The Maestro

ENTERING HIS THIRD SEASON as the San Diego Symphony’s music director, Jahja Ling is delighted with the way things have been going. “The orchestra has done marvelously well in these past two years,” he says. “When I listened to a recording of the symphony’s performance of Messiaen, Mozart and Schubert from last year—a recording we are considering for broadcast on National Public Radio this season—I was so pleased to hear that we could play as well as some of the greatest orchestras in the world.”

The symphony’s 2006-2007 season begins in Copley Symphony Hall October 13, with a performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring soloist Garrick Ohlssohn. The bill also includes American composer William Schuman’s American Festival Overture and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

“Our orchestra can move the audience quite deeply,” Ling says. “I have heard from many people who say we sound like a $30 million orchestra instead of one that plays on a budget of $13 million. Of course, the most important aspect of the orchestra is its ability to work as an ensemble and play with one unified concept, so that people can appreciate and hear the difference.”

Currently, the symphony’s most prestigious lineup of subscription concerts is the Jacobs’ Masterworks Series, but Ling is quick to point out numerous other offerings. The upcoming season introduces a refurbished Winter Pops series with a stellar new director. “I am very pleased to welcome Marvin Hamlisch as our principal pops conductor,” says Ling. “With his expertise in popular music, Broadway and the movies, he will bring a great deal of enjoyment and entertainment to our pops audiences.” Hamlisch, the quadruple-crowned Emmy/Grammy/ Oscar/Tony winner (one of the few artists to receive all four awards), plays his first concerts, “New York, New York,” November 10 and 11 in Copley Hall.

Other symphony activities include the popular Light Bulb Discovery series (four concerts beginning January 26), a Thursday Night Lite series (three concerts starting February 22), a Family Festival series (four concerts starting November 12, 2007), plus three special concerts including that familiar Christmas ritual, Handel’s Messiah (December 15, 16 and 17), as well as a number of miscellaneous presentations.

“It is always a matter of presenting a balanced diet of good music by mixing the new and old, the familiar and unfamiliar so [the public can] be exposed to all kinds of music and differences in style,” says Ling.

Asked what he’s personally looking forward to most, the maestro cites Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms (October 20, 21 and 22); Respighi’s The Birds, imaginatively paired with another “bird” masterpiece, Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotique (November 3, 4 and 5); Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 coupled with Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 and featuring soprano soloist Jennifer Aylmer in both pieces (December 1, 2 and 3); the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Sibelius Competition winner Sergey Khachatryan as soloist (February 24); John Harbison’s new Concerto for Bass Viol, featuring symphony principal bass player Jeremy Kurtz as soloist (March 9, 10 and 11); and the Berlioz “mighty and innovative” Requiem, with Vincent Cole singing the “Sanctus” section (May 18, 19 and 20). And of course, the Mozart Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos, with Ling joining his wife, Jessie Chang, in a performance to be led by Ling’s former conducting teacher, Otto-Werner Mueller (April 21, 27 and 29).

The director says long-range plans include more commissioning of new music. A high priority is a harp concerto to be written by Bright Sheng and recorded on Telarc. But first, says Ling, “We need to find the funding for it. I am very hopeful we will succeed with this project, scheduled for 2008-09 to coincide with the Beijing Olympics.”

The full season schedule is at sandiegosymphony.com.

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