Newly Renovated Jacobs Music Center Opens September 28
Rafael Payare and the San Diego Symphony reached a new milestone this season when they returned to their home concert hall, the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center, on September 28. The transformation of the Jacobs Music Center represents a critical component of CEO Martha Gilmer’s vision for the SDS, coupled with the hiring of Payare...
Payare Opens Season at OSM with Two Schoenberg Projects
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Arnold Schoenberg, and Rafael Payare, a passionate advocate for that composer’s music, serves on the Artistic Honorary Committee of Schoenberg 150, dedicated to the worldwide celebration of the occasion. An all-Schoenberg album that includes Pelleas und Melisande and Verklärte Nacht is due for release in...
Fall Highlights: The Inauguration of San Diego’s newly renovated Jacobs Music Center with San Diego Symphony, European tour with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal & Guest Engagement with NY Phil
Rafael Payare embarks on a banner season in 2024–25 as Music Director of California’s San Diego Symphony (SDSO) and Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM). Payare inaugurates San Diego’s newly renovated Jacobs Music Center with an Opening Night concert featuring pianist Inon Barnatan, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, SDSO concertmaster Jeff Thayer, and Korean soprano...
“Turandot” in Berlin, OSM Festivals & Tchaikovsky at the Shell
Rafael Payare kicks off the summer making his Berlin State Opera debut conducting Puccini’s Turandot (July 6–14). Philipp Stölzl’s production stars soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska (title role), tenor Arsen Soghomonyan (Calaf), soprano Adriana González (Liù), and bass René Pape (Timur). As Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), Payare leads the ensemble at two Quebec...
San Diego Symphony Announces 2024-25 Inaugural Season in Transformed Jacobs Music Center
The San Diego Symphony and music director Rafael Payare announced the 2024-25 season, which welcomes audiences to a revitalized indoor home, Jacobs Music Center. Following a complete renovation, the nearly-100-year-old-theater has been transformed into an intimate concert hall. Elements of the renovation include new seating and finishes; restored architectural details; modernized lighting, sound, video and...
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Announces 2024-25 Season
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has unveiled its 2024–2025 programming, marking the orchestra’s 91st season and the midway point of Music Director Rafael Payare’s tenure. The 24–25 season’s opening concerts on September 11 and 13 will feature the monumental Gurre-Lieder, commemorating the 150th anniversary of Schoenberg’s birth. The season’s second week maintains the pace with...
Last Two Programs of San Diego Symphony Season Highlight Opera and Ballet
Rafael Payare concludes the 2023-24 San Diego Symphony season with two programs highlighting works from opera and ballet. On May 18, violinist Daniel Lozakovich makes his SDS debut in a program that includes Act I of Wagner’s Die Walküre alongside Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Pianist Jeremy Denk joins Payare and the San Diego Symphony for the...
Critical Acclaim for Strauss/Mahler Album
The new album Strauss ‘Ein Heldenleben’ and Mahler ‘Rückert-Lieder,’ featuring Rafael Payare leading the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the latest extension of their Pentatone discography, has received steady critical acclaim since its March 15 release. In April, tracks from the album appeared on Apple Music Classical’s “The Late Romantics”...
