By SDCN Staff
San Diego, CA–The La Jolla Music Society has unveiled the company’s 57th annual Winter Season which brings a lineup of 71 global talent and rising stars to San Diego, from classical superstars to jazz greats, cutting-edge dance companies to fascinating speakers, and emerging musicians making their local debuts.
Highlights of the 2025–26 season include piano superstars Lang Lang and Daniil Trifonov, the leading operatic tenor Juan Diego Flórez, beloved violinist Augustin Hadelich, and the pairing of French stars pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and cellist Gautier Capuçon. The Jazz Series will reunite Chucho Valdés and Arturo Sandoval, and will include Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride, La Jolla Music Society Artistic Director Leah Rosenthal announced.
The company’s biennial Jazz Mini-Festival returns this year in honor of Miles Davis and John Coltrane’s 100th birthday and includes performances by Terence Blanchard, Ravi Coltrane, Joe Lovano, Emmet Cohen, and other performers. A slate of panels, lectures, and other Learning and Engagement events will be part of the Jazz Mini-Festival.
The return of Jazz @ The JAI features guest curator Kamau Kenyatta, who has programmed concerts by emerging jazz talents Shenel Johns and Jihye Lee.
Aristo Sham, Gold Medal Winner of the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will make his San Diego debut as part of the Discovery Series.
The season features two co-productions, with Art of Elan, a Resident Company @ The Conrad, for the ConRAD Kids Series show Dancing on Tiptoes, and with San Diego Opera for COTTON, a multimedia song-cycle bringing together the cotton photography of John Dowell with newly commissioned poems by renowned poets. COTTON, presented as part of the ProtoStar Innovative Series, features acclaimed opera artists J’Nai Bridges and Justin Austin.
The Dance Series will see some of the most exciting cutting-edge companies bringing genre-bending works to San Diego stages, including MOMIX, Ballet Preljocaj, and Compagnie Hervé Koubi. Another innovative dance performance, presented as part of the ProtoStar Innovative Series, is Ephrat Asherie Dance.
The popular Speaker Series this year is expanded to four events, two from Nat Geo Live and two from the Changemaker Series. The ConRAD Kids Series will include Disney’s Moana Live-to-Film Concert at the Balboa Theatre, as well as Doodle POP, an innovative show out of South Korea featuring live musicians, projections, and theatricality.
In The JAI, The Conrad’s intimate jazz club-style venue, fresh talents will include Endea Owens and The Cookout, Mireya Ramos, Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East, Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez, Joel Ross, The Bad Plus with Chris Potter and Craig Taborn, Benny Benack III, and the Aaron Diehl Trio. Of the artists performing, half are La Jolla Music Society debuts.
The majority of the events will be held at The Conrad, in either The Baker-Baum Concert Hall or The JAI.
Juan Diego Flórez and Angélique Kidjo are both presented as part of the Connect to The Conrad program, which offers a rare opportunity to experience the world’s most celebrated artists—those who typically perform for thousands—in the intimate, acoustically exquisite setting of The Baker-Baum Concert Hall.
In addition, the company’s commitment to presenting great artists at off-site venues continues, with four shows held at the Balboa Theatre and one each at the Civic Theatre and the Jacobs Music Center.
“Each season is a labor of love. Behind every performance is a dedicated team driven by a shared passion: to bring world-class artistry to our stages and create meaningful experiences for our community,” says Rosenthal. “Whether it’s a legendary string quartet in The Baker-Baum Concert Hall or a bold jazz innovator lighting up The JAI, our programming reflects a deep commitment to excellence and a belief in the power of diverse voices and stories.”
Winter Season 2025–26 subscriptions range from $153 (Speaker Series – Price Level C) to $455 (Piano Series – Price Level A). Compose-Your-Own discounted packages of any three or more concerts are also available. Single tickets will be available on July 10 and range from $35.50 (MOMIX: Alice – Price Level F) to $165 (Juan Diego Flórez – Price Level A). The top price for the Lang Lang Special Event is $222 (Price Level A). These prices include all fees. All ticket prices are subject to change.
Subscription packages are on sale. Compose-Your-Own packages and single tickets go on sale on July 10. Tickets for the Lang Lang Special Event go on sale to the general public on October 1.
Details and tickets are available at the La Jolla Music Society box office, by phone at (858) 459-3728, and online at TheConrad.org.
