27 at 8 p.m.
- THE RITE OF SPRING AT THE MUSIC BOX presented by the San Diego Symphony - January 27 at 10 p.m.
REMAINING NOVEMBER CONCERTS:
FRI NOV 17 | SAT NOV 18 | SUN NOV 19
MOZART'S REQUIEM Markus Stenz, conductor
HAYDN: Symphony No. 103: Drum Roll
MOZART: Requiem
Jessica Rivera, soprano
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano
Colin Balzer, tenor
Adam Lau, bass
JAZZ @ THE JACOBS 2017-2018 SEASON SAT | NOV 25 | 8pm THE FIRST LADY OF SONG: AN Ella Fitzgerald TRIBUTE The Great American Songbook had few interpreters with more grace, style and vocal excellence than the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald. The Jazz @ The Jacobs season opens with a tribute to the First Lady of Song in her Centennial year and features her favorite accompanist in her later years, pianist Mike Wofford.
2017-2018 CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES TUE | NOV 28 | 7:30pm - TSRI CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY: SHUFFLE. PLAY. LISTEN. Christopher O'Riley, piano As the longtime host of NPR's hugely popular From the Top series, Christopher O'Riley has stayed close to the freshest ideas and performances of today's classical music world. His highly acclaimed recordings have featured works by everyone from Stravinsky and Piazzolla to Radiohead and Elliot Smith.
DECEMBER CONCERTS:
JACOBS MASTERWORKS 2017-2018 SEASON
FRI DEC 1 | SAT DEC 2
CHOPIN AND DVO?ÁK
David Danzmayr, conductor
George Li, piano
BACEWICZ: Overture for Orchestra
CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 1
DVO?ÁK: Symphony No. 8
SAT DEC 9 | SUN DEC 10
WINTER DAYDREAMS
Johannes Debus, conductor
Rose Lombardo, flute
Julie Phillips, harp
HUMPERDINCK: Prelude to Hansel and Gretel
MOZART: Concerto for Flute and Harp
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 1: Winter Daydreams
SAT | DEC 16 | 8pm (subscribers)
FRI | DEC 22 | 8pm
SAT | DEC 23 | 2pm & 8pm
NOEL NOEL
Sameer Patel, conductor
SUN | DEC 17 | 2pm
NOEL NOEL - A FAMILY CONCERT
Sameer Patel, conductor
Who doesn't love holiday music? Gathering together as a family, listening to timeless classics and singing along to your favorite carols is a traditional everyone enjoys! In one short afternoon concert, you'll see and hear the Symphony...and maybe even a certain jolly North Pole resident!
2017-2018 FOX THEATRE FILM SERIES
SUN | DEC 3 | 2pm
It's A Wonderful Life
Experience one of the most cherished holiday movies of all time like you've never seen it before: It's a Wonderful Life - in Concert. You know the story: struggling Bedford Falls hero George Bailey discovers, through the timely intervention of his Guardian Angel Clarence on Christmas Eve, that he's the "richest man in town." Now this timeless classic will be accompanied by the San Diego Symphony performing Dmitri Tiomkin's richly sentimental score LIVE.
2017-2018 CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES
WED | DEC 20 | 7:30pm - JACOBS MUSIC CENTER
FANFARES AND CELEBRATIONS
As the heart of the holiday season approaches, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra will perform music with that special festive sparkle.
"IT'S ABOUT TIME. A FESTIVAL OF RHYTYM. SOUND. AND PLACE."
JANUARY 11 - FEBRUARY 11
2018 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
PERCUSSION LOVEFEST presented by Fresh Sound
Thursdays, January 11, 18, and 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Bread and Salt
$20/$10 Students
San Diego surfs on waves of rhythm! As an international city, its percussionists are as varied as its citizens. Join us for three special Thursday events at Bread and Salt as Bonnie Wright's Fresh Sound series showcases local percussion talent from jazz drummers to symphonic musicians to old-style marching music; from Brazil to Africa to the Americas. It's going to be a Percussion Lovefest! Curated by Duncan Moore and Steven Schick.
FASCINATING RHYTHM presented by the San Diego Symphony
January 13 at 8 p.m. and January 14 at 2 p.m.
Copley Symphony Hall at the Jacobs Music Center
$20 - $98
"It's About Time" opens with a program of works suffused with orchestral color and rhythm. Hector Berlioz's boisterous Roman Carnival contains the Italian saltarello dance at its core. Serge Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 bristles with energy, often driven by inexorable "tick-tocks" coming from the percussion section. Guest soloist and festival curator Steven Schick will be at the center of a virtual menagerie of wood, metal and skin in Roberto Sierra's Percussion Concerto.
