SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY GOT A NEW HOME 35 YEARS AGO

In 1985 the San Diego Symphony played its first regular season concert at its new home in the converted Fox Theater, 56 years after the building was dedicated on Nov. 8, 1929. The hall is now called Copley Symphony Hall at the Jacobs Music Center.

From The Tribune, Friday, Nov. 8, 1985:

ACOUSTICS MUCH BETTER AT NEW HALL

By Valerie Scher, Tribune Music/dance Critic

Though the San Diego Symphony opened Symphony Hall on Saturday, it didn’t begin the 1985-86 subscription season until last night. What a difference a few days make.

Instead of serving as a backup band to celebrity entertainers, as it did during the inaugural concert, the orchestra was the major attraction. And in place of show-biz glitter, television cameras and champagne with blueberries, there was simply two hours of serious music making.

How serious? Well, in addition to the world premiere of “Ceremonial for Orchestra,” commissioned from Bernard Rands, the symphony’s Pulitzer Prize-winning composer-in-residence, the eclectic program featured works by Mozart, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.

It was an important occasion, the start of the symphony’s first subscription season in its new downtown home. You’d have thought the performance would have sold out. But no. Reportedly, fewer than 1,700 tickets to the 2,265-seat hall were purchased.

The less-than-overwhelming response certainly can’t be blamed on a publicity shortage. By now, nearly every San Diegan must know about the $4.75 million transformation of the old Fox Theater into the gleaming, ornately grand Symphony Hall.

The acoustics, moreover, have improved since Saturday, thanks to creative tinkering. Initially, the sound quality was lush and vibrant, but so resonant that tonalities sometimes blurred like watercolors on a soggy canvas.

Yesterday, the sonics were more focused and differentiated. That was particularly welcome in the program’s major offering, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor.

Under the energetic guidance of music director David Atherton, the score’s victory-through-struggle message was clearly heard. It may not be as convincing as Beethoven’s Fifth, but it had a tunefulness and grandeur that were undeniably appealing.

“The hall’s sound quality is basically fantastic, and we’re working to make it even better,” Atherton said in an interview yesterday. “Fine-tuning the acoustics is a laborious process, so we beg the public to be patient. We want to take our time and do it right, which could mean months of experimentation. In the end, it will be worth it.”

Though the San Diego Symphony opened Symphony Hall on Saturday, it didn’t begin the 1985-86 subscription season until last night. What a difference a few days make.

Instead of serving as a backup band to celebrity entertainers, as it did during the inaugural concert, the orchestra was the major attraction. And in place of show-biz glitter, television cameras and champagne with blueberries, there was simply two hours of serious music making.