The San Diego Symphony and Music Director Rafael Payare at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, August 2021. Photo: Gary Payne
“How will the San Diego Symphony follow last year’s splashy debut of its $85 million bayside concert venue, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park?” writes George Varga in Sunday’s (3/13) San Diego Union-Tribune. “The orchestra … will expand its median capacity for each concert to 4,718, up from 3,500 last year, by adding five new rows of seating…. The Shell will bring in a number of prominent artists—including Bonnie Raitt, Common and Joss Stone—whose 2020 and 2021 tours were derailed by the pandemic…. Running from June 24 to Oct. 3 … the upcoming season will also feature … Sheryl Crow, Trombone Shorty, Flying Lotus and Mariachi Los Camperos.… That diversity of styles reflects a desire to continue building a larger audience following last year’s season, at which 52 percent of the concertgoers were attending a symphony-presented event for the first time…. This year’s opening night at The Shell will feature San Diego Symphony music director Rafael Payare conducting … the West Coast premiere of the piano concerto by Reinaldo Moya.… Other concerts … include Jennifer Hudson, a double-bill of Elvis Costello & The Imposters and Nick Lowe, and a triple-bill of George Benson, War and The Commodores.”
