San Diego, CA
La Jolla Music Society mainstay celebrates 25th year as an ‘unsung hero’
Ferdinand Gasang, the director of development for the La Jolla Music Society, tends to shy away from publicity. But in his 25th year as a full-time staff member for the nonprofit that presents music and dance performances at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, his work and the connections he’s made along the way tend to speak for themselves.
“People, because they’ve known him for so long, sometimes forget how instrumental he was to what we were able to fundraise and accomplish,” said Leah Rosenthal, the Music Society’s artistic director who has been on staff for 16 years. “He’s very modest and he doesn’t sing his praises. So we’re all singing his praises for him.”
In his 25 years with the organization, Gasang has overseen $200 million in contributions for artistic and educational programming. He also played a key role in securing the endowments and capital support necessary to build and launch The Conrad.
The $200 million figure was announced in last year’s “State of The Conrad,” an annual review of the organization’s accomplishments and its goals for the coming year. Hearing that number took his breath away, Gasang said.
“It’s not only through my efforts,” he said. “It’s also through many board members and leadership here at La Jolla Music Society. It’s a lot of people who helped me raise those funds.”
The Conrad, which came with a price tag of about $70 million and $10 million in endowments, is one of Gasang’s biggest projects during his time with the Music Society. With a mixture of private and public funding, the 49,000-square-foot performing arts center broke ground in 2017 and opened two years later.
The Conrad provides a permanent home for Music Society events after it rented the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s Sherwood Auditorium and held other events around town.
The fundraising drive for The Conrad was “exciting” and “challenging,” Gasang said, but the opening was surreal.
“When I try to think of the opening of the building … I always try to remember ‘What happened?’ It was such a blur,” he said. “I remember holding the ribbon as we did the cutting, and that was about it.”
Long before that, Gasang was a student at UC San Diego in La Jolla working toward a bachelor’s degree in music. He picked up a seasonal job at the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, since renamed the La Jolla Music Society.
After helping with production of the annual SummerFest in the late 1990s, Gasang decided upon graduation to transition from part-time seasonal work to a full-time position in 2000.
Though he said it’s difficult to pin down a few memorable moments of his career, he sensed a thread of camaraderie, most acutely during SummerFest, a four-week chamber music festival that he describes as “one big summer camp.”
Gasang has worked in several positions, from assistant to the general manager of SummerFest to his current role as director of development, which he has held since 2006. He also saw the staff grow from 12 members to 32 and programming expand from about 15 performances a year plus SummerFest to 50-60 shows annually.
Rosenthal said she, in a lot of ways, has grown up with Gasang at the Music Society. She considers him an “unsung hero” at The Conrad for his hard work, which she said parallels his devotion to his friends and family.
“Our major donors and board members and the individuals who have been part of the organization for as long as he has and even longer … have such an affection for him,” Rosenthal said. “He’s almost become family to them.”
Throughout the changes that he and the organization have seen over the years, “the thing that remains the same is the people who come here,” Gasang said. “With a new series, there’s always new audiences that are coming. But there are so many people who have been attending the performances longer than I’ve been here.”
Multiple passions
Gasang said he originally envisioned himself as a music teacher. After settling in at his job at the Music Society, he still hoped to keep that dream alive.
“I was thinking maybe there’s a way to still be involved and help teach, which honestly I loved, but yet at the same time start my career in arts administration, which is something I had a passion for,” he said.
Gasang found a way to pursue both passions. With many San Diego County marching bands holding rehearsals on weeknights and Saturdays, he began moonlighting as a percussion teacher at four area high schools: Mira Mesa, Helix, Mount Miguel and Scripps Ranch.
As his other responsibilities grew, his involvement at the schools scaled back. After all, “it was a lot of driving,” he said.
Years later, a band director he previously worked with started a position at Rancho Buena Vista High School in Vista and asked Gasang if he would consider returning to teaching.
“The first year I said no,” Gasang said. “The second year I was convinced.”
For 19 years, Gasang has dedicated nights and weekends to the school’s program.
“As a teacher, there’s this love for seeing students grow … but also it was a way for me to keep up with my own playing skills,” Gasang said. “Often with percussion or any music instruction, one of the best ways to instruct is to play what you’re trying to teach them and show them how to use proper technique.”
And when he’s not fielding donations and teaching percussion, Gasang has a third home away from home.
“I think more and more people are learning that I’m a Disney fanatic,” he said. “It’s kind of unbelievable, but aside from the time here at La Jolla Music Society and also with the school I work with … when I have that extra time, I’m such a fanatic that I will go to Disney[land] if it’s just two or three hours.” ♦
San Diego, CA
San Diego health officials monitor hantavirus situation as cruise ship passengers return to U.S.
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — American passengers from a cruise ship hit with a hantavirus outbreak are back in the United States.
San Diego County health officials say they are monitoring the situation and there is no need for panic.
“The risk to Californians is really low and especially here in San Diego. Since the year 2000, we’ve only had 4 cases of hantavirus and the majority of those were in travel related cases so not even acquired here locally,” Ankita Kadakia, deputy public health officer for the County of San Diego, said.
