{"id":103845,"date":"2025-12-21T15:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103845\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T15:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:12:16","slug":"the-biggest-san-diego-classical-music-stories-of-2025-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103845\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest San Diego classical music stories of 2025 \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite facing some major challenges, San Diego\u2019s classical-music concert presenters \u2014 big, small and in-between \u2014 consistently brought excellent music to our ears in 2025.<\/p>\n

Grants withrawn<\/p>\n

In January, several area nonprofits received grant approvals from National Endowment for the Arts to implement upcoming projects. In May, most of those grants were summarily yanked by the disapproving federal government. Bodhi Tree Concerts, Project [Blank] and Sacra\/Profana are among the groups here that have had to change their plans, reduce their number of paid artists and scramble for rescue funds. The Prebys Foundation, other organizations and individual donors have stepped up to help protect local arts projects.<\/p>\n

Work supported<\/p>\n

For the first time in its 56-year history, La Jolla Music Society named four distinguished San Diego classical and chamber-music organizations \u2014 Art of Elan, Bach Collegium, Camarada and Mainly Mozart \u2014 as Resident Companies at The Conrad. In May, the society\u2019s artistic director, Leah Rosenthal, welcomed the organizations\u2019 respective leaders: Kate Hatmaker, Ruben Valenzuela, Beth Ross Buckley and Nancy Laturno. The three-year residencies give the companies scheduling advantages, more visibility, a discount rate to perform at the society\u2019s state-of-the-art concert hall and much more.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra presented the opening night performance of its 2025 season at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla. (J. Kat Photo).
\nSecuring the future<\/p>\n

At a time when most classical-music groups are counting their pennies, Mainly Mozart launched a $1 million campaign in June and reached it in September. In June, its All-Star Orchestra Festival attracted 4,000 people to six concerts. Highlighting All-Star orchestra members as soloists, the festival also featured pianist Joyce Yang and violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley. Mainly Mozart\u2019s Next Stage Campaign is now underway to secure future plans and strengthen 350-member youth orchestra.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Diego Symphony opened its 2025-26 season at the Jacobs Music Center with a performance of Ravel\u2019s opera The Child and the Magical Spells. (Jenna Gilmer)
\nPowerful return<\/p>\n

San Diego Symphony opened its second season in the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center by powerfully demonstrating that its ambitious programming for 2025-26 is being executed beautifully. The whimsical semi-staging of Ravel\u2019s opera, The Child and the Magical Spells, was delightful. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard brilliantly played the mischievous 6-year-old, supported by seven expressive vocalists, two choirs, and the ever-nimble orchestra. Happily, its dynamic leader, Rafael Payare, has extended his tenure with the symphony through the 2028-29 season \u2013 with the new title of Music and Artistic Director. The symphony\u2019s Rady Shell\u2019s summer programming was diverse this season, concluding with the Tchaikovsky Spectacular, featuring guest conductor Stephanie Childress and pianist Kiron Atom Tellian. On Dec. 16, the prestigious publication Musical America announced that its 2026 Impresario of the Year award will be given to the San Diego Symphony\u2019s tireless and innovative president\/CEO, Martha Gilmer.<\/p>\n

\"SopranoSoprano Susan Narucki, a longtime UC San Diego music professor, has been nominated for a 2026 Best Classical Solo Vocal Recording Grammy Award. (Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)
\nNoteworthy news<\/p>\n

Soprano Susan Narucki, a longtime UC San Diego music professor, has been nominated for a 2026 Best Classical Solo Vocal Recording Grammy Award. This nomination, her fourth, is for \u201cGy\u00f6rgy Kurt\u00e1g\u2019s Kafka Fragments\u201d\u2026 Through its app, Art of Elan has reached listeners in almost 30 countries by offering its livestreamed concerts for free\u2026 Early this month, the San Diego Symphony named the first participants in its Conducting Fellowship Program, director Rafael Payare\u2019s initiative to help cultivate the next generation of orchestral leaders\u2026 The International Society of Bassists 2025 Convention premiered Andr\u00e9s Mart\u00edn\u2019s Concerto No. 2 for Double Bass. Mart\u00edn is composer-in-residence here for both Camarada and Hutchins Consort. In a lovely mid-December concert, Camarada\u2019s fine musicians played a piece by up-and-coming composer\/singer Oliviana Marie, as well as compositions by Brahms and Valerie Coleman.<\/p>\n

