San Diego Symphony conductor Jahja Ling
The San Diego Symphony and maestro Jahja Ling
Jahja Ling is packing his bags. On October 29, as part of his 10th season with the San Diego Symphony, the music director will head to New York for the Symphony’s debut performance at Carnegie Hall. The concert will feature soloist Lang Lang, a piano phenom whom Ling praises for having “the ability to convey the deepest meaning of music.”
Ling, whose first instrument was piano, has played Carnegie Hall before—alongside his wife, Jessie Chang, and the Juilliard Orchestra—and has conducted there several times. Actually, he has conducted every major U.S. city orchestra, but appreciates the “keen ear” of San Diego audiences. He also points out that while most metropolises fund arts via large corporations and arts orgs, this city does not. “A lot of the support comes from individuals like Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Audrey Geisel, Conrad Prebys, and Sam Ersan… their support allows San Diego organizations to flourish like those in larger cities.”
Following Carnegie Hall, Ling will take the orchestra on a friendship tour to China, November 1–10. They’ll perform in Yantai, San Diego’s sister city; in Shanghai; and at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, aka “the Egg.”
“The tour is a meaningful gesture,” says Ling. “With music, there is no language barrier—music is a universal language.”
