San Diego Community

 The Salk Institute for Biological Studies (www.salk.edu) will present the 13th annual Symphony at Salk on Saturday, Aug. 23. Singer and jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli will join the San Diego Symphony with returning guest conductor Thomas Wilkins for the outdoor concert overlooking the Pacific Ocean in picturesque La Jolla, Calif.

This will be Wilkins’ fourth consecutive year to lead the San Diego Symphony, which will share the stage with Pizzarelli. Internationally known for classic standards and the charm he brings to his performances, Pizzarelli has established himself as the consummate entertainer. He has cultivated a winning international career by singing classic standards and late-night ballads, and by playing sublime and inventive guitar. Using greats like Nat “King” Cole and Frank Sinatra as touchstones, Pizzarelli is among the prime revivalists of the great American songbook, bringing to his work the cool jazz flavor of his brilliant guitar playing.
 
Honorary chair of Symphony at Salk is internationally renowned artist Francoise Gilot-Salk, widow of Jonas Salk. Gilot-Salk’s artwork, The Oracle (1962), provides this year’s visual theme. Chosen from her Labyrinth Series, the piece is a free-form interpretation of Gilot-Salk’s imagination and recollections of the myth surrounding Theseus and his epic seafaring adventure to slay the Minotaur. The Oracle presents a lighthouse symbol, set against colors of the Aegean Sea, to guide Theseus as he sails for Crete.  

Symphony at Salk is held on the Theodore Gildred Court, which offers sunset views framed on two sides by the working laboratories of Nobel Prize-winning scientists.
Designed by architect Louis I. Kahn, the Salk Institute is one of the world’s most honored structures and is a designated historical site. 

Event festivities include Institute tours at 5:15 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.; reception and supper at 6 p.m.; and musical program at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit basic biological research and also support community programs, such as the Salk Mobile Science Lab and the High School Science Day. Individual tickets for Symphony at Salk will be available in July and cost $250 each. Sponsorship packages range from $2,500 to $50,000. For additional ticket or sponsorship information, call 858-453-4100, ext. 1882, or e-mail: hodges@salk.edu. 

Located at 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA., the Salk Institute for Biological Studies is an independent non-profit institution dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health and conditions, and the