Opus Gala: San Diego Symphony (1 of 2)

At of 8:00 pm on Friday, the 11th of October, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Music Center was opened at Symphony Hall.

At the Opus Gala on Saturday night, the Jacobs’ were brought onstage to receive the key to the music center and they were drenched by an outpouring of gratitude from the gathered patrons. The applause from the audience reached enormous arms around the Jacobs’ and enfolded them in a hug of thanksgiving.

The Jacobs’ noblesse oblige has helped to create music of a quality that San Diego has never experienced before. The San Diego Symphony is hot stuff and it would still be a lukewarm soup of inconsistency if the the Jacobs’ hadn’t intervened 10 years ago.

Since then the orchestra has been on a steep, upward trajectory and the upcoming tour will add fuel to the fire. In a note in the program, Maestro Ling explains that one of the reasons for the tour is to solidify the orchestra’s value to itself.

Being acclaimed in San Diego is one thing, but being acclaimed in New York and China will validate the orchestra’s abilities and prove to the players just how good they are.

Edward Gill, San Diego Symphony CEO, also led the audience through an interactive giving exercise. Patrons would text a dollar amount along with their name and it would appear up on a screen in real time. It was pretty slick and a lot of fun.

After the texting, everyone was invited to have cake after the concert, and then the music began.