SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY RETURNS TO ORANGE COUNTY UNDER THE BATON OF RAFAEL PAYARE, WITH GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING PIANIST DANIIL TRIFONOV
(IRVINE, CA, SEPTEMBER 22, 2026)—The San Diego Symphony returns with music director Rafael Payare and Grammy Award-winning pianist, Daniil Trifonov on Friday, November 13, 2026, 8pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. The program includes works by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, with Trifonov joining the orchestra for Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. The program concludes with Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony No. 10, a landmark of the Russian symphonic tradition. A pre-concert lecture will take place at 7pm with Classical California’s Brian Lauritzen. This performance is part of the Henry T. and Elizabeth Segerstrom Foundation Select Series, and is made possible with support from The Segerstrom Foundation.
About Daniil Trifonov
Grammy Award-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov) is a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of wonder to audiences and critics alike. He won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018 with Transcendental, the Liszt collection that marked his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist.
In the 2026–27 season, Trifonov joins the Berlin Philharmonic at New York’s Carnegie Hall and on an extensive South American tour for Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, which is also the vehicle for his San Diego Symphony debut and returns to the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Orchestre National de France. Other orchestral highlights include Prokofiev with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, and Philharmonia Zürich; Rachmaninov with the St. Louis Symphony; Scriabin with the Dallas Symphony; Dvořák with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; and Beethoven rarities on a European tour with the Berlin Baroque Soloists. Trifonov embarks on a major transatlantic tour with a new solo recital program of Handel, Schubert, Stravinsky, Villa-Lobos, Francisco García, Bullumba Landestoy, Camargo Guarnieri, and the versatile composer-pianist himself.
The music of Latin America also features on My American Story – South, Trifonov’s most recent Deutsche Grammophon recording, due for release in fall 2026. His existing DG discography includes Tchaikovsky, exploring the composer’s more intimate side; My American Story: North, which received the UK’s Presto Music Award; the Grammy-nominated live recording of Trifonov’s Carnegie recital debut; Chopin Evocations and Silver Age, for each of which he received Opus Klassik’s Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano award; the best-selling, Grammy-nominated double album Bach: The Art of Life; and three volumes of Rachmaninov works with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, of which two received Grammy nominations and the third won BBC Music Magazine’s 2019 Concerto Recording of the Year. Named Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year and Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year, Trifonov was made a “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government in 2021.
During the 2010-11 season, Trifonov won medals at three of the music world’s most prestigious competitions: Third Prize in Warsaw’s Chopin Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv’s Rubinstein Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. He studied with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
About Rafael Payare, Music and Artistic Director
With his charismatic energy, innate musicianship, and technical brilliance on the podium, Rafael Payare is always “electrifying in front of an orchestra” (Los Angeles Times). Since September 2019, he has been Music and Artistic Director of California’s San Diego Symphony Orchestra, where he is widely credited with inspiring what The Wall Street Journal termed “the San Diego Symphony’s splendid new sound.”
Payare has helped usher in a bright new era for the San Diego Symphony. He and the orchestra drew international notice with the openings of The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, their bayside open-air venue, and Jacobs Music Center, their newly renovated indoor home, where the Symphony “finally has a San Diego venue that permits it to sound like the world-class orchestra they’ve been since Payare took over” (San Diego Union-Tribune). In recent seasons, the orchestra has presented three distinct festival programs: a two-week festival dedicated to Brahms; the piano festival, “Upright and Grand: A Tribute to the Piano”; and “It’s About Time,” a focus on percussion that included performances on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border. Payare features works by Brahms, Mahler, Bruckner, and Shostakovich every season, regularly programs new music by composers including Matthias Pintscher and Gabriela Ortiz, and recently commissioned Symphony No. 6: Monarch by San Diego Symphony composer-in-residence Jimmy López. In 2023, Payare joined Gustavo Dudamel and Esa-Pekka Salonen to launch the California Festival, a statewide celebration of contemporary music featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. He also launched the San Diego Symphony Conducting Fellowship Program. In 2027, Payare leads the orchestra on its first European tour, with performances in Barcelona, Dublin, Hamburg, Paris, and Toulouse. Their 2026 release of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, Leningrad, on the Delos label follows the success of their digital recording on Apple's Platoon of the same composer’s Symphony No. 11.
