Instead, the rare collaboration between the symphony and UC San Diego is a chamber music series unashamedly dedicated to 18th- and 19th-century standard repertoire classical music. But who’s complaining? Underwritten by chamber music aficionado Sam Ersan—who also supports Mainly Mozart, the La Jolla Music Society, ArtPower and the Orange County Philharmonic Society, among other musical endeavors—the series is a welcome opportunity to hear several of the orchestra’s gifted principal players in a different context as well as UC San Diego’s contemporary specialists, like cellist Charles Curtis, playing the standard repertoire. The core group is Curtis, a Juilliard graduate best known for his work with contemporary composers Alvin Lucier, Alison Knowles and La Monte Young, among others; Jeff Thayer, a Cleveland Institute of Music graduate best known as concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony; and the symphony’s exceptional principal viola, Che-Yen Chen (who was also principal viola of the Mainly Mozart Festival and the SummerFest Chamber Orchestra).”
