summer festival 2015SEPT. 5PACIFIC SYMPHONY’S SUMMER FESTIVAL 2015

AT IRVINE MEADOWS AMPHITHEATRE

presents

P A C I F I C S Y M P H O N Y P R O U D L Y R E C O G N I Z E S I T S O F F I C I A L P A R T N E R S

CARL ST.CLAIR • CONDUCTOROLGA KERN • PIANO

HUNTINGTON BEACH CONCERT BAND

Tchaikovsky SpectacularThe concert begins at 8 p.m.

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Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Introduction and Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Suite from The Firebird (1919) Introduction The Firebird and its Dance— Variation of the Firebird Ring Dance of the Princesses Infernal Dance of King Kascheï Lullaby Finale

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Concerto No. 2 in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 18 Moderato Adagio sostenuto Allegro scherzando Olga Kern

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Op. 49, TH 49 Huntington Beach Concert Band

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Music for Hope: Pacific Symphony is proud to partner with

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NOTES by michael clive

This picturesque, magical scenario, like many romantic ballets, is enacted in an enchanted world of ivied castles and fathomless forests far removed from everyday reality. But the drama that unfolds in this world is a serious one. For Tchaikovsky, the challenge was to create music that combines with the actions of wordless dancer-actors and stage designers to transform this realm of airy fantasy into a theatrical experience of authentic human emotion and conflict. Most of all, he had to frame these actions with music that would be dramatically compelling as stage accompaniment, yet worthy of performance on its own. His ballet scores met this challenge as none had before them, deepening the possibilities of dance as theater and achieving a popularity that endures to this day. Without dancers and sets, the Suite from The Sleeping Beauty is far more than a set of dance movements; it is the gateway to a deeply atmospheric dance-drama, a symbolic exploration of the emotionally fraught pathway to sexual awakening.

Suite from The FirebirdInstrumentation: 2 flutes (second doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes (second doubling on English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, piano, strings Performance time: 23 minutes

Background

S travinsky’s sense of his own greatness was as much a matter of privelige as of ego. But in 1908, just before he began work on The Firebird, there was little external evidence of his potential

to become one of the giants of Western music. He was 26 and was still greatly influenced by his teacher and mentor Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, whose iridescent harmonies and traditional virtuosity were still strongly evident in Stravinsky’s compositions, almost all of which remained unpublished.

Without a major commission, Stravinsky was receptive to a suggestion from Rimsky-Korsakov for an opera based on an enchanting tale from Hans Christian Andersen, Le Rossignol. But

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)

Excerpts from The Sleeping BeautyInstrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 coronets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 3 percussion, harp, stringsPerformance time: 11 minutes

Background

W hen Tchaikovsky heard the ballet scores composed by the French composers Leo Delibes and Adolphe Adam, he was struck by their beauty and expressiveness.

Composing for the ballet seemed like an ideal outlet for his gifts as a melodist and his interest in creating musical drama. But in accepting his first commission for the ballet Swan Lake (1875), he found his compositional opportunities to be hemmed in by numbers: He was expected to cue a dramatic leap or precisely time a mimed sequence to fit the dancers’ needs and limits. His rhythms and tempos had to conform to the demands of choreographic convention, and his seemingly inexhaustible talent for melodic invention had to be tailored to fit dance steps. None of these headaches are audible when we listen to Tchaikovsky’s great scores for Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker; instead, we hear the musical brilliance that helped to form our modern conception of the ballet.

For all of its innocent charms and enchanted storytelling, American culture’s strongest impression of The Sleeping Beauty story—Walt Disney’s adored, animated version—is a far cry from its Russian counterpart. Tchaikovsky composed his melodic, evocative Sleeping Beauty score for the choreography of Marius Petipa, whose scenario was based on the rather adult fairy tale La Belle au Bois Dormant by Charles Perrault. The result endures as the classic ballet The Sleeping Beauty, a dance-drama of darkness and light. It combines the radiance of youth with perils of emerging into adulthood: the discovery of evil in the world, the allure and mystery of sexual attraction, and the dangerous adventure of maturing into eligibility for romantic partnership.

