Images from San Diego Symphony 2024-2026 "Beyond Borders" Initiative
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Beyond Borders is the San Diego Symphony’s initiative connecting its evolving artistic activities across North America. It celebrates the cultural, ecological, and musical migrations that connect communities throughout Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Like the monarch butterfly, which moves across borders and landscapes with strength and resilience, this initiative creates a pathway for professional musicians, youth musicians, cultural institutions and audiences to share music, learning, and artistic identity.
The program is rooted in the leadership of Rafael Payare, who became Music Director of the San Diego Symphony in 2019. Payare grew up in the El Sistema program in Venezuela, began formal conducting studies with José Antonio Abreu, and now serves as Music Director of both the San Diego Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) and Canada’s Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), two of North America’s leading orchestras. His international artistic life, his personal connection to educational and social music systems, and his belief that music builds bridges across communities shape the core of Monarch: Sin Fronteras.
As the orchestra’s global presence has grown, so has its role on the world stage. The creation, launch and programming of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the renovation and reopening of Jacobs Music Center, the success of the Symphony’s 2023 Carnegie Hall performance, its two recordings of Shostakovich’s Symphonies no. 11 and 7, and its five-city 2027 European tour all reflect a new era of artistic excellence. One Continent, One Language extends this international vision to the communities closest to San Diego, creating a cultural ecosystem that spans the border region and reaches across the North America.
San Diego Symphony performs in Tijuana. The orchestra gives its first known full-orchestra performance in Tijuana, under Music Director Earl Murray.
San Diego Symphony performs at CECUT. The orchestra performs at the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT), with a program including Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.
Ongoing performances and chamber collaborations in Mexico. The San Diego Symphony performs in Tijuana under Music Director Yoav Talmi. Small chamber ensembles of Symphony musicians perform throughout Baja California, Mexico.
San Diego Symphony performs at Chichén Itzá. The orchestra performs a televised concert at the ancient Maya site in Yucatán.
Inuksuit crosses the U.S.-Mexico border. The San Diego Symphony collaborates with Orquesta de Baja California as co-producer of John Luther Adams: Inuksuit – A Border-Crossing Presentation, performed at International Friendship Park on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Symphony’s It’s About Time: A Festival of Rhythm, Sound and Place, curated by Steven Schick.
Rafael Payare visits CECUT. San Diego Symphony Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare visits CECUT for the first time, meeting with Consul General Carlos González Gutiérrez, Cultural Attaché Gaspar Orozco Ríos and CECUT Director Vianka Robles Santana.
San Diego Symphony returns to CECUT. The orchestra performs in Tijuana for CECUT’s Day of the Dead Festival, under the auspices of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music. Rafael Payare conducts.
Baja California ensembles perform at Jacobs Music Center. The Day of Music at the renovated Jacobs Music Center's Opening Weekend features performances by Orquesta de Baja California, Coro Redes del Sistema Estatal de Música de Baja California and Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana.
San Diego Symphony visits AUKA Music School. Music and Artistic Director, Rafael Payare, President and CEO Martha Gilmer, and staff visit AUKA Music School in Mexicali, hosted by the Instituto de Cultura de Baja California and Orquesta de Baja California. The visit includes a tour and demonstration by students in the Baja California Sistema program.
Planning advances for CECUT residency. San Diego Symphony hosts CECUT and Orquesta de Baja California leaders for discussions leading to the Symphony’s two-performance CECUT residency in 2026.
San Diego Symphony performs at CECUT. Rafael Payare conducts a free concert in Tijuana featuring Chabrier’s España, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Márquez’s Conga del Fuego Nuevo.
First 2026 Encuentro with Baja California students. San Diego Symphony woodwind, brass and percussion musicians travel to AUKA Music School in Mexicali, Mexico for an Encuentro, leading sectionals for flute, trumpet, tuba and percussion students in the Baja California Sistema program.
Second 2026 Encuentro with Baja California students. San Diego Symphony string musicians travel to Centro de las Artes de Baja California in Tecate, Mexico to lead sectionals with violin, viola, cello and bass students in the Baja California Sistema program.
