San Diego Opera Receives $4.5 Million Gift From Irwin Jacobs

San Diego Opera has received a $4.5 million landmark commitment from Irwin Jacobs, renowned local philanthropist and steadfast supporter of the San Diego arts community. The gift to San Diego Opera will support the collaboration of San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony and will be donated over the course of three years. It will serve to strengthen and elevate the company's artistic partnership with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

For more than 20 years, the San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony Orchestra have partnered in bringing high-quality, innovative opera productions to the San Diego community. The Joan and Irwin Jacobs San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera Collaboration Fund will support expanding the collaborative work between the two institutions, ensuring that audiences across the region continue to experience opera of the highest artistic caliber with great opera singers and with the world-class San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

"Dr. Jacobs' extraordinary generosity reflects his ongoing deep belief in the power of the performing arts and importance of partnerships that enrich our community," said David Bennett, Joann Clark General Director and CEO of San Diego Opera. "The gift not only furthers our artistic visions, but advances a model of collaboration that is essential to the future of the arts in San Diego."

The newly established fund will strengthen the commitment between the two organizations, ensuring that the Symphony will continue to play for opera productions at the San Diego Civic Theatre and other venues. The fund will expand opportunities for collaborative ventures, support artistic planning, and reinforce the long-standing relationship between San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.

"I am pleased to support San Diego Opera with this gift," said Irwin Jacobs. "Both San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony were very important to my late wife Joan, and I am delighted to be able to carry on her philanthropic vision with a gift to the Opera to benefit these two remarkable cultural institutions. The performing arts are vital to making San Diego a great place to live, and the outstanding collaboration between the Opera and the Symphony make both organizations stronger and better."