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ARTICLE: SummerFest in La Jolla to celebrate 40 years of chamber music

Ashley Mackin Solomon
La Jolla Light

May 24, 2026

This year’s festival July 31 through Aug. 29 will feature 21 concerts with more than 100 artists, along with more than 50 learning and engagement events

For four decades, the La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest has brought a month of chamber music to local residents. But the path to making the festival what it is today wasn’t straight and narrow.

SummerFest will celebrate its 40th year when it returns Friday, July 31, through Saturday, Aug. 29, at La Jolla’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. The festival will feature 21 concerts showcasing more than 100 artists and will offer more than 50 learning and engagement events. The theme is “Making History.”

Music Society Artistic Director Leah Rosenthal said that since the festival’s founding, it has evolved as new leaders have come in, but always with chamber music at its core.

“Chamber music is typically eight players or less, and people find it so exciting because it is so intimate and every person is an equal player,” Rosenthal said. “And there are so many chamber repertoires. The greats wrote for this genre, and a lot of composers wrote chamber music for their friends to share them in intimate spaces. So we pride ourselves on having that family-style closeness and connection. Chamber music is at its best in smaller halls.”

Early days

The event’s founders were drawn to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico and wanted to bring something like it to La Jolla. Thus, the first iterations of what would become SummerFest were sessions with musicians from Santa Fe.

“Santa Fe was booming and doing new things in chamber music, and that’s how [the local founders] caught the bug of wanting their own festival,” Rosenthal said.

In the mid-1980s, the La Jolla event began featuring artists from across the United States. At the time, the La Jolla Music Society was known as the La Jolla Chamber Music Society.

For La Jolla resident and longtime Music Society board member Dolly Woo, the timing couldn’t have been better.

She and her husband, Victor, moved to La Jolla from Philadelphia in 1978 and “love classical music and art overall.” With a chamber music festival right in their neighborhood, “we discovered we didn’t need to travel far for good music,” Woo said.

Starting in the 1980s, the couple took turns serving on the board of directors and recently became honorary lifetime board members.

During her time on the board in the late ’80s and early ’90s, “I would pass out brochures to local hotels and schools to let other people know what a gem we have in San Diego,” Woo said.

Changing leadership

When SummerFest officially launched in 1986, it was under the leadership of music director and conductor Heiichiro Ohyama, who previously had worked with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. As the years progressed, other directors stepped in, serving for several years at a time.

“We have had directors that worked with us that now perform and run music events all over the country, and each put their stamp on the festival,” Rosenthal said. “Because each of these artists are different instrumentalists [such as violinists or pianists], they are all drawn to different styles of music and people they connect with. So that always changed the atmosphere and the vibe.”

Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin took over as music director in 2001 and served for nearly 18 years. The “champion of contemporary music” commissioned works from composers such as John Williams, Tan Dun and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

In 2019, pianist Inon Barnatan took over as music director and is set to hold the position until at least 2030.

Having worked under both Lin and Barnatan, Rosenthal said “they are so different and both have incredible taste but very different likes and perspectives and the type of music they gravitate toward. Inon has brought a lot of composers and works that I have never heard of, so I’m constantly learning under his leadership.”

Though the festival still is primarily chamber music, other genres have been brought in.

“Inon was really excited about supporting programs that combined genres,” Rosenthal said. “So we would have a program that combined string quartet with performances or dance or narration or were a little more theatrical. We didn’t do that on a regular basis before now.

“People have accepted that there is the meat and potatoes of what we love [in chamber music], and then add things that push your ear in a new direction because it is going to be done well.”

The Conrad

In SummerFest’s early days, concerts were held at venues across La Jolla, especially the Sherwood Auditorium in the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. But as part of a renovation project, the museum temporarily closed in 2017 and the Sherwood was torn down, leaving SummerFest to look for a new home.

The 2017 and ’18 editions of SummerFest were held on the UC San Diego campus.

But that changed when the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center opened in 2019 as the La Jolla Music Society’s permanent venue. It offers three event spaces — the 481-seat Baker-Baum Concert Hall, the 250-capacity JAI and the 200-capacity Wu Tsai QRT.yrd.

“Since we built The Conrad, we have been able to offer smaller spaces, rehearsals and free activities that take place here, which has elevated that festival atmosphere,” Rosenthal said. “The energy of having 100-plus musicians in and out of the building, giving lectures and hosting open rehearsals, the whole experience is so exciting for our audiences to be a part of it in so many layers. It’s a time that we all look forward to, and it’s just a unique experience here in San Diego. The people that come are often surprised by how exciting it is.”

As a nod to its former home, the stairway leading to the stage at The Conrad resembles the stage stairway at the Sherwood.

Reflections on 40 years

Woo said she has seen SummerFest’s offerings improve over the years.

“I just find that the La Jolla Music Society brings the best,” she said. “Over the years, it has evolved … and when you look at what was being offered then compared to now, we are no longer just classical or chamber music — we have added jazz and world music and the National Geographic speaker series. We enjoy classical music, but because of the different programming, I have attended jazz music and world music concerts. I get exposed to all kinds of new music.”

Woo and her husband also have hosted performers in their home when they come to La Jolla for SummerFest, some of them multiple times over the years.

“People who love music are great people, and I have made some great friends,” Woo said. “It’s truly wonderful. There are so many beautiful memories associated with SummerFest, especially from seeing these musicians when they were young and are now world-class.”

Woo and her family now plan their summers around the festival.

“This year is special because it is the 40th, and Inon has done a wonderful job inviting musicians,” she said. “There are always surprises, and I’m looking forward to being surprised. It’s a happy occasion.”

Changing stereotypes

Acknowledging that classical music often is associated with older audiences, Rosenthal said the Music Society is trying to “change that stereotype” and invite people of all ages to the performances.

“When we can bring in other types of musicians and artists … that shows we can have some fun with it,” Rosenthal said. “So we are always thinking about how to bring in a younger demographic and preserve what we see as an extraordinary art form. Inon has been strong in trying to change that.”

‘Listen across time’

This year’s SummerFest theme, “Making History,” is in honor of pieces that made history in one way or another in their time, along with the festival’s 40th anniversary.

“We didn’t have themes prior to Inon [taking over as music director], but he makes them broad enough so we aren’t pigeonholed into a specific thing,” Rosenthal said. “But it gives an … arc to the festival … that people can follow.

“The theme explores … music that changed the course of history. Music that reflected the time it was created, like pieces that came from a war-torn society or regime changes, and these works still feel compelling today.”

In a letter to supporters, Barnatan wrote that “this summer’s programs invite us to listen across time — to the moments, movements and imaginations that shaped the music we love and to the ways these works continue to speak to us now. Throughout the season, we’ll explore music that … reflects the world from which it emerged, and music that still feels urgent and revealing today.”

“Some programs revisit pivotal artistic moments; others recover lost worlds, uncover unexpected connections or cast familiar works in a new light,” Barnatan added. “In a year that also marks the 250th anniversary of the United States, the season’s invitation to reflect on history feels especially timely.”