Today, the perfection of Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores makes it hard to imagine how slowly their greatness was recognized. His 1888 commission for The Sleeping Beauty followed Swan Lake by some 13 years, but it demonstrated just as clearly his unique ability to meet the precise demands of choreographic composition with vivid narrative and irresistible melody. Many critics consider The Sleeping Beauty unsurpassed in this regard.

What to Listen For

Encompassing three acts and a prelude, the uncut score contains more than three hours of music, extending the performance time (with intermissions) to over four hours—perhaps the defining standard for the term “full-evening ballet.” Its many character roles—fairies, suitors, members of Princess Aurora’s royal family, fairy-tale characters who appear as party guests—provide a musical showcase for Tchaikovsky’s melodic inventiveness as they make their solo presentations, each with a tuneful number uniquely keyed to character and circumstance. But the score is also a prime example of Tchaikovsky’s use of leitmotif as a structuring device. Recurring themes are developed and reintroduced in the ongoing struggle between the forces of good, represented by the Lilac Fairy, against the forces of evil as embodied by the lurking, vengeful fairy Carabosse. In the end, thanks to the ingenious Lilac Fairy, good triumphs as Aurora and her family awaken to her engagement and a brighter future after a hundred years of suspended animation.

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NOTES

dismal reception of Rachmaninoff’s first symphony, which proved a setback to his musical ambitions (despite the acclaim it earned later). Long troubled by clinical depression, Rachmaninoff benefited from excellent medical care and the support of friends and colleagues, who encouraged him to rededicate himself to piano composition. It was good advice and helped him to work free from a creative stasis. In fact, while many concertos are dedicated to the soloists who premiered them, this one is dedicated to Rachmaninoff’s physician, Nikolai Dahl.

The success of this concerto combined with the relative failure of Rachmaninoff’s first symphony steered him toward a career that made him a celebrity in America, a virtuoso pianist showcasing his own compositions. He would not attempt another symphony until 10 years after his first, and the merits of his great orchestral compositions would not be fully appreciated until years after his death. Today, even Rachmaninoff’s flair as an opera composer is being rediscovered.

What to Listen For

Listening to Rachmaninoff’s concertos, we sense the perfect match between his physical gifts as a soloist and his style as a composer: These are compositions of dynamic extremes and singing melodies that require both power and speed. Yet Rachmaninoff also requires the pianist to spin a silken cocoon of sound that is voluptuous and quintessentially Romantic.

No one combines musical intimacy and sensuality with grand, even monumental sound the way Rachmaninoff does, especially in this concerto. One can hear the brooding depressive as well as the ardent romantic in every bar. In the first movement, marked moderato and written in C minor, an opening of intense foreboding builds through a series of powerful, chiming chords by the soloist. As the tension builds to a breaking point, the piano breaks into a sweeping main theme that is taken up in the violins, but that quickly engulfs the entire orchestra. From this moment on—indeed, from the initial sounds of the piano’s lone voice in the concerto’s introduction—this is a hugely scaled musical statement that balances sweeping, melancholy phrases with melodies that express the sweetness and

after a year’s work, an improbable series of coincidences brought Stravinsky the commission for The Firebird, his breakthrough ballet for Serge Diaghilev’s prestigious Ballets Russes, and he set Le Rossignol aside. Suddenly, Stravinsky was in a hothouse of international talent; the Ballets Russes’ dancers included Vaslav Nijinsky and Bronislava Nijinska, its settings and costumes were designed by such artists as Pablo Picasso and Leon Bakst, and its productions embodied all the artistic richness and ferment of Paris in the Art Deco era preceding World War I. With characteristic boldness, Diaghilev had given Stravinsky this assignment based on a single hearing of a rather slender score; its success made the composer’s reputation overnight. It was the beginning of a transformative musical journey that continued with Petrushka and the epoch-making The Rite of Spring. In less than five years, this astounding collaboration caused sophisticated Parisians to riot at the sound of a new and revolutionary sound in music far beyond anything Rimsky-Korsakov imagined.

