The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

<p>Jihye Lee, a highly regarded Korean-born jazz composer and bandleader based in Brooklyn, released her latest large ensemble album, <em>Infinite Connections</em>, 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.<br></p>


Local Event: Jihye Lee Orchestra

San Diego County

La Jolla

California

Jihye Lee Orchestra

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

<p>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!<br></p>


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>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>

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>
<p>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.</p>

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...

<p>Pergolesi’s <em>Stabat Mater</em>—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.</p>
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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>
<p>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.</p>

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...

<p>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 <em>Scheherazade</em>.</p>
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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...

<p>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.</p>
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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>
<p>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.</p>

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>
<p>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.</p>

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...

<p>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.</p>

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>
<p>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.</p>

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>
<p>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.</p>

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...

Local Event: The Complete Brandenburgs: Part II

The Complete Brandenburgs: Part II

<p>Cellist-composer Paul Wiancko—a member of the legendary Kronos Quartet—curates a concert that puts creativity front and center. Part salon, part sonic lab, this intimate set with festival artists brings you up close to the energy of a musician actively making history now.</p>
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Local Event: TAKEOVER @ The JAI with Paul Wiancko

TAKEOVER @ The JAI with Paul Wiancko

Cellist-composer Paul Wiancko—a member of the legendary Kronos Quartet—curates a concert that puts creativity front and center....

<h3>Music survives by transformation—and this program celebrates reinvention as a creative force.</h3>
<p>Thomas Adès reimagines Purcell before leading the U.S. première of a newly revised version of his miniature <em>Concerto Conciso</em>, and Brahms’ beloved Piano Quintet—famously transformed through multiple versions—closes the program in its final, towering incarnation.</p>

Local Event: Remade/Reborn

Remade/Reborn

Music survives by transformation—and this program celebrates reinvention as a creative force.
Thomas Adès reimagines Purcell...

<h3>Past, present, and future share the stage in one jubilant night.</h3>
<p>Music Director Inon Barnatan joins festival favorite Jeremy Denk in a virtuosic opener, former Music Director Cho-Liang Lin returns for legendary composer John Williams’s <em>Quartet La Jolla</em>—written for SummerFest—and a world premiere commission looks ahead, before the piece that closed the very first SummerFest concert brings the celebration home.</p>

Local Event: SummerFest at 40!

SummerFest at 40!

Past, present, and future share the stage in one jubilant night.
Music Director Inon Barnatan joins festival favorite Jeremy...

<h3>From the lost years of war to the exuberance of the Roaring Twenties, England’s music finds a new voice.</h3>
<p>Vaughan Williams’ windswept poetry and Elgar’s searing Piano Quintet give way to Walton’s dazzling <em>Façade</em>—a jazzy, theatrical burst of modern energy— as an old country steps boldly into a new age.</p>

Local Event: Old Country, New Age

Old Country, New Age

From the lost years of war to the exuberance of the Roaring Twenties, England’s music finds a new voice.
Vaughan Williams’...

<h3>Step inside the salons where Schubert’s music first came to life.</h3>
<p>This evening recreates the spirit of the original Schubertiades—intimate gatherings where friends shared new songs and chamber works at close range. Songs, chamber music, and the radiant Fantasy for four hands draw us into the world of 1820s Vienna, where this music was heard for the very first time.</p>

Local Event: Schubertiade

Schubertiade

Step inside the salons where Schubert’s music first came to life.
This evening recreates the spirit of the original...

Balboa Theatre

<h3>World-renowned pianist Brad Mehldau expands the language between genres with an homage to the late indie folk artist Elliott Smith, whose music inspired a generation of songwriters.</h3>
<p>Joined by Chris Thile (vocals), Blake Mills (vocals), Matt Chamberlain (drums), and John Davis (bass), this lauded band is backed by the 17-piece USC Thornton Chamber Virtuosi on Mehldau’s rich cinematic arrangements.</p>

Local Event: Brad Mehldau: Ride into the Sun

Brad Mehldau: Ride into the Sun

World-renowned pianist Brad Mehldau expands the language between genres with an homage to the late indie folk artist Elliott...

Nearby Communities

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Posting Activity

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

AUG

12

7:00 PM

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

JAZZ @ The JAI with Sullivan Fortner Trio

AUG

13

5:30 PM

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

Out of the Shadows

AUG

14

7:00 PM

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

The Complete Brandenburgs: Part I

AUG

15

8:00 PM

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

The Complete Brandenburgs: Part II

AUG

16

3:00 PM

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

TAKEOVER @ The JAI with Paul Wiancko

AUG

16

7:00 PM

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

Remade/Reborn