Specialized Series to Be Added to SummerPops

What SummerPops audiences want, SummerPops audiences get.

In an attempt to target the particular musical tastes of its pops patrons, the San Diego Symphony announced Monday that the 1990 SummerPops will be divided into five series. Besides the main series of six weeks of standard pops offerings, this summer’s 12-week season (June 20 through Sept. 10) will have four specialized series: great classical composers, Russian Romantics, selections from Broadway musicals and a Big Band series.

According to executive director Wesley Brustad--who planned SummerPops ‘90, to be held at Hospitality Point on Mission Bay--the significant revisions were made in response to the varied programming interests of last year’s pops patrons, who answered an extensive end-of-the-season questionnaire.

The 1990 season-opening concert, an all-Ravel program, will feature Canadian conductor Boris Brott, who has led the local symphony in two guest stints over the past year. Brott’s program, June 20-23, will be the first week of generic pops offerings, a series that will continue every other week through Sept. 2.

The other four series will share a split-week schedule in the intervening weeks. Subscriptions will be offered in both six- and three-week packages. Symphony officials noted that in recent years, shorter series have become easier to market.

Though single-ticket prices were not announced, the range of subscription prices starts at $20 for three Wednesday night gallery seats to $725 for six weekend nights at a Champagne cabaret table. The subscription prices for Friday and Saturday night pops series are slightly higher in every seating category than those for Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Another innovation includes dancing, and a dance floor will be set up for patrons at the Sunday evening Big Band performances.

Among the guest conductors this summer are Lalo Schifrin, popular composer and music director of the Glendale Symphony; Norman Leyden, music director of the Seattle Symphony Pops, and Kate Tamarkin, newly appointed associate conductor of the Dallas Symphony. Harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler will be the featured soloist July 18-21, although the season promises fewer guest soloists than last.

If the symphony has its way, this will be its final year at the Mission Bay outdoor site, which is plagued by airplane noise. Construction of a new outdoor pops venue on San Diego Bay next to Seaport Village, called Embarcadero Marina Park South, is still being negotiated with the San Diego Unified Port District. Last week, the symphony received approval to proceed with actual plans for the site, although the environmental impact report has yet to be made and filed.

The advantages of the San Diego Bay site include a minimum seating of 4,000, contrasted with 3,200 at Hospitality Point (home to SummerPops since 1983), and its proximity to the San Diego Convention Center and major downtown tourist hotels.