What to Listen For

“Shimmering” is a word often used to describe the ethereal beauty Stravinsky’s score for The Firebird. But when ballet enthusiasts first encountered it in 1909, both the look and sound of this work had the power to shock. Where 19th-century ballets were dominated by elegance and picturesque delicacy on stage and in the pit, The Firebird substituted a story rooted in folk traditions that seemed primitive by comparison, even including human sacrifice. The music booms with emphatic percussion and is not afraid of dissonance. Yet it also shines with melodies that are almost magical, capturing the sense of human awe in the midst of nature’s eternal vastness. In his next two ballets, Stravinsky would go even further in combining sophisticated musical craft with folk elements that seemed shockingly primitive to his contemporary listeners.

“For me, the most striking effect in The Firebird was the natural-harmonic string glissando near the beginning, which the bass chord touches off like a Catherine wheel,” Stravinsky wrote. “I was delighted to have discovered this, and I remember my excitement in demonstrating it to Rimsky’s violinist and cellist sons.” Though he was still in his 20s, it was not the first time he had used the orchestra to evoke fireworks. His “Feu d’artifice,” or “Fireworks,” was composed a year before The Firebird. It was this sparkling orchestral fantasy that had so impressed Diaghilev, leading to their collaboration.

Piano Concerto No. 2Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 2 percussion, strings, solo pianoPerformance time: 33 minutes

Background

T hough he was born before the last quarter of the 19th century began, Rachmaninoff was essentially a figure of the 20th century. His style is a late and lush version of Russian Romanticism, rooted

in the 1800s and in the Russian nationalist composers dating back to Glinka and Tchaikovsky. Trained as a pianist as well as a composer in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Rachmaninoff focused on the piano in composition as well as performance. Of his three concertos, the second is both the most popular and the most admired among critics. This is the composition that made his reputation.

The concerto’s success was hard-won. Composed between the autumn of 1900 and the spring of 1901, it followed by three years the

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The dynamics are full of exciting contrasts, building tension with long crescendos. Melodic themes entwine and shift balance as if battling for control. New elements introduce themselves softly as if they were distant, then grow louder as if drawing near.

As the overture opens, a plaintive choir of cellos and violas represents the people of Russia in their homes and churches as the invasion and their suffering escalate. One critical element is the brass-borne strains of the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” which has the characteristic sound of the cavalry riding to the rescue. But remember, France represents the Napoleonic menace; in other words, they are the bad guys. Victory comes when they are countered by louder strains of the Russian anthem “God Save the Czar.” And, of course, by the Imperial Army and its cannons—16 shots in all.

After the battling and the cannon fire, the initial hymn tune returns to the whole orchestra and triumphant church bells ring out. They remind us that it is not the army or the czar but the Russian people who are the hero of the 1812 Overture—as they are in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 depicting the siege of Leningrad, and in Mussorgsky’s populist opera of czars and political intrigue, “Boris Godunov.” This idea—the common people as hero—is a democratic ideal that may be the closest link between America’s national culture and the Russian traditions that pervade our beloved 1812 Overture.

Michael Clive is a cultural reporter living in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. He is program annotator for Pacific Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic, and editor-in-chief for The Santa Fe Opera.

pain of romantic yearning.

Slow chords in the strings open the second movement, an adagio that moves from C minor into E major. While the piano delineates a theme through fleet, poetic arpeggios, the overall mood remains melancholy, with a short exchange between orchestra and piano developing the movement’s motifs. The concerto’s songful quality takes full flight in the lush, gorgeous third movement, marked allegro scherzando. This movement is built around a melody that could be the distilled essence of romance, and that forms the basis of the song “Full Moon and Empty Arms.”

The concerto ends in a flourish of virtuosity and optimism that may well reflect the composer’s rising optimism during its composition, when he was buoyed by colleagues’ encouragement. The last movement, an allegro, opens with an introduction that moves away from the previous movement’s E major, where the music was lush but the emotions lingered in an atmosphere of twilit moodiness. To close, it transitions from C minor to C major with ever-increasing tension and energy. The final thematic statements and coda are resolved in C major, in a loud and ecstatic finale.