According to the CDC, hantavirus is spread through contact with infected rodents.
“The virus can be in their saliva, feces or droppings,” Kadakia said.
San Diego County does see cases of rodents infected with hantavirus, but the strain seen locally is not the same strain connected to the cruise ship outbreak.
“The vast majority of strains of hantavirus are mouse or animal to human transmission. Not human to human transmission. So the Andes strain, which is found in Argentina, there is evidence that there is human to human transmission,” Dr. Ahmed Salem, a pulmonologist at Sharp Memorial Hospital, said.
Salem treated hantavirus during the 2012 Yosemite National Park outbreak.
“One of the ways you die from hantavirus is you get a collapse of your cardiac system and your pulmonary system and you have to go on something called ECMO. It’s one of the most aggressive forms of life support that you can do. So I do remember that case, and unfortunately, that person passed away,” Salem said.
There is currently no cure or vaccine for hantavirus. Health officials stress that for those who were not on the cruise ship, the risk of contracting the virus remains low.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Here’s some instant reaction from the Padres’ wild 3-2 victory
It seemed like the same tired story.
Instead, it was the same thriller.
The Padres pushed their offensive lethargy as long as possible without paying for it Sunday, tying the game with two outs in the ninth inning on Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer and then celebrating after Manny Machado’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning gave them a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals.
“Getting it done,” Machado said.
That’s it. That is all they are doing.
And at what is essentially the quarter mark of the season, the Padres are 24-16 and tied with the Dodgers atop the National League West.
The shocking component of their having the major leagues’ fifth-best record is that the Padres rank in the bottom three among MLB’s 30 teams in batting average and OPS.
They split with the Cardinals despite having 14 hits, their fewest in a four-game series in franchise history. Their 61 hits over their past 10 games are the fewest in a stretch that long since 2019, and they are 5-5 in those games.
“It sucks; we need to hit; Machado said. “I mean, you know, look, it’s obvious. We’re not hitting. It’s obvious, but we’re getting things done, man.”
Sunday was the Padres’ 12th victory this season in which the decisive run was scored in the seventh inning or later. That is exactly half their victories.
It was their fourth walk-off victory, their second in extra innings. It was the seventh time that a run scored in their final offensive half-inning decided a victory.
So it is no small thing to proffer that Sunday was possibly their most dramatic triumph. Because it was possibly their most unlikely one.
Not only were they a strike away from defeat, but they began the ninth inning having gotten two hits all day.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on their first two hits off Walker Buehler — a single by Alec Burleson and a home run by Jordan Walker with two outs. Buehler pitched six innings, allowing just one more hit before Ron Marinaccio worked two scoreless innings.
But the Padres were unable to make anything of their seven at-bats with runners in scoring position over the first eight innings. They had walked five times but had just Jackson Merrill’s third-inning single and Xander Bogaerts’ fourth-inning double to that point.
“Really good teams find ways to win games when they’re not doing their best,” Gavin Sheets said. “… We’re not clicking on all cylinders by any means. And I don’t think any of us would say that he’s on a roll right now, but we’re getting hits in a timely fashion and it’s someone different every night.”
Almost.
The Padres have game-winning RBIs from 10 different players. They have go-ahead RBIs from 13 of the 14 position players who have been on their roster this season. Sunday was Castellanos’s third game-tying RBI.
His home run, on the ninth pitch of his at-bat against Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien, was something of a clinic by a veteran hitter who is in his first season as a role player.
Castellenos, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and remained in right field, came to the plate with Bogaerts at first base with two outs.
Bogaerts’ single leading off the inning had been followed by two strikeouts, and Castellanos fell behind 0-2 before working the count full and then sending a 99 mph sinker on the inner edge of the plate almost to the ribbon scoreboard fronting the second level of seats beyond left field.
“The first pitch started, and I was probably looking to do what I did,” he said. “And then I ended up getting 0-2 and chasing. After that, just took a deep breath and tried to shorten up as much as possible and just compete. Just find a way on base. And then found myself in a full account and was able to get the job done.”
It was the first home run allowed by O’Brien this season.
With closer Mason Miller not available after throwing 29 pitches over 1⅓ innings on Saturday, Jeremiah Estrada got the first two outs of the 10th. With runners on first and second, Adrian Morejón entered the game and got an inning-ending pop out on his first pitch.
Gordon Graceffo was on the mound for the Cardinals, and Ramón Laureano was the Padres’ automatic runner in the 10th. The Cardinals intentionally walked Merrill at the start before Fernando Tatis Jr. whittled a 1-2 count into a walk to load the bases.
The game was over one pitch later, when Machado sent a fastball to right-center field and Laureano slid across the plate well in front of right fielder Jordan Walker’s throw.
It was a somewhat subdued but still enthusiastic celebration along the first-base line, as teammates bounced around Machado.
“It’s hard to win a game like that,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “Their pitchers pitched great, and they’re bringing in one of the best closers in the game. And we just stuck with it. It just speaks to how those guys believe in themselves and how they believe in what we’ve got going on as a team.”
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