Interchanging Idioms

Beethoven’s crowning achievement, the epic Symphony No. 9, “Choral,” featuring the soul-stirring “Ode to Joy,” brings Pacific Symphony ’s classical season to a memorable close in a variety of ways. First! The concert, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, features a monumental fusion of orchestra and voices that includes Pacific Chorale and four world-class opera singers; plus, two timely works by Frank Ticheli: “Rest” (world premiere version for strings) and “Radiant Voices” provide a stunning prelude. Taking place Thursday-Saturday, May 31-June 2, at 8 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, this concert is also part of the Symphony’s Music Unwound series and includes a display of Beethoven-inspired artwork by local artists who responded to the call: “OC Can You Create?” A preview talk by composer Ticheli begins at 7 p.m. Second! The Symphony, in association with Segerstrom Center for the Arts, presents the very first “ Pacific Symphony PlazaCast ,” a live ...

The orchestra also Tackles Schubert's Last Symphony --His Ninth, "the Great." Young genius takes the spotlight for “Schubert’s Ninth,” as Pacific Symphony’s Music Director Carl St.Clair leads this concert featuring great accomplishments in music both written and performed by prodigies. Franz Schubert wrote nine symphonies by the time of his death at the age of 31. His final Symphony No. 9, “The Great C Major,” is claimed by experts to be the first towering masterpiece to follow Beethoven’s Ninth, proving that great symphonies could still be written. Straddling both the Classical and Romantic eras, Schubert’s Ninth has the driving power and profundity of Beethoven with the poetic imagination and emotional ardor of the new age, providing a memorable finale to the concert. Also on the program, the lyrical melodies and rapid passagework of Mendelssohn’s scintillating Piano Concerto No. 1, which he wrote at age 20, are performed by California native, virtuoso Andrew von Oeyen....

Number of available spots/rehearsals double for performance of selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” Last season, Pacific Symphony asked “OC Can You Play With Us?” and got a resounding and positive response from community musicians across Orange County. This year, back by popular demand, the Symphony is offering four sessions over two nights for adult amateur musicians (ages 22 and older) to perform alongside the orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Carl St.Clair. Taking place Monday, April 30, and Tuesday, May 1, at 7 p.m., this year’s event offers twice the number of spots—bringing the number of musicians to 200—for a unique opportunity to rehearse and perform selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” on the stage of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Although the program is considered full, the Symphony is pulling from a waiting list up until the event dates. Friends, fans and interested observers are invited to attend this workshop-style event...

Highlights include the “Wicked Divas,” Amy Grant, Kenny G, Gladys Knight, “The Midtown Men,” a night of Gershwin, and a live orchestral accompaniment to the film “Singin’ in the Rain” 27, 2012—Come over to the lighter side of Pacific Symphony, as it launches an exciting 2012-13 Pops season starring big-name guest artists, spectacular shows and some of the most treasured songs and genres of our time. From the “Empress of Soul,” Gladys Knight, to Broadway showstoppers, the “Wicked Divas,” next season’s Pops audiences are in for a special treat! Spend Valentine’s Day with Kenny G, Christmas with Amy Grant and end the season with a little “Singin’ in the Rain”–on the big screen, accompanied by the sumptuous sounds of the orchestra. The Symphony’s Pops season, led by Principal Pops Conductor Richard Kaufman, also includes Broadway hits sung by four stars from the original cast of “Jersey Boys,” and an evening devoted to the music of the legendary Gershwin brothers, featuring some of the mos...

Power, passion and melodious music fill the concert hall when dynamic virtuoso Hector Olivera performs the final organ recital of Pacific Symphony’s 2011-12 “Pedals and Pipes” series showcasing the majestic 4,322-piped William J. Gillespie Concert Organ. The Times Reporter describes an evening with Olivera as: “An event, a happening, a joyful celebration of the sheer power and pressure that a true virtuoso like Hector Olivera can unleash in a concert hall.” Born in Buenos Aires, Olivera began playing the pipe organ at age 3, and at age 5 played for the legendary Eva Perón. Since attending The Juilliard School of Music, his passionate and personal interpretations of both classical and popular music have earned him standing ovations around the world. Taking full advantage of the organ’s versatility, Olivera performs works by Bach, Clarke/Purcell, Franck, Liszt, a little improvisation and more for a one-night-only concert, Sunday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Conc...

