Rafael Payare

Rafael Payare is a Venezuelan conductor and current music director of the San Diego Symphony. He came up through Venezuela's El Sistema music education program, originally training as a horn player before moving to the podium. Listeners can expect full-throated performances of large orchestral works, from Strauss tone poems to Mahler symphonies.

Payare favors big, late Romantic and early twentieth century repertoire that gives an orchestra room to swell and roar, and this stretch of concerts is typical: Strauss's autobiographical tone poem "Ein Heldenleben" (A hero's life), Mahler's dark-hued Sixth Symphony, and Shostakovich's Tenth, a symphony often heard as a response to political terror. Expect brisk, propulsive tempos in fast movements and a willingness to let brass and percussion open up at climaxes. He also programs concerto partners generously, here featuring Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt piano concertos, letting soloists sit against a full, warmly blended orchestral sound rather than a pared-back accompaniment. Audiences new to orchestral music will find these programs a good introduction to large-scale, emotionally direct symphonic writing.