PERCUSSION: A LISTENER'S GUIDE presented by the San Diego Symphony
January 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Copley Symphony Hall at the Jacobs Music Center
$35
World percussion traditions might be millennia old, but the big bang that started percussion chamber music in the concert hall was much more recent. In 1931, Edgard Varèse-recently arrived immigrant, inveterate experimenter and the godfather of modern percussion music-composed his 6-minute long Ionisation. Nothing was ever the same again! We'll start with Ionisation and then lead you on a tour of rhythm, sound and energy in works by Carlos Chavez, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Iannis Xenakis and Steve Reich. The percussionists of the San Diego Symphony join forces with the UC San Diego's own cutting-edge percussion group, red fish blue fish.
STUART COLLECTION AUDIO TOUR presented by Stuart Collection, Guided by Steven Schick
January 20 at 11 a.m.
Conrad Prebys Music Center, UC San Diego
Free
Join Steven Schick and the Stuart Collection's Mary Beebe in a walking discussion of the sounds of the Stuart Collection. From Terry Allen's "Silent Tree" to the Sun God to works by Robert Irwin and finally John Luther Adams, let's find out what sculpture sounds like. The final stop on the tour will be John Luther Adams's 2017 installation "The Wind Garden," an interactive sound environment that reacts to the topography and weather of its site in the Theatre District at UC San Diego.
CHARLES MINGUS: TIJUANA MOODS presented by UC San Diego Helen Edison Lecture Series
January 20 at 2 p.m.
Morgan Auditorium at San Diego Central Library
Free, pre-register online at helenedison.ucsd.edu
Join "It's About Time" festival curator Steven Schick for a discussion of the legacy of African-American composer Charles Mingus and his historic "Tijuana Moods" project, which will be performed on January 22 on the Athenaeum Jazz series. Panelists will include alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, one of the most longstanding members of Charles Mingus' band; Anthony Davis, noted composer, pianist, improviser, and UC San Diego professor of Music; and others tba. Event is presented with grant support from the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Paul Taylor DANCE COMPANY presented by La Jolla Music Society
January 20 at 8 p.m.
Spreckels Theatre
$20 - $75
Combine the fluid grace of Paul Taylor Dance Company and the kinetic energy of percussion music performed by red fish blue fish and you get an unforgettable evening of sounds and sights. "Cloven Kingdom," a signature work of the Taylor Company features Malloy Miller's Prelude for Percussion, an early work for percussion ensemble. See the company perform the entire work with recorded music. Then after intermission, red fish blue fish joins the dancers for a version with live performers!
PLACES IN TIME presented by the San Diego Symphony
January 20 at 8 p.m. and January 21 at 2 p.m.
Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center
$20 - $98
Rhythms of Italian music pervade this concert as our "It's About Time" festival continues. Gioacchino Rossini's French opera about the Swiss fighting Austrian oppression was transformed into the signature music of American pop culture icon The Lone Ranger due to its perfectly propulsive, "Hi-Ho Silver!" beat. Giuseppe Martucci provides a perfect sample of Italian night music, and Ottorino Respighi gloriously tramps ghost legions down the Appian Way in The Pines of Rome. Italian conductor Jader Bignamini leads the program.
MINGUS DYNASTY: TIJUANA MOODS presented by Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
January 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium at TSRI
$35 general, $30 member
Tickets and information: ljathenaeum.org/jazz-at-tsri
A seminal figure in 20th century American music, Charles Mingus is considered alongside Duke Ellington as one of the most important composers in jazz history. The Mingus Dynasty band, comprised of seven leading jazz artists from New York City, performs a revival of Charles Mingus' historic 1957 album "Tijuana Moods." Mingus' music documents his lively impressions of our neighboring city of Tijuana. While based most of his career in New York City, Mingus was born along the border in Nogales, Arizona, and was raised in Watts in Los Angeles. So this music reflects Mingus' early roots and his profound connection with our region. Event is presented with grant support from the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with support from the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the County of San Diego.
STORIES IN TIME presented by the San Diego Symphony
January 26 at 8 p.m. and January 28 at 2 p.m.
Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center
$20 - $98
When Heraclitus said, "Everything flows; nothing stays," he may have had this concert in mind. Two very different views of time dominate this music. In the first, we try to control time. This is the world of clocks, machines, and iPhones; it is driven, rhythmic, and sometimes frantic. In the other view, we are controlled: by the ageless rhythms of nature, of rivers and tides, of the phases of the moon. The urban landscape of Bartok and the auto factory of Missy Mazzoli represent the former. The latter can be heard in the ethereal stream of Toru Takemitsu's From me flows what you call Time and the timeless children's tales of Ravel's gentle suite from Mother Goose. From Heraclitus again: "Eternity is a child playing."
MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES, BY Astor Piazzolla presented by the San Diego Opera
January 26 at 7 p.m. (sold out); January 27 at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.; and January 28 at 2 p.m. (sold out)
Lyceum Theater
$35 - $160
The sensual pulse of Argentine tango sets the stage for this surreal and captivating work by composer Ástor Piazzolla and librettist Horacio Ferrer. Filled with the passionate pulse of the tango and Buenos Aires itself, Maria de Buenos Aires grips you from the first note and will not let go.
