San Diego Symphony Unveils 2025-26 Season at the Transformed Jacobs Music Center

The San Diego Symphony has revealed the detailed programs of the 2025-26 Jacobs Music Center season. This will be the second season in the orchestra’s new indoor home, a nearly 100-year-old theater that underwent a complete renovation before reopening in 2024 with superior acoustics, beautiful aesthetics and a wide array of works that demonstrate the venue’s new flexible presentation capabilities.

The San Diego Symphony will transport audiences through the power of music with a spectrum of imaginative works such as Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Debussy’s The Toy Box, Holst’s The Planets, Mahler’s The Boy’s Magic Horn, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Ravel’s The Child and the Magical Spells, and Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra.

The 2025-26 Jacobs Music Center season will feature 21 programs on the Jacobs Masterworks series, including eight works new to San Diego Symphony, 11 concertos, 19 symphonies, a two-week Brahms Festival, audience favorites, and rarely heard works. Also, as a passionate, renowned champion of Mahler, Music Director Rafael Payare has programmed two of the composer’s works on the season. In addition, the Jazz @ The Jacobs, Family Concerts, and Symphony Kids series will return to Jacobs Music Center, presented by the San Diego Symphony.

Renowned composer Jimmy Lopez begins a two-year residency with both the San Diego Symphony and The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) as Composer-in-Residence. In addition to performing two of his works in the current season - Ephemerae, a concerto for piano and orchestra; and Peru Negro for orchestra, the San Diego Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal have co-commissioned a work for orchestra by Mr. Lopez which will be performed in the 2026-27 season. 

Artists making their debut with San Diego Symphony conductors Anja Bihlmaier, Nicholas Carter, Thomas Guggeis, Trevor Pinnock, Anna Sulkowska-Migon, and Kahchun Wong; pianists Alexandra Dovgan and Steven Osborne; violinists Randall Goosby and Leonidas Kavakos; sopranos Julie Boulianne and Liv Redpath; baritone Matthias Goerne; and flamenco singer Marina Heredia.

Works being performed for the first time by the San Diego Symphony include John Adams’ Century Rolls, Lera Auerbach’s Icarus, Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, Jimmy Lopez’s Ephemerae and Peru Negro, Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa, Gabriela Ortiz’ Dzonot, Adam Schoenberg’s Cool Cat, and Olly Wilson’s Shango Memory, plus the world premieres of David Mackenzie’s Right Whale, Wrong Letter and Ivan Trevino’s Space Junk as part of its Family Series. 

“Now that we have been able to experience the wonderful acoustic of our renovated Jacobs Music Center, it was a great joy to imagine our second season in this marvelous hall.  In what was the Fox Movie Theatre, a place famous for its storytelling, Rafael Payare has created a season which is based in telling fabulous stories,” said Martha Gilmer, President and CEO of the San Diego Symphony. “We also return to presenting a festival within the season.  This season the festival will focus on the music of Johannes Brahms, including his symphonies, violin concerto, and the inspirational German Requiem.  It is a season designed to bring joy and to inspire the human spirit.”

“Our stunning indoor home began life as a glittering movie palace, a theater where stories came to life on the silver screen,” said Music Director Rafael Payare. “In our 2025-26 season we are pleased to continue this tradition by showcasing the power of music to bring stories to life, through incredible orchestral works that use an array of colors.”

Following the opening of the transformed Jacobs Music Center, the San Diego Union-Tribune proclaimed, “San Diego Symphony finally has a San Diego venue that permits it to sound like the world-class orchestra they’ve been since Payare took over.” And The Wall Street Journal raved that this is “a renovation that allows the ensemble’s artistry to shine.”

Highlights of the 2025-26 Jacobs Music Center Season
The 2025-26 Jacobs Masterworks season opens with Music Director Rafael Payare leading the orchestra, vocal soloists, and a children's chorus in a program of French works featuring Maurice Ravel’s one-act opera The Child and the Magical Spells (L’enfant et les sortilèges) directed by the acclaimed British composer and director Gerard McBurney; Claude Debussy’s ballet score The Box of Toys, and his reimagining of an amorous trip to Aphrodite’s birthplace in The Joyful Island (October 3 and 5).

The San Diego Symphony Chorus will be featured in Ravel's The Child and the Magical Spells. The chorus made its debut in October 2024 - the first week of the newly renovated hall - in Mahler's Symphony No. 2.  The hall’s new choral terrace allowed SDSO to expand its choral offerings, which in turn led to the formation of this expanded choral ensemble.  The San Diego Symphony Chorus prominently features members of the San Diego Master Chorale who are joined by singers from other esteemed choral organizations including the San Diego Opera Chorus, LA Master Chorale, and Pacific Chorale. The San Diego Symphony Chorus returns later in the season in Brahms' A German Requiem.

Rafael Payare conducts French composer Emmanuel Chabrier’s rhapsody for orchestra, España, coupled with Peruvian composer Jimmy López’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Ephemerae. This work marks the start of his two years as Composer-in-Residence. Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 closes the program (October 11-12).

The last program in October features conductor Gemma New, Principal Conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; award-winning violinist Geneva Lewis, and the Women of the San Diego Master Chorale in orchestral pieces inspired by the sky above us: Lera Auerbach’s Icarus for Orchestra, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ violin concerto The Lark Ascending, and Gustav Holst’s The Planets (October 17-18).

In November, the orchestra performs a selection of Gustav Mahler’s Germanic folk songs The Boy's Magical Horn, with renowned baritone Matthias Goerne; and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, titled “Romantic” (November 7 and 8). The next concert opens with Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides and features one of the great violinists of our time, Augustin Hadelich, in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto; followed by Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 (November 14-15). Both programs are led by Rafael Payare.

