The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

Discover the marvels of our cosmic backyard through the eyes of the robotic spacecraft sent out to explore it. Aerospace engineer and National Geographic Explorer Tracy Drain works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop, test, and operate the complex machines that uncover some of the countless mysteries within (and way beyond!) our solar system. Among her projects: rovers on Mars, a mission to Jupiter, and a hunt for exoplanets that reshaped our entire understanding of the galaxy.

Local Event: Tracy Drain: Cosmic Adventures

San Diego County

La Jolla

California

Tracy Drain: Cosmic Adventures

Discover the marvels of our cosmic backyard through the eyes of the robotic spacecraft sent out to explore it. Aerospace...

Blending Middle Eastern music with elements of jazz and Western classical styles, Ali Paris has captivated audiences with his mastery on the qanun, a traditional instrument dating back to the 14th century.
He’s performed all across the country—from the Kennedy Center to Lincoln Center and beyond. Hear his unforgettable global rhythms at The Conrad in the Wu Tsai QRT.yrd!&nbsp;

Local Event: Ali Paris

Ali Paris

Blending Middle Eastern music with elements of jazz and Western classical styles, Ali Paris has captivated audiences with his...

Shenel Johns is a dynamic jazz musician whose captivating stage presence and impressive vocal range are rooted in her early exposure to reggae and gospel. A graduate of the Hartt School, where she received mentorship from Jackie McLean’s esteemed alumni, Johns passionately shares her musical gifts globally, mentoring young artists and performing in residencies from Shanghai to Mexico. Winner of the Riga Jazz Stage Vocal Competition, she has collaborated with jazz luminaries like Wynton Marsalis and Damien Sneed, seamlessly blending traditional gospel, jazz, and diasporic influences in renowned venues and festivals worldwide, including recent performances with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and in tribute to Max Roach.

Local Event: Shenel Johns

Shenel Johns

Shenel Johns is a dynamic jazz musician whose captivating stage presence and impressive vocal range are rooted in her early...

Engage with history in this introduction to Western classical music! Led by Michael Gerdes, Director of Orchestras at San Diego State University and a longtime guest lecturer for our organization, this free, five-part public series is designed for anyone curious about the composers, works, and cultural movements that shaped the music we know and love. No prior musical background is required. Each lecture builds on the previous one, yet every session stands on its own, so you can join at any point in the series.

Local Event: Go Your Own Way: After Sonata Form

Go Your Own Way: After Sonata Form

Engage with history in this introduction to Western classical music! Led by Michael Gerdes, Director of Orchestras at San Diego...

Rebecca Jade is a dynamic singer/songwriter whose career spans nearly two decades, fueled by her musical upbringing and versatile talent. She has shared the stage with world-renowned artists, toured with Sheila E. since 2017, performed with Sir Elton John at the Academy Awards, and appeared on the Emmy-nominated “Let’s Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute to Prince.” Her collaborations include Dave Koz &amp; Friends, Eric Darius, and led opening performances for Will Downing, Boney James, Jeffrey Osborne, and Musiq Soulchild.

Local Event: Rebecca Jade

Rebecca Jade

Rebecca Jade is a dynamic singer/songwriter whose career spans nearly two decades, fueled by her musical upbringing and...

STELLA CHEN, violin
Winner of the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition
GILLES VONSATTEL, piano
Avery Fischer Career Grant Recipient

Local Event: Stella Chen, violin & Gilles Vonsattel, piano

Stella Chen, violin & Gilles Vonsattel, piano

STELLA CHEN, violin
Winner of the 2019 Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition
GILLES VONSATTEL, piano
Avery Fischer...

Jihye Lee, a highly regarded Korean-born jazz composer and bandleader based in Brooklyn, released her latest large ensemble album, Infinite Connections, in 2024. This album, which features traditional Korean rhythms as its foundation, has been praised as a powerful testament to her artistry. Lee has graced prestigious stages such as Jazz at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz. Her innovative approach to composition has garnered her numerous accolades, including the BMI Foundation’s Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize and the Korean Music Award.

Local Event: Jihye Lee Orchestra

Jihye Lee Orchestra

Jihye Lee, a highly regarded Korean-born jazz composer and bandleader based in Brooklyn, released her latest large ensemble...

For the first time in over 40 years, two living legends of Afro-Cuban jazz—Arturo Sandoval and Chucho Valdés—reunite on stage for an electrifying quintet performance. This once-in-a-lifetime concert brings together the masterful trumpet virtuosity of Sandoval with the groundbreaking piano genius of Valdés in an explosive celebration of rhythm, improvisation, and musical legacy. Don’t miss the rare opportunity to witness these icons create magic in an intimate, high-octane setting—an unforgettable night of history in the making!

Local Event: Chucho Valdés & Arturo Sandoval Legacy Quintet

Chucho Valdés & Arturo Sandoval Legacy Quintet

For the first time in over 40 years, two living legends of Afro-Cuban jazz—Arturo Sandoval and Chucho Valdés—reunite on stage...

<h3>Music lives within history—and it also creates its own.</h3>
As SummerFest marks its 40th year, this season explores both: composers responding to the world around them, and the turning points that reshaped the course of music itself. From works born in moments of upheaval to rediscoveries, landmark commissions, and bold new collaborations, SummerFest celebrates the past—and the new chapters we continue to write.
Part of our Synergy Series, this boundary-crossing opening night blends music, storytelling, and theatrical narration in a fast-moving journey through history. Legendary actor Simon Callow joins festival artists for a vivid time-travel adventure—from medieval chant to modern revolution—where each piece becomes a portal to a defining moment in the story of music.

