The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the New Permanent Outdoor Home of the San Diego Symphony, Opens August 6

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park-a spectacular new year-round venue with 360-degree views of San Diego's downtown, marina, and bay-will open with a weekend celebration as the first permanent outdoor home of the San Diego Symphony.

Designed to host more than 100 concerts and events year-round, The Rady Shell is the centerpiece of the 3.7-acre public Jacobs Park on the city's scenic Embarcadero. The venue is an unprecedented resource for the Symphony's diverse schedule of outdoor classical concerts programmed by Music Director Rafael Payare, and a variety of other musical and cultural programs.

The Rady Shell will officially open on August 6 with Rafael Payare conducting the San Diego Symphony in the world premiere of a new work for orchestra and turntable by Mason Bates and performances featuring cellist Alisa Weilerstein, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Opening weekend continues with "The Best of Broadway" on August 7, featuring the Symphony conducted by renowned musical theatre director Rob Fisher, showcasing Broadway luminaries Megan Hilty, Norm Lewis, Kelli O'Hara, and Adrienne Warren. The opening celebration concludes on August 8 with seven-time GRAMMY-winner Gladys Knight and special guest Naturally 7.

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park is designed by San Diego firm Tucker Sadler Architects, led by CEO and Design Principal Greg Mueller, with performance shell design by London-based Soundforms. Soundforms' award-winning 2012 mobile acoustic performance shell (MAPS) was expanded by Tucker Sadler Architects to accommodate a large orchestra with chorus and soloists and to be a permanent structure on the Embarcadero Marina Park South site. The performance shell features concentric, widening, oval rings as its canopy, a structure that reaches a height of 57 feet and a width of 92 feet at the front of the stage. The gentle slopes and terraced, flexible seating of the 55,000- square-foot audience area are defined around their edges by a low-lying fence, buffered by plantings and a perimeter walkway, on the coast of San Diego Bay within the 3.7-acre Jacobs Park.

Tickets for the opening weekend are available at theshell.org.

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