Anja Bihlmaier—Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest and Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic—conducts Shango Memory, a piece by celebrated composer and scholar Olly Wilson, who integrated African and African American musical styles into his compositions. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with soloist Steven Osborne, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 complete the program (November 21-22).

To conclude the Fall concerts, the young violinist Randall Goosby—who has performed with America’s foremost orchestras—plays Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, bookended with Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, composed as a tribute to Beethoven, and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition. The concert is led by Kahchun Wong, Chief Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra (December 6-7).

The new year’s concerts kick off with the young conductor Thomas Guggeis, General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Frankfurt Opera, leading Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, with internationally acclaimed soloist Marc-André Hamelin; and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 (January 17-18).

Rafael Payare conducts two symphonies in one concert, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 (January 24-25), and returns to lead Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 (January 31 and February 1). Virtuoso pianist Benjamin Grosvenor performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major in a concert including Britten’s Four Sea Interludes and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (February 21-22), led by Nicholas Carter, who was celebrated recently for his conducting at The Metropolitan Opera.

In late February and March, San Diego Symphony begins its two-week Brahms Festival comprising some of the beloved composer’s most iconic pieces offered in four programs conducted by Rafael Payare. The festival will feature Brahms’ A German Requiem with renowned vocal soloists Julie Boulianne and Michael Sumuel and the San Diego Symphony Chorus (February 27 and March 1); the Symphonies No. 1 and 2 (February 28); the Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos—a regular soloist with the world’s greatest orchestras, and the Symphony No. 4 (March 6); and the Symphony No. 3 with an encore performance of the Violin Concerto (March 7).

Spring 2026 begins with a program coupling the works of three composers who made California their home, and offering Emmy Award-winning and Grammy®-nominated composer Adam Schoenberg’s Cool Cat, the piano concerto Century Rolls by John Adams, who occupies a unique position in the world of American music; and the Symphony No. 3 by Russian-born composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who spent the last year of his life in Beverly Hills. The soloist is trailblazing pianist Conrad Tao, led by renowned conductor Robert Spano, currently Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera (April 10-11).

Award-winning conductor Anna Sulkowska-Migon leads a program of works from her homeland with Polish film-composer Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Ingrid Fliter, who has established a reputation as one of the pre-eminent interpreters of Chopin. The performance concludes with two works from Russian composer Alexander Borodin, the Symphony No. 2 and the “Polovtsian Dances” (April 18-19). The next concert (April 24-25) features Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” and his Symphony No. 5 with conductor Trevor Pinnock, who pioneered the modern revival of early music performance. The soloist will be 18-year-old pianist Alexandra Dovgan, already performing in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.

Rafael Payare returns in May to lead the Masterworks season’s three final programs: The first one features ground-breaking Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s new cello concerto, Dzonot, written for and performed by Alisa Weilerstein; and Richard Strauss’ tone poem, A Hero’s Life (May 9-10). The May 15-16 program features Peru Negro, composed by San Diego Symphony’s new Composer-in-Residence, Jimmy López; followed by Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto with Jeff Thayer, the Deborah Pate and John Forrest Concertmaster Chair of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra; and Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”. The last concert offers two masterpieces of the late Romantic period: Richard Strauss’ magnificent Also sprach Zarathustra, inspired by Nietzsche's poem; and Bela Bartók's one-act drama Bluebeard’s Castle, featuring acclaimed mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill and bass to be announced (May 22 and 24).

Jazz @ The Jacobs
Jazz @ The Jacobs, curated by musician, composer, arranger, educator, and trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, returns following a tremendous first year back at Jacobs Music Center. The series will include three concerts: John Coltrane’s Blue Train (November 29); Songs For Lovers: The Music of Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker, and Dinah Washington (February 14); and Dave Brubeck’s Time Out (April 4).

Family Concerts and Symphony Kids series
The 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 on three Saturdays at 11 am and include a Halloween-themed program titled The Firebird, featuring John Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Anna Clyne’s Masquerade, Saint-Saens' Danse macabre, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite  (October 25). The second program titled  Peter and the Wolf features Rimsky-Korsakov's “Flight of the Bumblebee”, the world premiere of David Mackenzie’s Right Whale, Wrong Letter, Gershwin’s Promenade (Walking the Dog), Anderson’s The Waltzing Cat, and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf (February 7). The final program in the series titled Space Junk will include R. Strauss’ “Sunrise Fanfare” from Also sprach Zarathustra, the first movement from Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter,” Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst (arr. Jannina Norpoth), Mendelssohn’s “Nocturne” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the world premiere of Ivan Trevino’s Space Junk, and John Williams main title from Star Wars (April 11).

The Symphony Kids Series offers the perfect introduction to the world of music with 30-minute interactive concerts that are sensory friendly and designed specifically for the youngest music lovers (ages up to 5). Sing-alongs, rhymes, dances, and musical games will introduce audiences to the instruments of the orchestra: Mother Goose – Meet the Winds (November 1), ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – Meet the Brass (December 6), Ferdinand the Bull – Meet the Strings (February 14), and Clapping Music – Meet the Percussion (March 28). Symphony Kids Series was developed in partnership with SDSU Center for Autism and the Autism Society San Diego and features pre-show hands-on activities, including crafts and musical exploration. San Diego Symphony offers a designated quiet room, sensory kits (upon request), and social stories. Tickets are general admission and required for all ages, including babes in arms.

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