San Diego Symphony Scrambles to Fill Vacant Music Posts for Season Opener : Staunchly Conservative Approach Assumes Precedence to Try to Regain Confidence of Audience in Orchestras

In planning the subscription season programs after the trauma of last year’s canceled season, the San Diego Symphony has chosen a staunchly conservative approach.

“At this point, we need to gain back the confidence of our audience for the standard orchestral repertory,” artistic administrator Edmundo Diaz del Campo said. “Then, through a systematic education of the audience, we can expand into broader areas of programming.”

Not surprisingly, Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart are the most heavily programmed composers in the orchestra’s coming season. In contrast to former music director David Atherton’s emphasis on playing British music and staging world premieres of compositions, the coming season offers little contemporary music and not a single composition by a British composer.

Each subscription concert will be played but twice--in previous seasons three or four performances were standard--a decision Diaz del Campo described as realistic in terms of this season’s anticipated audience. The orchestra has avoided scheduling concerts on major holiday weekends, as well as during performances by the San Diego Opera and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra.

In lieu of the former Sunday matinee performances, the symphony is offering two series of daytime Thursday concerts, although the music played will be lighter than the subscription concert fare.

Three Coffee Concerts will be played at 10:30 a.m. in Symphony Hall. Artistic adviser Fabio Mechetti will conduct the first on Dec. 3.

Three free lunch-hour concerts will be played outdoors in various locations. The first lunch-hour concert will be played Nov. 12 in the downtown Bank of America building’s plaza.