The La Jolla Music Society’s popular chamber music festival, SummerFest, begins July 25, guided by the season’s theme “Milestones.”
The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla will play host to the 39th annual fest’s four weeks of concerts, planned by Music Director Inon Barnatan, the acclaimed concert pianist.
SummerFest 2025 brings back favorites such as Alan Gilbert, Tessa Lark, Yura Lee, Stefan Jackiw, Alisa Weilerstein, Anthony McGill, Stefan Dohr and Cécile McLorin Salvant. Grammy winner Jessie Montgomery will serve as Composer-in-Residence.
Special guests include soprano Renée Fleming, who will make her SummerFest debut on Aug. 5. Other debuts include Yulianna Avdeeva, Nicolas Alstaedt, Vilde Frang, Steven Osborne and Stephen Waarts.
Contemporary composers Timo Andres, Matthew Aucoin, and Patrick Castillo will be featured in a July 27 “New York Takeover” of the JAI, the Conrad’s intimate cabaret-style space.
Montgomery will curate an Aug. 7 “Takeover @ the JAI” in addition to performing on several programs.
Chef and food writer J. Kenji López-Alt will take part in a concert that pairs musical selections with specially prepared food courses, on Aug. 14. Dancers Caleb Teicher and Nic Gareiss also will present a new piece on Aug. 17, “exploring improvisation, song and the idea of percussive dance.”
The theme, Barnatan explains, aims to capture “the pivotal moments that shape a composer’s creative life and the evolution of chamber music itself.
“By exploring these transformative milestones – from personal triumphs to monumental shifts in the musical landscape –the festival reveals how each era’s bold leaps and discoveries continue to resonate today.”
SummerFest 2025 brings back the popular Midweek Masterworks series on Wednesday evenings, with intermission-less programming of chamber music followed by a complimentary sparkling wine toast in the courtyard.
Also returning is the Synergy Initiative, a series co-produced by Barnatan and Clara Wu Tsai which invites top creators of music, dance, spoken word and visual arts to collaborate across different art forms.
SummerFest continues through Aug. 23. Single tickets go on sale on April 28, starting at $45. Ticket packages are available now, starting at $1,268.
For more information or to purchase packages or tickets contact the La Jolla Music Society Box Office by phone at 858-459-3728 or by email at TheConrad.org.
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