The San Diego Symphony has just announced its fall season program, which will be performed in what will be the newly renovated hall.
In the meantime, the work continues on the massive renovation project.
Early last month, KPBS spoke exclusively with San Diego Symphony Music Director, Maestro Rafael Payare in the hall. The Symphony limited what could be shown. The $125 million project is so immense, so complex, it’s understandable why they wanted to keep a lot of it a surprise until its big debut.
But those video limitations did nothing to dampen the interview with Payare, whose enthusiasm for what will be the Symphony’s new home was boundless.
“It’s just going to be phenomenal," he said.
Several weeks after that interview, the Symphony provided new footage inside the Jacobs Music Center as it looks now; work was still in progress, restoring the intricate details of what was once the grand Fox Theater, including all-new audience seating.
But a lot of what isn't seen is what will make the difference in the newly renovated hall. Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer has become intimately familiar with the process over the years of this restoration.
“The latest technology for sound, lighting, acoustics, the grid room at the top ... all this incredible mechanical engineering takes place so that you can effortlessly see sound panels float above the stage or sophisticated lighting fixtures," said Gilmer.
A choral terrace is being added to the back of the stage to accommodate pieces that feature a chorale. When it’s not being used for singers, it will provide very unique seating for the audience, as they will be positioned above and in back of the orchestra.
Several rows of seating have been removed from the back of the theater and that's a change that Payare loves.
“It’s not a small hall, I mean, it’s still a big, big hall. But now, somehow, everything feels more connected ... Now, we’re part of this wonderful thing that we could have synergy in between when we are actually doing music, which is very important for us when we are going to be on stage," Payare said.
“The hall is flexible. There are draperies hidden behind walls that an event, a film, spoken word, amplified musicians can also be at home on that stage when it needs to be less reverberant ... We’re able to tune the hall and adjust it in such a way to make an excellent concert hall for that as well," Gilmer said.
So, what about the delay? Why is the newly renovated hall opening nearly a year after its first announced opening date?
It’s worth remembering that what now appears, from the outside, to be just another downtown high rise (Symphony Towers), is built above and around the old Fox Theater.
When you take on an extensive renovation of a 93-year-old building, there are going to be unexpected challenges. Gilmer explained.
“Renovation of an old building is always more challenging than building a new building, because you have to deal with the surprises and the design that reveals itself from the original building along the way. And there were certainly things that we discovered that then we had to be really creative," she said.
When it reopens this September, the hall will, for now, be known simply as the Jacobs Music Center, and the season is being dedicated to philanthropist Joan Jacobs, who died Monday. In an announcement on Instagram, the Symphony called her "a dynamic leader in our community and for our institution. She was passionate about arts and culture, and shared her love of music with her family, friends, and so many others throughout San Diego and beyond."
KPBS interviews with Payare and Gilmer were weeks before Jacobs' death, and both had praise for philanthropists who support their organization.
“It is always inspiring to me to see the passion that they have and the commitment, knowing that they’ve been fortunate and wanting to share that fortune," Gilmer said.
“We have our wonderful, wonderful benefactors that have been giving us the opportunity to have wings and fly, and not to kind of have any kind of limits, but actually it just leaves us to dream and try to achieve higher and higher, higher artistic standard, which is phenomenal," Payare said.
In other words, it will be worth all those millions. All the extra time the process has taken — when it is ready to welcome audiences again. The point was driven home by Payare when asked where the new hall would rank among the great symphony halls of the world.
"It will be easily a top five … And I mean, this is San Diego. Come on. This is a beautiful, wonderful city. Now we're going to have this amazing, wonderful hall that deserves the orchestra because the orchestra is already very world-class that we needed to have a wonderful instrument to have, and we are achieving it. So, I could not be more excited," said the maestro.
Combined with the Symphony’s spectacular outdoor venue, the Rady Shell, there are and will be endless reasons for San Diegans to be excited and proud for generations to come.
Editor's Note: The San Diego Symphony and the Jacobs family are supporters of KPBS.
