In addition to a festive and exciting December concert roster, the San Diego Symphony is launching a month-long festival in celebration of ‘Our American Music’ in January 2017.

The Symphony’s ‘Our American Music’ festival will explore various aspects of music made in America and the impact America had, and continues to have, on musical composition and performance. The festival is a way to reflect and understand the history of American composers. Some of the featured composers were born in America. Others began life in a different country and culture, and came, as immigrants, to America bringing their unique voice to our country, and absorbing American influences into their compositions. This festival connects all of these composers allowing us to hear them side by side, to better understand their similarities and contrasts. Throughout the festival music inspired by sweeping landscapes and city sounds, simple folk tunes and jazz rhythms, tap dancing and hip-hop will be performed. All of this inspires the question “What is our American voice?” and how can music inspire and move us at this time in history. 

DECEMBER EVENTS
JACOBS MASTERWORKS

CELEBRATE THE SEASON
FRI DEC 2—8pm
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR*
The internationally-renowned, charming young choristers from a centuries-old singing tradition return to the Jacobs Music Center for one night only. Expect heart-warming choral classics from the heart of the European tradition plus more than a touch of holiday cheer! *San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear.

FRI DEC 16—8pm  I  SAT DEC 17–2pm & 8pm  I  SUN DEC 18—7:30pm
NOEL NOEL
The San Diego Symphony celebrates the holidays in style with this delightful concert of popular music of the season featuring the San Diego Master Chorale and special guest, popular Broadway showman (and San Diego native) Brian Stokes Mitchell. This year features a brand new storyline and scenery and will be conducted by Sameer Patel. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

SUN DEC 18—2pm
FAMILY HOLIDAY CONCERT
A one-hour afternoon version of our annual holiday concert spectacular, complete with all your favorite traditional Christmas music, the San Diego Master Chorale and a visit from Santa Claus!

MON DEC 19—7:30pm
CHANTICLEER*
Chanticleer has been known around the world for almost four decades as “an orchestra of voices” for the seamless blend of its twelve male voices ranging from countertenor to bass and its original interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz and gospel. The first vocal ensemble voted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame will bring a festival holiday program to San Diego. *San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear.

JANUARY FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
*All performances are at the Jacobs Music Hall unless otherwise noted.

ART CONNECTION – What Does It Mean to be an American Composer?
JAN 5 – 7:30 p.m.
“What Does It Mean To Be An American Composer?” In this historic election season, we’ve faced questions about globalization, diversity, technology and the media, and those issues have influenced how we see ourselves as Americans. What about contemporary American composers? They grapple with the same concerns, complicated the fact their fellow citizens are often indifferent to their efforts. Composers like Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein had a distinctly American voice and a more sympathetic audience. What’s happened to that voice? What’s happened to that audience? Does it mean anything to say you are an American composer beyond your location on Google Maps.
Jim Chute, moderator
Martha Gilmer, CEO, San Diego Symphony Orchestra
Gerard McBurney, creative director of the Beyond the Score series
Andrew Norman, composer
Musicians of the San Diego Symphony

AMERICANS AND PARIS – A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
JAN 6 – 8 p.m. | JAN 8 – 2 p.m.
Andrew Gourlay, conductorInon Barnatan, piano
COPLAND: Billy the Kid SuiteCOPLAND: Piano ConcertoANDREW NORMAN: Suspend (Piano Concerto) GERSHWIN: An American in Paris

FREE CONCERT FOR THE COMMUNITY
Our American Music – Festival Highlights and Musical Surprises
JAN 7 – 8 p.m.
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sameer Patel, performs a free concert featuring musical selections that are part of the month-long festival “Our American Music – Festival Highlights and Musical Surprises.”