“Conversation with Rafael Payare” at CECUT. Students participate in a moderated conversation with Rafael Payare.
San Diego Symphony returns to CECUT. Rafael Payare conducts the orchestra in a free concert marking the 44th anniversary of the opening of CECUT. The program features Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal performs at Jacobs Music Center. The OSM, led by Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, performs at Jacobs Music Center as part of the San Diego Symphony season.
“Sound of Two Cities” brings the two orchestras together. The San Diego Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal perform a free concert at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, conducted by Rafael Payare. The program includes works performed by each orchestra individually, followed by Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite and Respighi’s Pines of Rome, performed by the combined ensembles.
U.S. premiere of the San Diego Symphony–OSM joint commission. The 2026–27 Masterworks season concludes at Jacobs Music Center with the U.S. premiere of Jimmy López’s Symphony No. 6, Monarch, jointly commissioned by the San Diego Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Rafael Payare leads the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Symphony Orchestra Chorus, with soloists Tasha Hokuao Koontz, soprano; Nikola Printz, mezzo-soprano; Viktor Antipenko, tenor; and Hansung Yoo, baritone. The program also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Wednesday, Oct 7, 7pm at CECUT in Tijuana, Mexico
Rafael Payare, conductor
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
PIOTR TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No. 2
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra, led by Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, will perform a free community concert at Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) on October 7, 2026.
Featuring the Fifth Symphony by Piotr Tchaikovsky, this performance continues the San Diego Symphony's role as a cultural connector across the Cali-Baja region.
Thursday, Oct 29, 7:30pm at Jacobs Music Center
Rafael Payare, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
MOUSSA: Elysium
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (full ballet)
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, led by Music Director Rafael Payare, presents a program of radiant color and boundless imagination. The evening opens with Canadian‑German composer Samy Moussa’s Elysium, an orchestral meditation on the afterlife as a luminous plane of peace and moral fulfillment.
Next comes Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, a timeless masterpiece of Romantic expression. Brimming with lyricism, exuberance, and dazzling virtuosity, the concerto moves from soaring melodies and poetic intimacy to fiery brilliance.
The concert concludes with Stravinsky’s The Firebird, performed in its complete ballet version. Written for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, the score dazzles with its glittering orchestration, magical storytelling, and ecstatic finale.
Friday, Oct 30, 7:30pm at The Rady Shell
Rafael Payare, conductor
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
San Diego Symphony Orchestra
BARTÓK: Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19 (SDSO only)
RAVEL: Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé (OSM only)
PROKOFIEV: Scythian Suite, Op. 20 (SDSO + OSM)
RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome (SDSO + OSM)
Two world-class orchestras come together for an unforgettable musical event at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra welcomes the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) for a spectacular performance led by Rafael Payare, Music and Artistic Director of both orchestras. For one extraordinary evening, musicians from San Diego and Montréal will join forces on a single stage, creating an orchestra of breathtaking scale, power and possibility.
It’s a musical meeting unlike anything San Diego has experienced – two cities, two celebrated orchestras and the shared artistic vision of one dynamic conductor, united through music.
Fri/Sat, June 4+5, 7:30pm | Sun, June 6, 2pm - JMC
Rafael Payare, conductor
Tasha Hokuao Koontz, soprano
Nikola Printz, mezzo-soprano
Viktor Antipenko, tenor
Hansung Yoo, baritone
JIMMY LÓPEZ: Symphony No. 6, Monarch
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral”
Two symphonies – one newly written, one timeless – come together in a celebration of nature, humanity, and hope.
Peruvian born composer and San Diego Symphony Composer in Residence Jimmy López draws inspiration from the natural world that unites the Americas along the Pacific coast. In his Symphony No. 6, Monarch, he turns to one of nature’s most wondrous phenomena: the migration of monarch butterflies. López transforms their journey into sound—a vivid meditation on transformation, endurance, and the fragile harmony between life and environment.
The program culminates with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, a work that forever changed the symphonic form with its visionary finale setting of Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy.
Together, these two symphonies embody an unbroken continuum: López’s reflection on nature’s resilience and Beethoven’s immortal affirmation of the human spirit.
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