After 25 seasons of playing at venues throughout San Diego County, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra decided it was time for a make-over, and no one was more inclined to initiate that sort of image refurbishing than its eager, young Artistic Director Jung-Ho Pak. Orchestra Nova San Diego is the ensemble's new calling card, and maestro Pak and company inaugurated its new identity and their 2009-2010 season Friday (September 11) at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, the orchestra's traditional downtown location.

For the make-over, Pak has massaged nearly every aspect of concert presentation to make classical chamber music more approachable and less oriented to the staid expectations of retired seniors of means. Not, of course, that any of the latter would be unwelcome, especially if they came with checkbooks open and pen in hand. But Pak is after a different audience, a younger, hip audience, an audience that is more like the maestro himself, although these folks have not been studying music all their lives, nor have they conducted symphony orchestras to put bread on the table. In his verbal program notes, Pak pumps up his listeners with amusing anecdotes before each piece on the program, although anyone who attempts such "spontaneous" commentary should carefully observe the San Diego Symphony's Nuvi Mehta, who is the master of succinct and telling verbal elucidation.

Orchestra Nova's glossy program book is designed like a magazine, a season's worth of programs surrounded by profiles of guest musicians and chatty interviews with members of the orchestra, stressing their non-musical pursuits and off-beat hobbies rather than their musical pedigrees. Unlike most local concert program books, which are filled with large color spreads of patrons attending parties, Nova's "Inspire" uniquely offers color photos (both formal and informal) of the orchestra players. What a concept.

To add to the visual dimension of orchestra performance, Pak enlisted two pairs of dancers in frilly 18th-century attire to execute stylized minuets to two of Mozart's three "German Dances" played on this all-Mozart offering. Their graceful movements up and down the cathedral's center aisle enlivened these slight dances (modest only in comparison to the composer's symphonies and concertos) and gave a vibrant sense of social context that no amount of explication could begin to match.

But for my money, Pak's strongest suit is still the 35-member orchestra itself, which played with a bright, buoyant sound, clean discipline, and a keen sense of Mozartian proportion. Their account of the frequently played Symphony No. 40 in G Minor proved as convincing as any I have heard by more prestigious orchestras, filled with delicious wind solos at every turn and a laudably unified string sonority. Pak kept the tempos exuberant, but not pressed, and the phrasing lithe without sacrificing precision. I especially appreciated Pak's pacing of the episodic second movement and the way he brought out the drama contained in its darker modulations.

In Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, guest soloist Lindsey Deutsch did not strike me as an ideal Mozart interpreter. Her strident attacks and dark color would have been laudable assets in one of the big Max Bruch Violin Concertos, and her incessant legato deprived this Classical gem of some of its more intimate charm. Deutsch also suffered pitch problems--she had to re-tune after each movement, although the temperature of the cathedral chancel on that warm evening may have contributed to her difficulties. Pak described this Mozart Violin Concerto as "the perfect concerto." If only he had found the perfect soloist.

This program will be repeated September 14 at La Jolla's Sherwood Auditorium and on September 19 at Qualcomm Hall in the Sorrento Valley.

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