Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Hip-Hop and Hayden

Opening night at the San Diego Chamber Orchestra at St. Paul's Cathedral in Hillcrest, and from the outset a visitor notices things that are out of the ordinary. First, a welcoming committee of tuxedoed orchestra performers stands at the door in a rare display of accessibility. Later, the performers and their conductor Jung-Ho Pak walk onstage in unison; traditionally, a conductor makes his entrance separately. The orchestra does not tune up in front of the audience, and Pak does not use a baton ("too autocratic," he has said). Finally, the orchestra remains on their feet throughout the first half of the evening's performance.

"I asked the musicians to stand for two reasons," says Pak from his home in Monterey. "One is because that is historically what baroque musicians did. They stood in front of aristocracy...out of a sign of respect." And, he says that they play better. "That's why, when you go to a concerto, the soloist always stands up. Can you imagine how odd it would be if the clarinet soloist or a violin soloist played sitting down? That would be very odd. Can you imagine going to a rock concert and seeing the musicians sitting down?"

In January of this year, Pak was appointed artistic director of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. He is concurrently serving in his eighth season as music director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut and is the music director of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen in Michigan.

From 1997 through 2002, Pak conducted the San Diego Symphony, where he created idiosyncratic programs such as the Lightbulb Series. Aimed at thirtysomething listeners, the series is remembered for performances such as the one in which a French chef prepared food onstage while the orchestra performed.

"I brought all of my baby boomer, California-raised, television and movie and Internet-

influenced generation to bear on the Lightbulb Series, plus my shamefully eclectic taste in world music and pop music and jazz and rock and all these other things I grew up with [he later admits to being a huge fan of Karen Carpenter]. I'm an omnivore. I wasn't raised in a practice room."

Pak's speech is rapid-fire and intense. After a few minutes, it becomes clear that his mission is to eliminate the barrier between performer and audience.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"Doesn't that rob a performance of some of its mystique?" I ask.

"I think orchestras are trying desperately to remove that mystique. If you look across the country and see all the million-dollar deficits that face all the major orchestras...now everyone's trying to be hip. And I mean that in a pejorative sense. Because what they're trying to do is change the appearance of the product. And what we're trying to do is change the core of the product, the core of the experience. And that [core] is the musicians themselves."

Pak is pleased with the results so far. "We are succeeding beyond my expectations, actually, to change the mind of the musician to realize that their job is not to play notes. Their job," he says, "ultimately, is to grab souls."

Times are hard for classical music. Budgets are shrinking, interest is waning, and commissions for new scores are thin to nonexistent. "There's been a lot of sitting on our laurels, so to speak, over the past 30 years. Meanwhile, we're losing audience because the people come and they say, 'That's interesting, that's nice, but you know, it's not a place that I want to come back [to].' And that's the true test, really," says Pak. "The proof in the pudding is in how often that person wants to return."

"The thing that gets me up in the morning," he says, "is, 'What can I do to make great art...and what can I do to give it relevance today?' Am I brave enough to say the answer is nothing? As an industry, can we wake up and look ourselves in the mirror and say, 'This is not working'? Are we going the way of the harpsichord and the Gregorian chant and the Model T? Is it too much to expect that the way we've been doing things for the past 150 years...is going to always live forever? Or should we expect a natural life span for this art form?"

Pak travels with a Treo 650. "It is the yuppie hand-held computer. Phone, I can surf the web on it, I can answer e-mails, I can do everything -- and, with my expansion card, load on music. I tend to switch songs in and out quite a bit." He calls himself an inveterate downloader: "Napster, Rhapsody, and iTunes."

Jung-Ho's Top Ten Downloads:

1. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Ella and Louis

2. Frank Sinatra, Sinatra at the Sands with Count Basie & the Orchestra

3. Anner Bylsma, Bach Cello Suites Nos. 1-6

4. Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain

5. Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority

6. Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin, West Meets East

7. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's or the "White Album"

8. Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring

9. The Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood, Mozart Symphony No. 40

10. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Herbert von Karajan, conductor, Also Sprach Zarathustra

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Taco Taco Poway still has 99-cent fish tacos

Tacotopia prizewinner is well known among Powegians

Opening night at the San Diego Chamber Orchestra at St. Paul's Cathedral in Hillcrest, and from the outset a visitor notices things that are out of the ordinary. First, a welcoming committee of tuxedoed orchestra performers stands at the door in a rare display of accessibility. Later, the performers and their conductor Jung-Ho Pak walk onstage in unison; traditionally, a conductor makes his entrance separately. The orchestra does not tune up in front of the audience, and Pak does not use a baton ("too autocratic," he has said). Finally, the orchestra remains on their feet throughout the first half of the evening's performance.

