“Cello star Alisa Weilerstein and San Diego Symphony music director Rafael Payare first met at a concert in his native Venezuela just over a decade ago,” writes George Varga in Sunday’s (4/19) San Diego Union-Tribune. “Payare and Weilerstein are based in Berlin, Germany, although the coronavirus pandemic has made them—at least for now—San Diego residents.… Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Payare and Weilerstein were booked solid to perform concerts around the world, separately and together, but many of those have fallen through.… Weilerstein last month launched her #36DaysofBach online concert series, which concludes Wednesday…. On Wednesday, the San Diego Symphony canceled all of its remaining April and May concerts … including the May 22-24 season finale performances that Payare was scheduled to conduct…. ‘With this pandemic, you don’t know,’ said Weilerstein. ‘We’ll come out of it when the borders open, because musicians depend on being able to travel.’ Payare agreed, while noting a significant difference in his situation…. ‘A conductor needs an orchestra. And, of course, right now we cannot have that,’ said Payare.… ‘As human beings, I have absolutely no doubt we’ll come out of this. In the meantime, we have to be creative in how we communicate.’ ”
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