Art of Elan, Bach Collegium, Camarada and Mainly Mozart will be given concert scheduling advantages, marketing support and a fixed discounted rental rate.
La Jolla Music Society is today announcing that four acclaimed San Diego classical and chamber-music organizations — Art of Elan, Bach Collegium, Camarada and Mainly Mozart — will become the first resident arts groups in the society’s 56-year history.
The four nonprofits chosen as the inaugural Resident Companies @ The Conrad have all independently presented multiple concerts at the society’s $82 million Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2019. Their three-year residencies — which begin with the society’s 2025-26 season — will give them scheduling advantages to book their performances, marketing support, increased visibility and a fixed discounted rental rate.
Resident Companies @ The Conrad is the brainchild of Leah Rosenthal, the society’s artistic director, and Juliet Zimmer, the society’s director of artistic rentals and partnerships.
“This partnership is not about La Jolla Music Society and it’s not about the center,” Rosenthal stressed.
“We’re providing these four organizations with a platform and support they need to continue their remarkable work. That’s what’s most exciting, this spirit of collaboration and being stronger together to amplify exceptional music-making in San Diego. Working together as a network, we can promote and celebrate each other, deepen our growth together and achieve new milestones.”
Todd Schultz, the society’s president and CEO, shares those sentiments.
“Collaborations bring people together in interesting ways,” he said. “We are a performing arts center and we see this as a synergistic partnership that all the participating organizations will benefit from.”
By coincidence, Art of Elan is presenting performances in the Baker-Baum Concert Hall, the largest of the center’s performance venues, today and Thursday. Entitled “Unified Harmonies,” the two performances are collaborations with The Rosin Box Project, a 7-year-old San Diego contemporary ballet company.
By design, Art of Elan and La Jolla Music Society will collaborate on a family concert at the center next spring.
“It’s really encouraging for us to see this innovative and inclusive approach,” said Art of Elan co-founder Kate Hatmaker, who is also a violinist in the San Diego Symphony. “We have always enjoyed how inviting, intimate and acoustically superb the various performance spaces are at The Conrad. This resident arts groups initiative will give us a reason to program there more frequently.”
Mainly Mozart is presenting four of its six 2025 All-Star Orchestra Festival concerts at The Conrad, including the festival’s June 19 opening performance. Two of last year’s All-Star Orchestra concerts were also held at The Conrad.
“The La Jolla Music Society’s leadership has been incredibly thoughtful in the way they have structured these partnerships, and generous to the arts community in launching such a significant collaboration with other music producers,” said Mainly Mozart co-founder Nancy Laturno.
“They were very thoughtful about which resident companies were named, aligning with what is most advantageous and appropriate in that spectacular venue. This partnership has already allowed us to secure dates for 2026. In the past, we had to wait until we knew which venues at The Conrad were available. Having the dates secured now has already allowed us to program and begin hiring soloists for our 2026 festival.”
Beth Ross Buckley, the artistic director of Camarada, cited additional benefits for the four Resident Companies @ The Conrad organizations.
“They are giving us more visibility, making it more cost-effective for us to perform there and will help us with our marketing,” Ross Buckley said.
“The resident companies will have their own place on La Jolla Music Society’s website. And we’re bringing in so many new people to our concerts because of the location of The Conrad, which has such great acoustics, wonderful pianos and is such a beautiful venue. It’s definitely a win-win and we’re looking forward to collaborating with the other resident artists.”
The Resident Companies @ The Conrad concept dates back at least five years.
“One of the key goals in our artistic plan was to establish The Conrad as a vital community hub,” Rosenthal said. “And while we are grateful to have many different organizations that present different genres rent The Conrad, it’s also important to also have resident arts organizations who will have more of a presence that is aligned with our mission and core values, and to really reflect why The Conrad was built.
“These four resident arts groups are our inaugural cohorts. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t look at expanding and reaching out to other arts groups. The center was made to celebrate excellence and all these groups are doing that. I feel honored we have our team can support them and the future of music making in San Diego.”