When concert halls around the country shuttered their doors and gulped with anxiety about the pandemic future — this was March 2020, not that anyone has forgotten — Martha Gilmer saw an opportunity. Since taking over as chief executive of the San Diego Symphony in 2014, Gilmer had as one of her three big goals a major renovation of the orchestra’s Jacobs Music Center in downtown San Diego. With the hall sitting empty and the prospects for reopening soon dimming by the week, Gilmer said, “We kind of put our foot on the gas.
” Audiences will experience the stunning results Sept. 28 when conductor Rafael Payare and his orchestra launch their 2024-25 season in a program designed to showcase their new “instrument.” Gilmer and her team recently gave an extensive tour of the reborn hall, and the grinding cacophony of final construction was still in the air.
New chairs were being unboxed onstage as we entered, to Gilmer’s delight: “I’ve been waiting 10 years for new orchestra chairs,” she exclaimed. The changes inside Jacobs are vivid, starting with the aesthetic: Cool blue chairs have replaced the imposing sea of red, with a much more natural curve and slope for sight lines to the stage and vastly improved lighting illuminating the ornate murals and facades. In addition to safety-related improvements such as air filtration and ADA seating, new amenities for musicians and visiting artists backstage include green rooms, guest artist suites, practice rooms, instrum.