Will San Diego survive a fall without classical music?

It’s August, a month in which I usually begin to look forward to the Masterworks Season at the San Diego Symphony. However, in my opinion, there will be no fall concerts this year.

One of the reasons I look forward to the Masterworks Season is that it gives me something to listen to that is new and different. Even if it is music I’m familiar with, the performances are always unique.

When left to my own device I usually wander back to the same old stuff I’ve been listening to for years, if not decades. It’s not that I’ve listened to the same music over and over but I’ve listened to the same performances of the same music over and over.

The symphonic season is a big part of my favorite time of year. Classical music is something that starts in autumn. I know there are plenty of summer festivals but going downtown to Symphony Hall is a fall ritual. It goes with the football season, the new semester, the Metropolitan Opera Season, and Christmas starting too early—all things that I love.

Virtual concerts I love not but I’m afraid that is what we are going to be left with until the 2021-22 season. I only hope our classical music organizations can survive what will be a year and a half hiatus.

I will admit to not missing concerts so far. I believe that is because things closed down in March. That was close enough to the end of the season that I didn’t miss it too much. Now that we are in August and I’m beginning to pine for autumn, I find myself starting to experience profound loss for the cultural traditions that have been a part of my life.

One of the more frustrating factors is that there was a new sense of direction and purpose in almost all of the cultural organizations that I cover. Covid-19 put the brakes on what was shaping up to be the beginning of a new era in San Diego’s cultural life.

The San Diego Symphony had just completed its first season with a new and exciting music director, Rafael Payare, and it was awesome. The Shell, the symphony’s new waterfront summer home, was scheduled to open this summer.

The La Jolla Music Society was just completing its first year in its new venue, the Conrad, in downtown La Jolla. The San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival had scheduled a festival with Music Director Michael Francis leading the stellar festival orchestra in five concerts jam-packed with some of my favorite music.

I could be wrong about no fall concerts. Some big news about treatments for Covid-19 could arrive. Policies about quarantine could change. The San Diego Symphony hasn’t canceled the fall concerts yet. There is some hope.