“1812” OvertureInstrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 coronets, 2 trombones, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 5 percussion, stringsPerformance time: 13 minutes

Background

T he sound of national pride is pervasive throughout the 1812 Overture. The question is: pride in what nation? Tchaikovsky was Russian down to his bones, and music historians classify

him as one of the founders of Russian nationalism in classical music. Nothing about America or American history informed the composition of this work. Yet the 1812 Overture is an indispensable part of America’s celebration of summer. We have come to feel not only that this music belongs to us, but also that it is about us.

What makes this piece seem so American? It has a sound that America loves, distinctly brassy and martial, with narrative tension that builds to a thrillingly victorious climax. Aural spectacle gets no more spectacular than this; it is surely the most popular piece of music ever scored for full orchestra with optional tubular bells, pipe organ and cannon.

From the popularly accepted title, many listeners wrongly assume that this dramatic overture commemorates the War of 1812—a conflict that is often overlooked or misunderstood in our national imagination. Instead, the year in the title actually references Napoleon’s catastrophic march toward Moscow and Russia’s successful defense at the Battle of Borodino. As Napoleon consolidated his power in Europe during the opening years of the 19th century, his campaign called all the fundamentals of European politics and Enlightenment ideas into question. Half a century later, when Tchaikovsky wrote music to celebrate the preservation of Russian autonomy in the face of Napoleon’s army, this history was still burning in the Russian soul.

What to Listen For

As musical storytelling, the 1812 Overture is so vivid that we can smell the gunpowder as it limns the progress of contending forces.

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MUSIC FOR HOPE: PACIFIC SYMPHONY PROUDLY SUPPORTS THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION IN CALIFORNIA’S LUNG FORCE WALK

The LUNG FORCE Walk is a passionate community gathering that celebrates the collective power of our breath and voice to stand up against lung cancer and for lung health. Join the movement on Nov. 7 at Mason Regional Park in Irvine. LUNGFORCE.ORG/Walk

Summer Festival 2015 | Page 21

CARL meet the music director

I n 2015-16, Music Director Carl St.Clair celebrates his 26th season with Pacific Symphony. He is one of the longest tenured conductors of the major American orchestras. St.Clair’s lengthy history solidifies the strong relationship he has forged with the musicians and the community.

His continuing role also lends stability to the organization and continuity to his vision for the Symphony’s future. Few orchestras can claim such rapid artistic development as Pacific Symphony—the largest orchestra formed in the United States in the last 50 years—due in large part to St.Clair’s leadership.

During his tenure, St.Clair has become widely recognized for his musically distinguished performances, his commitment to building outstanding educational programs and his innovative approaches to programming. Among his creative endeavors are: the vocal initiative, “Symphonic Voices,” which continues for the fifth season in 2015-16 with Puccini’s Turandot, following the concert-opera productions of La Bohème, Tosca, La Traviata and Carmen in subsequent seasons; the creation six years ago of a series of multimedia concerts featuring inventive formats called “Music Unwound”; and the highly acclaimed American Composers Festival, which highlights the splendor of the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ in 2015-16 with music by Stephen Paulus, Wayne Oquin and Morten Lauridsen.

St.Clair’s commitment to the development and performance of new works by composers is evident in the wealth of commissions and recordings by the Symphony. The 2015-16 season continues a slate of recordings of works commissioned and performed by the Symphony in recent years, including William Bolcom’s Songs of Lorca and Prometheus and James Newton Howard’s I Would Plant a Tree, plus his Violin Concerto featuring James Ehnes. These join Elliot Goldenthal’s Symphony in G# Minor, released in 2014-15; Richard Danielpour’s Toward a Season of Peace, released in 2013-14; Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna, and Michael Daugherty’s Mount Rushmore and The Gospel According to Sister Aimee, both released in 2012-13. St.Clair has led the orchestra in other critically acclaimed albums including two piano concertos of Lukas Foss; Danielpour’s An American Requiem and Goldenthal’s Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Other commissioned composers include Zhou Long, Tobias Picker, Frank Ticheli and Chen Yi, Curt Cacioppo, Stephen Scott, Jim Self (Pacific Symphony’s principal tubist) and Christopher Theofanidis.

