How long will the Rady Shell stay the Rady Shell?

The opening of the Rady Shell at the Jacobs Park featuring performances on the Una Davis Family Stage is imminent. As one might surmise from all the titles surrounding the Shell project, the San Diego Symphony has been hard at work on their comprehensive funding campaign entitled “The Future is Hear.”

The symphony has raised $98.7 million toward a goal of $125 million. Those funds were raised privately and now The Future is Hear campaign is entering its public phase.

Those giving $10,000 or more will receive recognition on the donor appreciation wall at the Shell venue. The amounts raised prior to this public appeal were $15 million from Ernest and Evelyn Rady, $15 million from the Conrad Prebys Foundation, $11 million from Joan and Irwin Jacobs, and $10 million from Una Davis.

The extent of the funding reminded me of a pick-up truck I saw the other day. The truck was for a business with the name Haffner. The f’s were written as if they were forte markings in a musical score.

I pointed it out to my kids and gave them the dad trivia for the day.  I explained that the musical reference was to Mozart's Haffner Symphony and Haffner Serenade.

Who were the Haffners? They were a Salzburg family of some means who happened to know Mozart. Now, 250 years later, they live on in posterity because they happened to associate themselves with one of the immortals.

Will the Rady Shell last for 250 years? Probably not, but it could make it to 50 years or maybe even a 100.

Avery Fisher donated $10 million in 1973 dollars to the New York Philharmonic and the concert hall was named in his honor for about 40 years. In 2014 the Philharmonic received permission from the Fisher family to sell the naming rights to the highest bidder. The concert hall became David Geffen Hall after he gave $100 million.

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion has been so named since 1964. Chandler headed a campaign that raised $19 million for the construction of the arts center. Now Disney Hall is a part of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Anytime anyone trumps Mickey Mouse, it’s a significant accomplishment.

Severance Hall in Cleveland has been named after Elizabeth and John Severance since their $1 million gift in 1931. Of course, there’s also Carnegie Hall which was built in 1891 by Andrew Carnegie with funds from the fortune he amassed in the steel industry.

The point is that fortunes come and go but the arts, so far as I can tell, go on forever.