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS: INUKSUIT - A CROSS-BORDER PRESENTATION
January 27 at 1 p.m.
U.S./Mexico border, Exact Location TBA
Free
Premiered in the Canadian Rockies, John Luther Adams's outdoor masterpiece, Inuksuit-scored for between 9 and 99 percussionists-is a mirror of the landscape in which it is performed. We'll play the piece at the US/Mexico border and hope to reveal not just the sonic landscape of the border, but also qualities of its cultural and social topography. A bi-national group of Mexican and American percussionists, each performing on its own side of the border wall, will use the international language of sound to reflect a landscape of beautiful sounds, fascinating cultures and close neighbors. Based on the stone sentinels built by Inuit people of the circumpolar Arctic, Inuksuit reminds us that the climate is changing, the ice retreating and the seas rising.
THE ROOTS OF RHYTHM presented by the San Diego Symphony, Jazz @ the Jacobs
January 27 at 8 p.m.
Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center
$25 - $68
This concert will explore the origins and evolution of the various rhythmic styles that made their way from all over the world to America, becoming part of the modern jazz idiom. John Santos, one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today (as both musician and historian), will survey jazz's "root system" by way of his remarkable personal collection of percussion instruments in performance with several special guests. *San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear as part of this concert.
THE RITE OF SPRING AT THE MUSIC BOX presented by the San Diego Symphony
January 27 at 10 p.m.
The Music Box
Le Sacre du Printemps exploded with a torrent of rhythm, color; choreography and energy, capturing, more than any other piece of music, the energy and anima of the brand-new 20th century. In an arrangement by Cliff Colnot for 12 players, we'll explore this riotous piece in a special multi-media presentation.
ROLAND AUZET presented by ArtPower at UC San Diego
January 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego
French composer, percussionist, and theater director Roland Auzet defines himself as a stage writer. Auzet's new work, I never listened, no sound without love, starts with a car on an empty stage, but he quickly fills the room with so much more. Employing gesture, movement, and drumming he answers fundamental questions about human nature, solitude, power, knowledge, strength, virtuosity, and doubt. Through his inventive percussion and visuals, poetry and music will emerge and create magic and illusion that are sure to dazzle the audience. Sponsors are Phyllis and Daniel Epstein.
LUIS URREA presented by UC San Diego Helen Edison Lecture Series
February 1 at 7 p.m.
San Diego Central Library, Morgan Auditorium
Free, pre-register online at helenedison.ucsd.edu
Hailed by NPR as a "master storyteller with a rock and roll heart," Luis Urrea is a prolific writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea is the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of 16 books, including The Hummingbird's Daughter and Into The Beautiful North. Join "It's About Time" curator Steven Schick for a conversation with Luis Urrea about his life and work and their collaboration on a new version of Stravinsky's L'histoire du soldat with texts from Urrea's writings.
MICHAEL PISARO'S asleep, forest, melody, path presented by UC San Diego Department of Music
February 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego
$15.50 general, students free
Michael Pisaro's "asleep, forest, melody, path" is a rich and resonant work scored for 6 field recordings-made in six specially chosen sites in San Diego-a large ensemble of instrumentalists and two soloists. A work of both great intimacy and extraordinary emotional and sonic power "asleep, forest, melody, path," sketches a sonic portrait of our city and the people who call it home. Percussionist Greg Stuart returns to UC San Diego to lead the music and joins violinist Erik Carlson as soloist.
REED FAMILY CONCERT - Igor Stravinsky'S L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT presented by UC San Diego Department of Music
February 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego
$15.50 general, students free
We celebrate the centennial of Stravinsky's masterpiece L'Histoire du Soldat with a new setting featuring texts by the extraordinary writer Luis Urrea, the cutting-edge Tijuana dance collective, Lux Boreal, and UC San Diego's dynamic new flute professor Wilfrido Terrazas. Music from 100 years ago along with text, dance, and improvised music from today, combine to explore real-life problems and joys of Mexicans and Americans as they cross the international border between San Diego and the United States.
CROSS WINDS presented by La Jolla Symphony and Chorus
February 10 at 7:30 p.m. and February 11 at 2:00 p.m.
Mandeville Auditorium, UC San Diego
$15-$35
It has been a tough few years in France - a time of strong crosswinds from every direction. Paris-based composer, circus artist and percussionist Roland Auzet fights back in a new theatrical percussion concerto written for and co-commissioned by Fiona Digney. Improvisation and notions of strength, power, virtuosity, gesture, and isolation will be explored and expressed to create a percussion concerto like no other. The work calls into question the conventional idea of what it means to be a percussionist, narrator, dancer, and actor, utilizing traditional percussion instruments, 'found' instruments such as chairs and other everyday objects, and multimedia technology (Go-Pro cameras). This concerto is being written specifically for Fiona Digney to showcase the strength, subtlety, artistry, and virtuosity of one of the new wave of experimental percussionists. The program begins with Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Steven Schick will be conducting.
Pre-concert lecture: One hour before concert times, given by the conductor
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