In 2006-07, St.Clair led the orchestra’s historic move into its home in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The move came on the heels of the landmark 2005-06 season that included St.Clair leading the Symphony on its first European tour—nine cities in three countries playing before capacity houses and receiving extraordinary responses and reviews.

From 2008-10, St.Clair was general music director for the Komische Oper in Berlin, where he led successful new productions such as La Traviata (directed by Hans Neuenfels). He also served as general music director and chief conductor of the German National Theater and Staatskapelle (GNTS) in Weimar, Germany, where he led Wagner’s Ring Cycle to critical acclaim. He was the first non-European to hold his position at the GNTS; the role also gave him the distinction of simultaneously leading one of the newest orchestras in America and one of the oldest in Europe.

In 2014, St.Clair became the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica. His international career also has him conducting abroad several months a year, and he has appeared with orchestras throughout the world. He was the principal guest conductor of the Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart from 1998-2004, where he completed a three-year recording project of the Villa–Lobos symphonies. He has also appeared with orchestras in Israel, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South America, and summer festivals worldwide.

In North America, St.Clair has led the Boston Symphony Orchestra (where he served as assistant conductor for several years), New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver symphonies, among many.

A strong advocate of music education for all ages, St.Clair has been essential to the creation and implementation of the Symphony’s education and community engagement programs including Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles, Heartstrings, Sunday Casual Connections, OC Can You Play With Us?, arts-X-press and Class Act.

CARL ST.CLAIRWILLIAM J. GILLESPIEMUSIC DIRECTOR CHAIR

O lga Kern is now recognized as one of her generation’s great pianists. With her vivid stage presence, passionately confi dent musicianship and extraordinary technique, the striking pianist continues to captivate fans and critics alike. Kern was born in Russia into a family

of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and began studying piano at the age of 5. She jumpstarted her U.S. career with her historic gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas as the fi rst woman to do so in 30 years.

A Steinway Artist and fi rst prize winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at the age of 17, Kern is a laureate of many international competitions and tours throughout Russia, Europe, the United States, Japan, South Africa and South Korea. The fi rst Olga Kern International Piano Competition has been announced to take place in Albuquerque, N.M. in autumn, 2016, where Kern will serve as artistic director. Kern is also a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Division of the Arts.

Kern opens the Baltimore Symphony’s 2015-16 season with Marin Alsop, and debuts with the Royal Philharmonic with Pinchas Zukerman and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice with Giancarlo Guerrero. Other highlights include a two-month tour of South Africa for concerts with the Johannesburg, Cape and KwaZulu Natal philharmonics, appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic and San Antonio Symphony, and recitals at Sarasota’s Van Wezel Hall, New York’s 92nd Street Y and the University of Kansas’ Lied Center.

In recent seasons, Kern has performed with Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, Orchestre National De Lyon, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, the symphonies of Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Nashville, Colorado, Madison and Austin, and gave recitals in New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Louisville, and alongside Renée Fleming in Boston and Washington. Kern’s performance career has brought her to many of the world’s most important venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich and the Châtelet in Paris.

Kern’s discography includes Harmonia Mundi recordings of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman (2003), her Grammy-nominated recording of Rachmaninoff ’s Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), a recital disk with works by Rachmaninoff and Balakirev (2005), Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit (2006), Brahms’ Variations (2007) and a 2010 release of Chopin Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 3 (2010). Most recently, SONY released their recording of Kern performing the Rachmaninoff Sonata for Cello and Piano with cellist Sol Gabetta. She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge, as well as Olga’s Journey, Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg and in They Came to Play. In 2012, Kern and her brother, conductor and composer Vladimir Kern, co-founded the “Aspiration” foundation whose objective is to provide fi nancial and artistic assistance to musicians throughout the world.

Kern resides in New York with her son, Vladislav Kern, who studies piano in The Juilliard Pre-College program.

