RONI GALGANO / Union-Tribune
Conductor Jahja Ling, the San Diego Symphony's new music director, generated considerable hoopla as the orchestra's top maestro.
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This was Jahja Ling's big year, the year he became the San Diego Symphony's music director and plunged into improving the once-bankrupt orchestra.
The fanfare was hard to miss. Banners bearing the conductor's likeness were displayed around town. The promotional campaign featured descriptive words prompted by Ling's name: "Pure adrenaling," "dazzling," and "spine tingling" were all part of the new Lingo. The gift shop in downtown's Copley Symphony Hall is even selling Ling T-shirts ($18 in your choice of pink or blue).
Yet the proof of Ling's stature lies in the music, not the marketing. After a warm-up season as music director-designate, Ling was ready for his role as top maestro. Starting with October's sold-out opening gala, he has led admirable performances of works by composers ranging from Verdi and Mendelssohn to John Adams and Peter Maxwell Davies, with guest artists including flutist James Galway and pianist Emanuel Ax.
"I want there to be a special feeling – a love for the orchestra that brings a sense of pride," Ling has said of the local community.
That goal may not be easy to achieve. A symphony concert scheduled earlier this month at El Cajon's East County Performing Arts Center was canceled due to low ticket sales.
Even so, Ling's tenure is off to a promising start. As an internationally admired conductor, who is also director of the Cleveland Orchestra's prestigious Blossom Festival in Ohio, he combines experience, artistry and determination. And while 75-year-old Symphony Hall boasts new offices and an elevator, the revitalized orchestra has eight new principal players. Among them is concertmaster Jeff Thayer, who is playing a Stradivarius on loan from benefactors Joan and Irwin Jacobs.
All this bodes well for the symphony and its new boss, a conductor who knows how to make classical music compelling.
