About the San Diego Symphony

Founded in 1910, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra is the oldest orchestra in California and one of the largest and most significant cultural organizations in San Diego. The Orchestra performs for over 250,000 people each season, offering a wide variety of programming at its two much-loved venues, the Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego and Embarcadero Marina Park South, home beginning Summer 2021 of the San Diego Symphony’s one-of-a-kind waterfront concert venue, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park™. Rafael Payare became the San Diego Symphony’s thirteenth music director in July of 2019. Payare leads the orchestra’s 82 full-time musicians, graduates of the finest and most celebrated music schools in the United States and abroad. The SDSO also serves as the orchestra for the San Diego Opera each season, as well as performing at several regional performing arts centers. For over 30 years, the San Diego Symphony has provided comprehensive music education and community engagement programs reaching more than 65,000 students annually and bringing innovative programming to San Diego’s diverse neighborhoods and schools.