Summertime in La Jolla Means SummerFest La Jolla

It’s annual. It’s musical. It’s world-class. And it’s in La Jolla.

The La Jolla Music Society is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its nationally acclaimed chamber music festival, SummerFest, which continues through Aug. 26.

“We make a real and exciting contribution to the artistic life of La Jolla—and all of San Diego,” says Christopher Beach, president and artistic director of the 42-year-old Music Society “Throughout the year, we serve as the Carnegie Hall of San Diego, but at eight different theaters.”

SummerFest is something special, featuring a cornucopia of intimate musical experiences. Since its inception in 1986, the festival has welcomed over 650 renowned artists and ensembles, and nearly a quarter of a million audience members, at live venues and over the airwaves nationwide.

This year, there are 16 concerts, including five world or West Coast premieres, and a total of nearly 80 performers. There’s a prelude before every program, which could be a performance, lecture or interview with festival participants.

Three evenings—Aug. 9, 16 and 23—are devoted to Mozart. “Mozart times three: What could be better than that?” Beach enthuses.

And as for the composers and performers, there are some “real superstars,” according to Beach.

The “Evening with …” presentations provide a personal experience with high-profile musicians, interviewed before they play: Russian pianist Olga Kern, winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, who will appear Aug. 10 with her piano-playing son, Vladislav, on his 13th birthday; pianist Marc-André Hamelin and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, about whom Beach says, “No young artist is more in demand or more sought-after,” performing on Aug. 17; and knockout violinist Midori on Aug. 24, who, in addition to her worldwide musical acclaim, was named a Messenger of Peace by the United Nations in 2007.

The evening of Commissions and Premieres on Aug. 19 spotlights new works by Sean Shepard (“Oboe Quartet”), Joan Tower (“White Granite”) and renowned film composer John Williams, who dedicates his “Quartet La Jolla” to Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin, musical director of SummerFest for 11 years. Don’t miss the Meet the Composers pre-performance reception.

Another festival highlight is the Tokyo String Quartet on Aug. 21, the Music Society’s Quartet in Residence for the next five years.

“They’re one of the great quartets in the world,” says Beach proudly. The New York Times agrees; it called one Tokyo String Quartet performance “a passionate, richly toned discussion among intelligent, charismatic equals.”

The quartet will also teach coaching workshops (open to the public, for free), and participate in open rehearsals (also gratis to the public), And they’ll perform in two other festival programs.

Though he doesn’t like to single out any one group or performance (“it’s like choosing a favorite child”), Music Society Artistic Director Beach admits to a personal preference.

“I cannot wait till Friday, Aug. 12,” he says. “It’s going to be a great, great program.”

The evening of Serenades and Romance features works by Strauss, Dvorak and others; the prelude is a lecture by Eric Bromberger, entitled Sunshine and Darkness: Serenades from Central Europe.

And that’s not all. There’s “The Assad Brothers: Legends of the Guitar,” Brazilian virtuosi Sergio and Odair, playing together since early childhood on Aug. 14; and “Baroque Masters,” masterfully interpreted by the Éclat Quartet and the Old City String Quartet on Aug. 20. Conductor and harpsichordist Nicholas McGegan will be interviewed before the performance. 

The coaching workshops (aka master classes), held at the , are “always jam-packed,” says Beach. Also popular are the open rehearsals at or . The free “Encounters” are intriguing as well: two discussions on Mozart and one “Composers Forum” (Aug. 11, 18, 25 in the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library).

It all culminates in the SummerFest Finale on Aug. 26, which features, among other stellar soloists, SummerFest Musical Director and noted violinist Jimmy Lin, who was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America in 2000. The works that evening will be by Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn and Enescu.

Beach, who’s helmed the Music Society for five years, has been around the musical and performance block, with a decade at the Metropolitan Opera and many other theater, ballet and music venues under his belt before he happily relocated to La Jolla. For him, this society and this SummerFest are very special.

“I’ve presented series of blues, American rock, world music, jazz of all kinds, orchestras, dance companies and ballet. And I can honestly say that there is no more engaging, enriching, luscious music than chamber music.”

See—and hear—for yourself.

SummerFest 2011 runs through Aug. 26 at Sherwood Auditorium in the . Special events are at other locations.

Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. with preludes at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday performances are at 3 p.m. with 2 p.m. preludes.

Tickets range from free to $40-$75. ljms.org/SummerFest2011.

The concert lineup for the rest of the month:

• Aug. 9, Mozart I: Soul of a Genius
• Aug. 10, An Evening with Olga Kern
• Aug. 12, Serenades & Romance
• Aug. 14, Assad Brothers: Legends of the Guitar
• Aug. 16, Mozart II: The Sublime Spirit
• Aug. 17, An Evening with Marc-André Hamelin and Alisa Weilerstein
• Aug. 19, Commissions and Premières
• Aug. 20, Baroque Masters at St. James By-the-Sea Church
• Aug. 21, Tokyo String Quartet
• Aug. 23, Mozart III: Quintet Masterpieces
• Aug. 24, An Evening with Midori
• Aug. 26, SummerFest Finale