Festival favorite Tessa Lark and newcomer Randall Goosby are part of talent-packed lineup that includes cellist Alisa Weilerstein, violinist Stefan Jackiw, pianist Inon Barnatan and dozens more.
As La Jolla SummerFest turns 40 this week, Music Director Inon Barnatan is weaving the past, present and future into an intricate musical tapestry. The 2026 edition of Summerfest, billed as “Making History,” is its most ambitious yet.
In just the first two of its four weeks, the festival’s all-star lineup will include cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Paul Wiancko, violinist Stefan Jackiw, countertenor Reginald Mobley and, of course, Barnatan on piano.
It also will feature two lauded violinists: Tessa Lark, a veteran SummerFest performer who excels at both classical and bluegrass music, and Randall Goosby, a rising star new to the event.
Goosby will play at this week’s first three concerts while Lark’s SummerFest adventure will begin Aug. 7. At Friday’s opening-night concert at La Jolla’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, ticket-holders are invited to a pre-show reception featuring sparkling wine and appetizers.
Barnatan has titled this year’s first SummerFest concert “The Incomplete History of the World in Ten Pieces.” It will feature compositions by Vivaldi, Mozart, Stravinsky and others that span several centuries.
“The theme, ‘Making History,’ came partly because I wanted to acknowledge the anniversary of the festival and the anniversary of the United States,” Barnatan said recently, from the Seattle Music Festival.
“I wanted to also acknowledge that history is not something that is only in the past. We’re still making it. And I wanted to acknowledge both how the history of the world has shaped music and vice versa, but also how we keep on making history every day and at every SummerFest.
“’Ten Pieces’ seemed like an interesting way to explore, in a celebratory way, how music has shaped history and vice versa. The hardest thing for me was choosing which 10 pieces to represent history.”
He added with a laugh: “But I did say it was an incomplete history!”
Along with Barnatan’s innovative approach to programming, a signature characteristic of SummerFest is the high spirits of the high-quality — and frequently high-profile — artists that perform at the four-week sonic extravaganza. SummerFest also offers the public more than 50 free events (for which online RSVPs are required), including prelude concerts, lectures, open rehearsals and more.
Lark’s first SummerFest was the socially distanced 2020 season. She has returned every year since. It’s not just the excellence of the music, but also the camaraderie, that appeals to her.
“Inon is one in a trillion,” Lark said, also speaking from the Seattle Music Festival, where she and Barnatan were duetting.
“He’s an incredible artist, of course, but a beautiful personality as well. We became close friends very quickly. At a lot of festivals, the energy of the concerts and the audience has a lot to do with the energy of the artistic director. Inon brings together the best musicians in the world, but they’re also some of the best personalities as well. I think Inon highly values the person as well as the musician.”
‘So much fun’
While Goosby will make his La Jolla SummerFest debut, it’s not his first time in San Diego, where he has visited and performed several times. Last December, he was the guest soloist at the San Diego Symphony’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major.
Goosby was born in San Diego, but his family moved away when he was less than a year old. Although he has no early memory of the city, he feels at home here. An avid golfer, Goosby already has a tee time reserved at Torrey Pines Golf Course before SummerFest begins.
Because of his busy schedule, Goosby hasn’t performed at many festivals.
“I’ve always been eager to come out to SummerFest,” he said, speaking from his home in Dallas. “I’m looking forward to collaborations with some fantastic artists who I’ve never had a chance to work with before.”
When Lark was asked to give advice to SummerFest newcomer Goosby, she doubted he would need any.
“I’ve admired Randall’s playing for a long time,” Lark said. “He’s such a well-seasoned performer that if he just does his thing, he’s going to shine like the star he is.
“But I would probably say to stay hydrated and come with your notes well-prepared, because there is partying and it’s fun to be part of the socialization. The beautiful thing is, if you’re a great artist and a great person, like I know Randall is, you’ll fit right in.”
Goosby laughed on hearing Lark’s suggestion.
“I will absolutely heed her advice,” he said. “I’m not the most hydrated person on any given day. As far as the partying goes, I would imagine that hydration will help with that, too. I’m looking forward to that.”
A child prodigy who performed with the Jacksonville Symphony when he was nine, Goosby attended the Perlman Music Program for five summers. Violin Itzhak Perlman (whose wife, Toby, founded the camp) was also Goosby’s teacher at New York’s Juilliard School.
“It was such an inspiring time,” recalled Goosby. “It was my first exposure to chamber music, playing string quartets and sight-reading with friends. Those are still to this day — and that was 15 years ago — some of my most beloved memories.
“That sense of community, collaboration and friendship became synonymous with music to me. The fun that we had and the love we had for each other wouldn’t have been possible without the violin, without music. At that time in my life, I was a kid, and I was like:’Yeah, this is so much fun! What else would I want to do with my life?’”