COLUMBIA ARTS MANAGEMENT, LLC | R. Douglas Sheldon / Gabriella Campos, 5 Columbus Circle @1790 Broadway, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10019

Olga Kern is a Steinway Artist and records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. Olga Kern’s dresses are designed by Alex Teih.

HUNTINGTON BEACH CONCERT BAND

T he Huntington Beach Concert Band has been performing for Southern California audiences for 40 years. Founded by John Mason in 1973, this non-profi t volunteer community concert band is conducted by Thomas Ridley and provides concerts to the greater Orange

County area throughout the year. The band’s purpose is to provide a creative opportunity for all musicians age 18 or older to share musical talents and bring enjoyment to others through public performance. They are formally organized as a California non-profi t corporation.

The band plays 12-15 concerts a year throughout Orange County. This includes two concerts as part of the annual Sunday Summer Concert Series. The band is proud to have organized and sponsored this series for many years, increasing the number of concerts from a low of four in 2004 to 11 since 2006. Another highlight is playing a concert on the grass at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and then joining Pacifi c Symphony on stage for the 1812 Overture.

OLGA KERNPIANO

GUESTS meet the guest artists

Page 22 | Summer Festival 2015

Summer Festival 2015 | Page 23

MEET the orchestra

* Principal** Assistant Principal

† On Leave

Celebrating , or years with Pacific Symphony this season.

CARL ST.CLAIR • MUSIC DIRECTORWilliam J. Gillespie Music Director Chair

RICHARD KAUFMAN • PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTORHal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation Principal Pops Conductor Chair

ROGER KALIA • ASSISTANT CONDUCTORMary E. Moore Family Assistant Conductor Chair

NARONG PRANGCHAROEN • COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE

FIRST VIOLINRaymond Kobler Concertmaster, Eleanor and Michael Gordon

ChairPaul Manaster Associate ConcertmasterJeanne Skrocki Assistant ConcertmasterNancy Coade EldridgeChristine FrankKimiyo TakeyaAyako SugayaAnn Shiau TenneyMaia JasperRobert SchumitzkyAgnes GottschewskiDana FreemanGrace OhJean Kim†Angel LiuMarisa Sorajja

SECOND VIOLINBridget Dolkas*

Elizabeth and John Stahr ChairJessica Guideri**Yen-Ping LaiYu-Tong SharpAko KojianOvsep KetendjianLinda OwenPhil LunaMarlaJoy WeisshaarAlice Miller-WrateShelly Shi

VIOLARobert Becker* Catherine and James Emmi

ChairMeredith Crawford**Carolyn RileyJohn AcevedoErik RynearsonJulia StaudhammerJoseph Wen-Xiang ZhangPamela JacobsonAdam NeeleyCheryl GatesMargaret Henken

CELLOTimothy Landauer* Catherine and James Emmi

ChairKevin Plunkett**John AcostaRobert VosLászló MezöIan McKinnellM. Andrew HoneaWaldemar de AlmeidaJennifer GossRudolph Stein

BASSSteven Edelman*Douglas Basye**Christian KollgaardDavid ParmeterPaul ZibitsDavid BlackAndrew BumatayConstance Deeter

FLUTEBenjamin Smolen* Valerie and Hans Imhof ChairSharon O’ConnorCynthia Ellis

PICCOLOCynthia Ellis

OBOEJessica Pearlman Fields* Suzanne R. Chonette ChairTed Sugata

ENGLISH HORNLelie Resnick

CLARINETBenjamin Lulich* The Hanson Family

Foundation ChairDavid Chang

BASS CLARINETJoshua Ranz

BASSOONRose Corrigan*Elliott MoreauAndrew KleinAllen Savedoff

CONTRABASSOONAllen Savedoff

FRENCH HORNKeith Popejoy*Mark Adams†James Taylor**Russell Dicey

TRUMPETBarry Perkins* Susie and Steve Perry ChairTony EllisDavid Wailes

TROMBONEMichael Hoffman*David Stetson

BASS TROMBONEKyle Mendiguchia

TUBAJames Self*

TIMPANITodd Miller*

PERCUSSIONRobert A. Slack*Cliff Hulling

HARPMindy Ball*Michelle Temple

PIANO•CELESTESandra Matthews*

PERSONNEL MANAGERPaul Zibits

LIBRARIANSRussell DiceyBrent Anderson

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGERWill Hunter

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERWilliam Pruett

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PACIFIC SYMPHONY

P acific Symphony, currently in its 37th season, is led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, who celebrates his 26th season with the orchestra in 2015-16. The largest orchestra formed in the U.S. in the last 50 years, the Symphony is recognized as an outstanding ensemble