ART OF ÉLAN – A Chamber Music Series Concert at the Jacobs Music Center
JAN 10 – 7:30 p.m.
Steven Schick, conductor and percussionMusicians of Art of Élan
Program Includes:STEVE REICH: Clapping MusicHANNAH LASH: Tree Suite for Harp (world premiere of Art of Élan-commissioned work for solo harp) EVE BEGLARIAN: I will not be sad in this worldAARON COPLAND: Appalachian Spring (Complete Ballet Suite for 13 instruments)
The highly acclaimed classical chamber music collective presents a program of colorful works that were “made in America.” The concert features the world premiere of a work for solo harp written by Hannah Lash, along with works by Eve Beglarian, Steve Reich and the original 1944 version of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring for 13 players, conducted by Steven Schick.
LA SANTA CECILIA
JAN 11  – 7:30 p.m.
La Santa Cecilia started their career by serenading passers by on the embellished corners of Downtown Los Angeles’ Olvera Street. They are a musical phenomenon who play a blend of many forms of music, including cumbia, bossa nova, and boleros, that has won a Grammy, toured from coast to coast, collaborated with Elvis Costello, appeared on Conan, and most recently shared the stage with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones.
ROSANNE CASH
JAN 12 – 7:30 p.m.
Singer and songwriter Rosanne Cash’s exciting show celebrates her highly-acclaimed and three time Grammy winning album, The River & the Thread. The River & the Thread (2014, Blue Note Records) is a collection of original songs that connect and re-connect Rosanne to the American South, the place of her birth and the home of her ancestors.

TALIB KWELI
JAN 13 – 7:30 p.m.
After nearly 20 years of releasing mesmerizing music, Talib Kweli stands as one of the worlds most talented and most accomplished Hip Hop artists. Whether working with Mos Def as one-half of Black Star, partnering with producer Hi-Tek for Reflection Eternal, releasing landmark solo material or collaborating with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Just Blaze, J Dilla, or Madlib, Kweli commands attention by delivering top-tier lyricism, crafting captivating stories and showing the ability to rhyme over virtually any type of instrumental.

BIRTH OF THE COOL: A WEST COAST JAZZ SALUTE – A Jazz @ The Jacobs Concert
JAN 14 – 8 p.m.
Gilbert Castellanos, trumpetAdam Schroeder, baritone saxGraham Dechter, guitarTamir Hendelman, pianoChuck Berghofer, bassJeff Hamilton, drums
Series curator Gilbert Castellanos celebrates the music that made the “west coast sound,” paying homage to some of the greatest West Coast artists: Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond and that “prince of darkness” himself, Miles Davis. The San Diego Symphony Orchestra does not appear on this program.

LA/NY – A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
JAN 20 – 8 p.m. | JAN 22 – 2 p.m.
Cristian Macelaru, conductorAndrea Overturf, english hornMicah Wilkinson, trumpet
STRAVINSKY: Symphony in Three MovementsADAMS: City NoirCOPLAND: Quiet CityBERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

BERNSTEIN, PERLMAN, HOLLYWOOD – A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
JAN 21 – 8 p.m.
Cristian Macelaru, conductorItzhak Perlman, violin
BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Suite from On the WaterfrontKORNGOLD: The Sea Hawk SuiteArr. JOHN WILLIAMS: Hollywood Scores: “Perlman Plays Hollywood”
In this one-of-a-kind concert, the movies come to Jacobs Masterworks! The concert opens with Leonard Bernstein’s brutally vital music from the Oscar-winning masterpiece On the Waterfront and a suite from Eric Wolfgang Korngold’s classic swashbuckling score to The Seahawk.
After intermission, Itzhak Perlman takes the stage for an unforgettable selection of Hollywood melodies from Casablanca, Far and Away, Schindler’s List and more, all arranged for violin and orchestra by the greatest film composer of them all, John Williams.

AMERICAN RIFFS AND RHAPSODIES – A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
JAN 27 – 8 p.m. | JAN 29 – 2 p.m.
James Gaffigan, conductorCartier Williams, dancer
HENRY COWELL: Hymn, from Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 2STEVEN STUCKY: RhapsodiesBARBER: Symphony No. 1, Op. 9BERNSTEIN: Prelude, Fugue and RiffsMORTON GOULD: Tap Dance ConcertoELLINGTON: Harlem
This concert offers our most thorough exploration of the American classical music idiom within a single program. From Henry Cowell’s evocation of colonial era hymnal music to Samuel Barber’s brief but melodically rich, youthfully optimistic Symphony No. 1, from Leonard Bernstein’s supremely swinging Prelude, Fugue and Riffs to Morton Gould’s highly unorthodox but quintessentially American Tap Dance Concerto, Copley Symphony Hall will be filled with music that is by turns bold and brassy, confident yet introspective. Special treats include California composer Steven Stucky’s ecstatic, multilayered Rhapsodies and the great Duke Ellington’s Harlem, a symphonic love letter to a neighborhood and culture out to change the world.

BEYOND THE SCORE®: THINGS OUR FATHERS LOVED – A Jacobs Masterworks Concert
JAN 28 – 8 p.m.
A production of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Gerard McBurney, creative director
James Gaffigan, conductor

IVES: Symphony No. 2