While Goosby’s parents aren’t professional musicians, they have supported him, his flutist sister and cellist brother in their musical quests. In early June, the family came to Los Angeles for Randall’s performance at the Hollywood Bowl and he visited them in Virginia Beach to celebrate his 30th birthday.
At SummerFest, in addition to playing pieces of Mozart and Vivaldi the first night, he will perform Transcriptions from “Porgy and Bess,” which he recorded in 2021 on his album, “Roots.”
“The album was a celebration of music written by or inspired by Black composers, and it would be a gross oversight to have excluded Gershwin,” Goosby said. “His legacy as a composer wouldn’t exist were it not for the music, traditions and history of Black people, specifically Black Americans.
“This music is such a big part of the classical music canon, it’s worth appreciating that this music is not classical in its origins. It’s folk music, and it’s inspired by, in some distant way, the native folk music of the U.S. which is Negro spirituals. It’s a cool bridge between blues, jazz, spirituals and classical music.”
‘Exquisite experience’
While Goosby and Lark have yet to met, he revealed that they have a “very, very old friend” in common.
“It’s the violin Tessa plays,” Goosby said, referring to the 1600 G.P. Maggini violin he used to play. Lark has had it on loan from Chicago’s Stradivari Society since 2018.
“It’s the one of my most cherished instruments that I’ve ever played,” said Goosby, who now plays a 1708 Stradivarius. “I was excited that it went to such great hands as Tessa’s.”
Lark’s 2023 album, “The Stradgrass Sessions,” featured such well-known non-classical musicians as multi-Grammy-winners Jon Batiste on piano and Edgar Meyer on bass. The album includes three of her own compositions and pieces by Meyer, Oscar-winner John Corigliano and Bela Bartók.
With Meyer and cellist Joshua Roman, Lark is a member of an eclectic trio that will release its debut album next year. The recording features string trios written by the prolific and genre-blurring Meyer.
“Tessa is one of the most versatile musicians I know,” SummerFest head Barnatan said. “She can converse in so many different worlds. They’re not separate to her. Contemporary music, old music, bluegrass, or what have you, she understands how it all fits together.”
A native of central Kentucky, Lark performed in her banjo-playing father’s gospel-bluegrass band as a youth. While she took Suzuki lessons for classical violin, she also studied fiddle books on her own.
On Aug. 7, Lark’s first night at SummerFest, she will play Ravel’s Tzigane with Barnatan. Later in the week, she’ll perform pieces by Dvořák and Weinberg, composers both influenced by folk music.
“That music is designed to quickly resonate with everybody,” Lark said. “For almost all cultures, rhythm is such an integral part of being a human. We are only alive when we have a beat.
“Pulse and groove are things I like to bring into different types of classical music. The other thing I try to bring to it is the idea of music bringing community together, which is very much what folk music is about.”
Lark is especially excited about being a part of cellist Paul Wiancko’s Aug. 16 Takeover @ The JAI concert, a SummerFest tradition. A highly praised composer and a member of the Kronos Quartet, Wiancko — who is the composer-in-residence at this year’s SummerFest — is curating a varied program for the cabaret-like JAI.
When Barnatan asked Lark to perform at the Takeover as an extra concert this year, she quickly rearranged her schedule to do so. In her touring and as the artistic director of the annual Moab Music Festival in Utah, she has programmed Wiancko’s compositions.
“We’re Gemini babies!” Lark said of Wiancko with a chuckle, explaining they share a June birthday. “I have performed with Paul several times. His playing on the cello is extraordinary, but he has so much music to give that his artistry transcends the cello. He’s one of my favorite living composers.”
As a frequent classical-music festival performer, Lark sees what sets SummerFest apart. She pointed to its partnership with Medici TV, the premier classical music channel, and video recordings by Tristan Cook.
Such SummerFest events as the Synergy Initiative Series and Takeover @ The JAI bring in artists with different perspectives. Lark also cites the proximity of the SummerFest staff at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center as a plus.
“I think that creates a strong sense of community — that the administrative folks and those who are making it happen behind the scenes are also in the building as the artists are rehearsing,” she said. “SummerFest has a lot of social gatherings, too, which — for me — nourishes the artists holistically.
“I’m so impressed by the excitement and passion from the patrons and supporters of Summerfest. It’s at least as strong, if not more vibrant each year. It becomes a more exquisite experience every single summer.”
La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest 2026
When: Friday, July 31 to Saturday, Aug. 29
Where: All but two concerts will take place at The Baker-Baum Concert Hall and The JAI at Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla
Tickets: SummerFest subscriptions and single tickets are available. A complete subscription for all 17 concerts in The Baker-Baum Concert Hall ranges from $1,387 to $1,675, depending on seat location. Concerts in The JAI are added onto packages. Summerfest Flex packages are also available.
Phone: 858-459-3728
Online: theconrad.org