making strides on both the national and international scene, as well as in its own community of Orange County. Presenting more than 100 concerts and events each year and a rich array of education and community programs, the Symphony reaches more than 275,000 residents—from school children to senior citizens.

The Symphony offers repertoire ranging from the great orchestral masterworks to music from today’s most prominent composers, highlighted by the annual American Composers Festival and a series of multimedia concerts called “Music Unwound.” Five seasons ago, the Symphony launched the highly successful opera and vocal initiative, “Symphonic Voices.” It also offers a popular Pops season, enhanced by state-of-the-art video and sound, led by Principal Pops Conductor Richard Kaufman, who celebrates 25 years with the orchestra in 2015-16. Each Symphony season also includes Café Ludwig, a chamber music series; an educational Family Musical Mornings series; and Sunday Casual Connections, an orchestral matinee series offering rich explorations of selected works led by St.Clair.

Founded in 1978 as a collaboration between California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), and North Orange County community leaders led by Marcy Mulville, the Symphony performed its first concerts at Fullerton’s Plummer Auditorium as the Pacific Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of then-CSUF orchestra conductor Keith Clark. Two seasons later, the Symphony expanded its size and changed its name to Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Then in 1981-82, the orchestra moved to Knott’s Berry Farm for one year. The subsequent four seasons, led by Clark, took place at Santa Ana High School auditorium where the Symphony also made its first six acclaimed recordings. In September 1986, the Symphony moved to the new Orange County Performing Arts Center, where Clark served as music director until 1990, and since 1987, the orchestra has additionally presented a summer outdoor series at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (formerly Verizon Wireless Amphitheater). In 2006-07, the Symphony moved into the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, with striking architecture by Cesar Pelli and acoustics by Russell Johnson—and in 2008, inaugurated the hall’s critically acclaimed 4,322-pipe William J. Gillespie Concert Organ. The orchestra embarked on its first European tour in 2006, performing in nine cities in three countries.

The 2015-16 season sees the continuation of a recent slate of recordings of works commissioned and performed by the Symphony, including William Bolcom’s Songs of Lorca and Prometheus and James Newton Howard’s I Would Plant a Tree, plus his Violin Concerto featuring James Ehnes. In 2014-15, Elliot Goldenthal released a recording of his Symphony in G# Minor, written for and performed by the Symphony. In 2013-14, the Symphony released Richard Danielpour’s Toward a Season of Peace and Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna; in 2012-13, Michael Daugherty’s Mount Rushmore—all three commissioned and performed by the Symphony. The Symphony has also commissioned and recorded An American Requiem by Danielpour and Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio by Goldenthal featuring Yo-Yo Ma. Other recordings have included collaborations with such composers as Lukas Foss and Toru Takemitsu. Other leading composers commissioned by the Symphony include Paul Chihara, Daniel Catán, Laura Karpman, William Kraft, Ana Lara, Tobias Picker, Christopher Theofanidis, Frank Ticheli and Chen Yi.

In both 2005 and 2010, the Symphony received the prestigious ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Also in 2010, a study by the League of American Orchestras, “Fearless Journeys,” included the Symphony as one of the country’s five most innovative orchestras. The Symphony’s award-winning education programs benefit from the vision of St.Clair and are designed to integrate the orchestra and its music into the community in ways that stimulate all ages. The Symphony’s Class Act program has been honored as one of nine exemplary orchestra education programs by the National Endowment for the Arts and the League of American Orchestras. The list of instrumental training initiatives includes Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra, Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble and Pacific Symphony Santiago Strings as well as Santa Ana Strings.

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