"I asked the musicians to stand for two reasons," says Pak from his home in Monterey. "One is because that is historically what baroque musicians did. They stood in front of aristocracy...out of a sign of respect." And, he says that they play better. "That's why, when you go to a concerto, the soloist always stands up. Can you imagine how odd it would be if the clarinet soloist or a violin soloist played sitting down? That would be very odd. Can you imagine going to a rock concert and seeing the musicians sitting down?"

In January of this year, Pak was appointed artistic director of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. He is concurrently serving in his eighth season as music director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut and is the music director of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen in Michigan.

From 1997 through 2002, Pak conducted the San Diego Symphony, where he created idiosyncratic programs such as the Lightbulb Series. Aimed at thirtysomething listeners, the series is remembered for performances such as the one in which a French chef prepared food onstage while the orchestra performed.

"I brought all of my baby boomer, California-raised, television and movie and Internet-

influenced generation to bear on the Lightbulb Series, plus my shamefully eclectic taste in world music and pop music and jazz and rock and all these other things I grew up with [he later admits to being a huge fan of Karen Carpenter]. I'm an omnivore. I wasn't raised in a practice room."

Pak's speech is rapid-fire and intense. After a few minutes, it becomes clear that his mission is to eliminate the barrier between performer and audience.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"Doesn't that rob a performance of some of its mystique?" I ask.

"I think orchestras are trying desperately to remove that mystique. If you look across the country and see all the million-dollar deficits that face all the major orchestras...now everyone's trying to be hip. And I mean that in a pejorative sense. Because what they're trying to do is change the appearance of the product. And what we're trying to do is change the core of the product, the core of the experience. And that [core] is the musicians themselves."

Pak is pleased with the results so far. "We are succeeding beyond my expectations, actually, to change the mind of the musician to realize that their job is not to play notes. Their job," he says, "ultimately, is to grab souls."

Times are hard for classical music. Budgets are shrinking, interest is waning, and commissions for new scores are thin to nonexistent. "There's been a lot of sitting on our laurels, so to speak, over the past 30 years. Meanwhile, we're losing audience because the people come and they say, 'That's interesting, that's nice, but you know, it's not a place that I want to come back [to].' And that's the true test, really," says Pak. "The proof in the pudding is in how often that person wants to return."

"The thing that gets me up in the morning," he says, "is, 'What can I do to make great art...and what can I do to give it relevance today?' Am I brave enough to say the answer is nothing? As an industry, can we wake up and look ourselves in the mirror and say, 'This is not working'? Are we going the way of the harpsichord and the Gregorian chant and the Model T? Is it too much to expect that the way we've been doing things for the past 150 years...is going to always live forever? Or should we expect a natural life span for this art form?"

Pak travels with a Treo 650. "It is the yuppie hand-held computer. Phone, I can surf the web on it, I can answer e-mails, I can do everything -- and, with my expansion card, load on music. I tend to switch songs in and out quite a bit." He calls himself an inveterate downloader: "Napster, Rhapsody, and iTunes."

Jung-Ho's Top Ten Downloads:

1. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Ella and Louis

2. Frank Sinatra, Sinatra at the Sands with Count Basie & the Orchestra

3. Anner Bylsma, Bach Cello Suites Nos. 1-6

4. Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain

5. Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority

6. Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin, West Meets East

7. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's or the "White Album"

8. Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring

9. The Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood, Mozart Symphony No. 40

10. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Herbert von Karajan, conductor, Also Sprach Zarathustra

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor
Next Article

India Hawthorne is common in coastal gardens, Citrus trees are in full bloom

The vernal equinox is on March 19
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.