Concert features professional singers; talented students from Chapman University; plus costumes, props and projected scenery The captivating fairy tale opera, “Hansel and Gretel,” comes to life in full orchestral and vocal color for Pacific Symphony’s Family Musical Mornings’ unique production of Humperdinck’s beloved opera, created just for kids. Kicking off the Symphony’s new opera-vocal initiative—which includes a production of Puccini’s “La Bohème” this April and “Tosca” in February 2013—this 45-minute performance includes original narration and dialogue to introduce children to the beautiful and powerful instrument, the voice. Led by Assistant Conductor Maxim Eshkenazy, the orchestra and singers tell the familiar Brothers Grimm story of two siblings who venture into a magical forest to find a gingerbread house made of candy. But, beware! A wicked witch wants to turn them into a snack! Staged with costumes, props and scenery projected on the big screen. Presented by Farmers and Mer...

GIVES STUDENTS DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF COMPOSER AND HIS “NEW WORLD SYMPHONY” Thanks to a generous (and rare) grant from the National Endowment of Humanities (NEH), Pacific Symphony is about to dive into an exciting new education initiative—“Dvořák and America”—led by Music Director Carl St.Clair and developed by New York-based author/scholar and Pacific Symphony artistic advisor, Joseph Horowitz. The project links symphonic performance with humanities content to provide in-depth exploration to deepen students’ understanding and connection to Dvořák’s “New World Symphony.” The project is also an extension of the Symphony’s innovative “Music Unwound” series, which endeavors to contextualize music to provide deeper emotional and intellectual engagement of the audience. While “Music Unwound,” now in its third year, has previously targeted adults, this latest incarnation targets for the first time a younger segment and includes Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO), plus hundreds of Irvi...

Plus, two premieres by Grammy-winning composer Michael Daugherty (one featuring Grammy-winning organist Paul Jacobs) and Barber’s “Adagio for Strings Passion, premieres and the pursuit of perfection entwine as Pacific Symphony welcomes remarkable Israeli virtuoso Vadim Gluzman for Tchaikovsky’s heartrending Violin Concerto. Gluzman, “one of the world’s top violinists” according to The Morning Call, delivers the rich beauty, graceful lyricism and show-stopping cadenzas of the concerto on the 1680 “ex-Leopold Auer” Stradivarius, the same violin that inspired its creation. Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, the concert opens with the world premiere of award-winning composer Michael Daugherty’s “The Gospel According to Sister Aimee,” written for organ, brass and percussion and performed on the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ by world-renowned organist and Symphony favorite Paul Jacobs, who also performs a postlude. Following Daugherty’s new work is one of the most popular and frequ...

Highlights include some of classical music’s top talent: pianists André Watts, Lang Lang and Conrad Tao; violinists Alisa Weilerstein, James Ehnes and Tianwa Yang; organist Paul Jacobs; and guest conductors Alexander Shelley, Garry Walker, Aziz Shokhakivov and Mei-Ann Chen Music Director Carl St.Clair and Pacific Symphony launch the Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation Classical Series and special events for 2012-13—an exceptional and diverse season designed to stimulate the mind, touch the heart and leave audiences uplifted. Embracing traditional repertoire, while introducing bright new interpretations, inventive staging and the best in established and emerging guest artists, the line-up includes numerous highlights. Among these are three new innovative Music Unwound programs: “Come to the Cabaret,” Mozart’s Requiem and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”; a continuation of the opera initiative that last season—“Symphonic Voices”—featuring Puccini’s “Tosca”; critically acclaimed Am...