Beyond San Diego, Payare is Music and Artistic Director of Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal—with which he has made four Pentatone recordings and appeared numerous times on Medici.tv—and Conductor Laureate of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Orchestra, where he previously served as Principal Conductor and Music Director, making multiple appearances at London’s BBC Proms. Since winning first prize at Denmark’s 2012 Malko Competition, he has forged relationships with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh Symphonies; the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Vienna Philharmonic. He has also led productions at London’s Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Swedish Opera, and Royal Danish Opera. An alumnus of Venezuela’s El Sistema program, Payare founded Montreal’s El Sistema OSM. He lives in San Diego and Montreal with his wife, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and their two children.
About the San Diego Symphony
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra stands among the nation’s leading orchestras and serves as a dynamic cultural ambassador for the United States and the San Diego region. Led by President and Chief Executive Officer Martha Gilmer and Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, its 82 full-time, internationally distinguished musicians bring artistry of the highest caliber to audiences at home and abroad. Globally connected and firmly grounded in its community, the Symphony is anchored by two iconic venues: The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, a striking open air performance space on the San Diego waterfront, and the recently renovated Jacobs Music Center, a premier concert hall and architectural landmark. The Orchestra presents a broad and ambitious repertoire, from cornerstone symphonic works to major new commissions and collaborations with leading artists of our time, positioning San Diego as a destination for conductors, soloists, composers, and creative partners. Guided by its mission of Changing Lives Through Music, the Symphony’s community programs serve more than 65,000 students, families, educators, military service members, and nonprofit partners each year. In schools and neighborhoods throughout the region, its programs integrate music into daily learning and expand access to live performance. Learn more at sandiegosymphony.org.
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall is located at 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Ticket prices start at $36 and are available at the Philharmonic Society box office at (949) 553-2422, or online at philharmonicsociety.org, and at the Center’s box office at (714) 556-2787.
All artists, dates, venues, programs, and prices are subject to change.
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ABOUT THE PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY:
Founded in 1954 as Orange County’s first music organization, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County presents national and international performances of the highest quality and provides dynamic and innovative music education programs for individuals of all ages to enhance the lives of Orange County audiences through music.
Since its inception, the Philharmonic Society has evolved and grown with the county’s changing landscape, presenting artists and orchestras who set the standard for artistic achievement from Itzhak Perlman, Gustavo Dudamel, Yo-Yo Ma, and Renée Fleming to the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and many others. In addition, the Philharmonic Society celebrates multi-disciplinary performances under its Eclectic Orange brand and embraces music from a wide range of countries with its World Music performances. Its celebrated concerts introduce children to classical music with creative and inspiring performances, instilling music appreciation for future generations.
The Philharmonic Society’s nationally recognized Youth Music Education Programs, offered free of charge, engage more than 80,000 students annually through curriculum-based music education programs that aim to inspire, expand imaginations, and encourage learning at all levels. These programs are made possible by the Committees of the Philharmonic Society comprised of nearly 450 volunteer members who provide more than 50,000 hours of in-kind service each year. As a key youth program, the exceptional Orange County Youth Symphony and String Ensemble provide top-tier training to the area’s most talented young musicians through multi-level ensemble instruction, leadership training, touring opportunities, challenging professional repertoire, and performances in world-class venues. The Philharmonic Society also promotes life-long learning, connecting with colleges and universities to conduct masterclasses and workshops and providing pre-concert lectures to introduce audiences to program selections.
CONTACT:
Marie Songco-Torres Rosiana Falzon
(949) 553-2422, ext. 230 (949) 553-2422, ext. 105
marie@philharmonicsociety.org rosiana@philharmonicsociety.org