SAN DIEGO — An invitational audience filled the former Copley Symphony Hall last Thursday evening for the first time since it underwent four years of major renovation. Now renamed The Jacobs Music Center, the concert space was transformed! Gold and pale blue colors created an interior that shone with subdued elegance. The stage was enlarged with a heightened ceiling filled with acoustical panels, two levels of risers curving around the floor, and a terrace for chorus or additional audience. The attendees were composed of donors, architects, construction workers, symphony retirees and others responsible for what the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s CEO, Martha Gilmer called, “Building the Dream.”
Even more impressive than the newly achieved grandeur of the hall were the improved acoustics of the Jacobs Music Center. We were seated in the very last row of the downstairs, under the balcony overhang, over to the extreme right, and every sound, every nuance reached our ears with pure clarity, from the hushed solo violin strokes of Tchaikovsky’s “Canzonetta” to the bold final utterances of Orff’s “O fortuna,” for full chorus and orchestra.
Martha Gilmer gave a lengthy speech before the concert began, relating anecdotes of how the concept took shape around a table in Irwin and Joan Jacobs’ home, naming all the major donors, architectural, construction and acoustical firms involved in the reconstruction process, and concluding with homage to Irwin Jacobs and his recently deceased wife, Joan Jacobs, whose financial support and vision were major motivating forces in “Building the Dream.” The entire 2024-25 season will be dedicated to the memory of Joan Jacobs.
The “Building the Dream” concert opened with a chamber-sized orchestra on stage, performing Rossini’s Overture to The Barber of Seville. The brisk tempo had the violinists’ fingers literally racing across the fingerboards in this joyous opening selection, which featured various woodwind solos.
It was followed by Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, the Haffner. This four-movement work was also for the chamber-sized ensemble. The rapid first movement, Allegro con spirito came through, clear as a bell, as did the bold Menuetto and the brisk Presto. The second movement, Andante, served as a warm, lyrical contrast to the fast outer movements.
The San Diego Master Chorale joined the chamber-sized orchestra in the “Lachrymosa,” from Mozart’s Requiem. This was the first time the chorale was heard alongside the orchestra by an audience. The most expressive instrument is unquestionably the human voice, and these angelic voices, projecting beauty through sadness, floated through the hall.
Next came Tchaikovsky’s poignant “Canzonetta,” from his Violin Concerto. Blake Pouliot, who was heard recently at several of the La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest concerts, was the soloist. The 30-year-old Canadian artist played with nuanced passion.
Before the next selection, the last two movements of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #4, additional players entered the stage to constitute the full symphony orchestra. I spotted Richard Levine, with whom I once played trios when I was a member of the orchestra and he was beginning his 50-year tenure. He was one of the symphony representatives serving on an advisory board for the renovation. In a recent conversation, he related how the musicians were able to hear each other so much better with the improved acoustics on stage.
The Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato opened with the sound of softly plucked strings, fully audible to my ears, sitting in the last row under the balcony overhang. The Finale: Allegro con fuoco rang out with the full fury of the orchestra under the direction of their conductor, Raphael Payare, whose every fiber of his body was utilized to express the music he was eliciting from his instrumental forces.
The two concluding selections of the concert were Ave formosissima followed without pause by O fortuna, from Orff’s Carmina Burana for chorus and orchestra. What a triumphant conclusion for the first concert to be heard by a live audience in the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center!
May The Jacobs Music Center thrive and house generations of audiences who will listen and appreciate the great repertoire of symphonic music past and present, reverberating within its walls.
* Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.
2 thoughts on “Transformed Jacobs Music Center Features Highly Improved Acoustics”
July Galper
Dear Eileen: I loved your article and am so sorry I missed coming. I was invited but for some reason I forgot. Anyway thank you for sharing. July
MONIQUE KUNEWALDER
Your enthusiasm, your knowledge and your love for musical excellence are all great joys to read, dear Eileen!!
you truly bring the experience of a NEW HALL such as the Jacobs
Music Center ALIVE with your exuberant words!
I agree and truly hope this new addition to the san Diego Symphony
Orchestra performance space shall bring to life all the majesty and
beauty of splendid compositions written for soloists and for orchestra!!
Dear Eileen: I loved your article and am so sorry I missed coming. I was invited but for some reason I forgot. Anyway thank you for sharing. July
Your enthusiasm, your knowledge and your love for musical excellence are all great joys to read, dear Eileen!!
you truly bring the experience of a NEW HALL such as the Jacobs
Music Center ALIVE with your exuberant words!
I agree and truly hope this new addition to the san Diego Symphony
Orchestra performance space shall bring to life all the majesty and
beauty of splendid compositions written for soloists and for orchestra!!