Local Event: The Incomplete History of the World in Ten Pieces

The Incomplete History of the World in Ten Pieces

Music lives within history—and it also creates its own.
As SummerFest marks its 40th year, this season explores both: composers...

<h3>Vienna’s Golden Age, reimagined.</h3>
At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna stood at the very center of musical life, shaping the sound of an era while standing on the edge of profound change. This concert captures a city at a golden age and a world in transformation, tradition morphing into a new age.

Local Event: Vienna 1900

Vienna 1900

Vienna’s Golden Age, reimagined.
At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna stood at the very center of musical life, shaping the...

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater—one of the most enduring sacred works ever written, and one written by a 26-year-old—is paired with other masterpieces shaped by youth, urgency, and historical circumstance, inviting us to imagine what could have been.

Local Event: What If?

What If?

Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater—one of the most enduring sacred works ever written, and one written by a 26-year-old—is paired with...

<h3>Musical history moves forward through dialogue with the past.</h3>
From Stravinsky’s reimagining of baroque styles to Schubert’s epic Octet—written in the shadow of Beethoven—this program explores how composers absorb, reshape, and transform what came before, creating works that honor tradition while forging new paths.

Local Event: Reshaping the Past

Reshaping the Past

Musical history moves forward through dialogue with the past.
From Stravinsky’s reimagining of baroque styles to Schubert’s...

Encounters with Eastern music left a lasting mark on Western composers, from the sounds of gamelan heard by Debussy at the World Fair to Lou Harrison and John Cage’s lifelong fascination with Javanese and Indian sounds, culminating in a newly created chamber work based on Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

Local Event: Eastern Visions

Eastern Visions

Encounters with Eastern music left a lasting mark on Western composers, from the sounds of gamelan heard by Debussy at the...

Feel the pulse of Eastern Europe in music drawn from village dances, folk songs, and centuries-old traditions. Composers channel the raw vitality of these sounds into works of sweeping drama and rhythmic fire—music that carries the spirit of the countryside onto the concert stage.

Local Event: Roots

Roots

Feel the pulse of Eastern Europe in music drawn from village dances, folk songs, and centuries-old traditions. Composers...

<h3>Great music sometimes slips from view—unfinished, unpublished, or simply forgotten—until history rediscovers it.</h3>
From Chopin’s recently uncovered Waltz to Vaughan Williams’s nearly lost Piano Quintet, from a reconstructed gem by Mozart to a lush Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler recently brought back to light at the Library of Congress, this program offers the rare chance to encounter rediscovered treasures.

Local Event: Lost and Found

Lost and Found

Great music sometimes slips from view—unfinished, unpublished, or simply forgotten—until history rediscovers it.
From Chopin’s...

<h3>What does it mean to make history in America?</h3>
At the Library of Congress, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge transformed a national institution into a catalyst for chamber music, commissioning and championing not only American composers but many of the greatest international voices of her time. This program reflects that expansive spirit—celebrating music shaped by bold patronage, artistic exchange, and a distinctly American belief in possibility.

Local Event: American Legacy

American Legacy

What does it mean to make history in America?
At the Library of Congress, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge transformed a national...

Returning to SummerFest after last season’s electrifying collaboration with Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner—one of today’s most celebrated jazz pianists and a recent recipient of the Gilmore Jazz Pianist Award—brings his incredible trio to The JAI.

Local Event: JAZZ @ The JAI with Sullivan Fortner Trio

JAZZ @ The JAI with Sullivan Fortner Trio

Returning to SummerFest after last season’s electrifying collaboration with Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner—one of...

<h3>In the shadow of the First World War, composers faced a world irrevocably changed.</h3>
From Debussy’s starkly ravishing two-piano piece and Bridge’s elegiac lament to Poulenc’s sardonically defiant wit, this program reveals how upheaval reshaped musical language—culminating in Korngold’s Suite for Left Hand, written for a war amputee and transforming loss into radiant virtuosity.

Local Event: Out of the Shadows

Out of the Shadows

In the shadow of the First World War, composers faced a world irrevocably changed.
From Debussy’s starkly ravishing two-piano...

<h3>A festival within the festival.</h3>
Bach’s exhilarating Brandenburg Concertos—bursting with color, virtuosity, and fearless invention—take center stage across two vibrant programs that celebrate the joy of collaboration. Alongside these Baroque landmarks, music by our Composer-in-Residence Paul Wiancko and our Ensemble-in-Residence Imani Winds brings fresh energy to the conversation, proving that the spirit of innovation Bach embodied is still very much alive.

Local Event: The Complete Brandenburgs: Part I

The Complete Brandenburgs: Part I

A festival within the festival.
Bach’s exhilarating Brandenburg Concertos—bursting with color, virtuosity, and fearless...

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Posting Activity

Tracy Drain: Cosmic Adventures

MAY

14

7:30 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Ali Paris

MAY

15

4:30 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Shenel Johns

MAY

16

5:30 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Go Your Own Way: After Sonata Form

MAY

26

2:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Rebecca Jade

MAY

27

4:30 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Stella Chen, violin & Gilles Vonsattel, piano

MAY

31

3:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Jihye Lee Orchestra

JUN

6

5:30 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Chucho Valdés & Arturo Sandoval Legacy Quintet

JUN

9

5:30 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

The Incomplete History of the World in Ten Pieces

JUL

31

7:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Vienna 1900

AUG

1

7:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

What If?

AUG

2

3:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Reshaping the Past

AUG

5

7:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Eastern Visions

AUG

7

7:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Roots

AUG

8

7:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

Lost and Found

AUG

9

3:00 PM

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave, San Diego, CA

American Legacy