CLASSICAL MUSIC: Conductor Jung-Ho Pak, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra's new artistic director, will lead all six sets of next season's subscription concerts, which are scheduled between October and next April at St. Paul's Cathedral, near Hillcrest, at Rancho Santa Fe's Del Mar Country Club and at La Jolla's Sherwood Auditorium in the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
“There's a need for consistency – we're establishing a different paradigm for the orchestra,” says Pak, the 43-year-old successor to founding artistic director Donald Barra, who established the ensemble in 1984.
The changes include everything from what the musicians wear at some of the concerts – “a more individualistic and fashionable look,” according to Pak – to how they enter the stage (“we should all walk in and bow together, the message being that we're one entity”).
“Jung-Ho will really try to reach out to San Diego audiences and find innovative ways of the drawing them in,” says board president Gay Hugo-Martinez. “Any changes he makes will be changes for the better.”
“New Beginnings” (Oct. 6, 9 and 10) launches the orchestra's 2006-'07 season with works by Bach and Beethoven as well as the assorted U.S. composers who contribute to the world premiere of “For Jung-Ho.”
That program will be followed by the Mozart tribute “A Party for Wolfgang!” (Nov. 10, 13 and 14); “Poetic Pairs” (Jan. 5, 8 and 9), which features poetry-inspired works by Barber, Weill and Copland; and “Love is in the Air” (Feb. 12, 13, 16), a romantic blend of Bizet, Elgar and more. “French Connection” (March 12, 13, 16) celebrates such French composers as Couperin and Satie, while “Fan-tastic Finale” (April 9, 10, 13) stars La Jolla cellist Felix Fan in Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 2. Information/tickets: (858) 350-0290 or www.sdco.org.
“It's such a wonderful process working with musicians, staff and the board,” says Pak. “Everyone is hungry to do something extraordinary.”
– Valerie Scher
Pearl Jam to play here in July
POP MUSIC: Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster for Pearl Jam's July 7 concert with Sonic Youth at San Diego State University's Cox Arena. It's the first area appearance by Pearl Jam since 2003.
All seats are priced at $54.50 each, plus service charges. There will be a limit of four tickets per customer. The show, part of Pearl Jam's 2006 tour, is in support of the band's forthcoming new album, the self-titled “Pearl Jam.”
Tickets go on sale Saturday at noon at Ticketmaster for O.A.R.'s June 10 concert at SDSU's Open Air Theatre. Tickets go on sale Friday at 1 p.m. at Ticketmaster for the Sept. 10 Coors Amphitheatre by Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona, an ex-schoolteacher and basketball star, who is noted for his politically charged music.
– George Varga
Oscars' next date: Feb. 25
MOVIES: The Oscars are moving back to February.
The 79th annual Academy Awards will be held Feb. 25, 2007 – the last Sunday of the month – at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. It will be televised by ABC-TV.
This year's show was moved to the first Sunday in March to avoid going head-to-head against NBC's broadcast of the Winter Olympics' closing ceremonies.
Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced the key Oscar dates, noting that the February show means nominations and the balloting process will take place earlier than they did this year.
– Associated Press