\"RubenRuben Valenzuela is the founder and artistic director of Bach Collegium San Diego. (Gary Payne)
\nEbullience matched<\/p>\n

Bach Collegium San Diego had a bountiful November. Its musicians recorded \u201cEl Mes\u00edas: Handel\u2019s Messiah for a New World.\u201d This one-of-a-kind Spanish-language oratorio will be released next year. The nonprofit also received its first legacy gift, which enabled the hiring of new staff member Lauren Hartz. In May, internationally acclaimed countertenor Reginald Mobley joined the collegium\u2019s skilled players, led by music director Ruben Valenzuela, whose ebullient fondness for the music was matched by Mobley.<\/p>\n

\"ComposerComposer and UC San Diego music professor Lei Liang is shown in Boston in 2018. This past January, he served as composer-in-residence at the New Festival in Boston. (Lei Liang)
\nInspired collaborations<\/p>\n

Works by composer Lei Liang have been performed this year all over the U.S. and in China. The UCSD professor was the composer-in-residence at January\u2019s New Music Festival in Boston. The festival hosted a preview of Inaudible Ocean, Liang\u2019s absorbing composition, which will premiere next year in San Diego. In September, Liang\u2019s \u201cEchoes of Shanshui,\u201d was shown at and in conjunction with Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art. The moving program featured solo musicians playing Liang\u2019s lovely pieces in front of a screen displaying paintings by world-renown concept artist Charles C. Liu, with insightful narration by both artists.<\/p>\n

\"SummerFestSummerFest Music Director Inon Barnatan has signed a new five-year contract with the La Jolla Music Society. (Hayne Palmour IV)
\nLa Jolla\u2019s jewel of a festival<\/p>\n

On SummerFest\u2019s closing night in August, two important announcements were made. La Jolla Music Society signed a new five-year contract with SummerFest Music Director Inon Barnatan and launched the society\u2019s new $60 million endowment fund, 60 x 60, and is already close to achieving half that goal. The four-week festival attracted 6,900 attendees and some of its concerts are being streamed by Medici.tv, classical music\u2019s largest video-on-demand service. Here are three of the many memorable SummerFest 2025 concerts. SummerFest composer-in-residence and violinist Jessie Montgomery created an intimate atmosphere with her congenial banter and the spirited playing of her intriguing works. \u201cGlass Menagerie\u201d was a cleverly staged performance of Philip Glass\u2019 etudes expertly played by nine top pianists, including Barnatan. \u201cNorthern Lights\u201d showcased music by Denmark\u2019s Carl Nielsen and Finland\u2019s Jean Sibelius and Olli Mustone, whose Nonet No. 2 for nine strings thrilled the audience.<\/p>\n

\"CellistCellist Alisa Weilerstein performed Fragments 3 and 4, respectively, in separate solo concerts this year at the Jacobs Music Center in San Diego. (Alisa Weilerstein)
\nMusical weaver<\/p>\n

Alisa Weilerstein performed Fragments 3 and 4, respectively at the Jacobs Music Center in April and October. The concerts highlighted her outstanding skills as a cellist and uncanny ability to weave parts of Bach cello suites and short works by contemporary composers into a seamless hour of mesmerizing music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite facing some major challenges, San Diego\u2019s classical-music concert presenters \u2014 big, small and in-between \u2014 consistently brought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,7974,967,930,181,6682,74,84,76,75,420,56349],"class_list":["post-103845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-classical-music","tag-entertainment","tag-la-jolla","tag-latest-headlines","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-year-in-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}