30 Years of Musical Mastery
Three decades ago – before the internet, social media and hybrid cars – Carl St.Clair raised his baton to lead Pacific Symphony for the first time. Now the longest-tenured music director of any major orchestra in the U.S., St.Clair celebrates his 30thanniversary with the orchestra during the 2019-20 season.
“More than celebrating me,” he commented, “this season is an opportunity to recognize the composers, conductors, works, soloists, and the community: all those that stood beside me these years at Pacific Symphony and before I came to Orange County in 1990.”
Recently, St.Clair took time out from his busy schedule to talk about each program on the 12-concert classics series.
OPENING NIGHT ▪ CARMINA BURANA (Sept. 26-28)
St.Clair programmed two spectacular choral works with Pacific Chorale to open the season. “Beethoven’s Choral Fantasyis a piece that doesn’t get played that often,” admitted St.Clair. “It will honor the 250thanniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Also on that program is Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, which makes for a tremendous opening night.”
TCHAIKOVSKY’S “PATHÉTIQUE” (Oct. 17-19)
“I wanted to feature our new concertmaster Dennis Kim this season,” said St.Clair. “The Stadivarius violin Dennis plays is the instrument that premiered Tzigane.” The program also holds John Williams Tributes! for Seiji, honoring two of St.Clair’s mentors—composer John Williams and conductor Seiji Ozawa—as well as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony Pathétique,which St.Clair conducted on his first program with Pacific Symphony.
RHAPSODY IN BLUE (Nov. 14-16)
Pacific Symphony has performed Chadwick’s “Jubilee” from Symphonic Sketchesbefore, but here the piece is in the context of a completely American program that also features both Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blueand An American in Parisalong with Pacific Symphony premieres of two works by Florence Price, the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer. St.Clair promised, “This is a colorful program, and I think it should be well received.”
BEETHOVEN’S SEVENTH (Dec. 5-7)
“I invited Elliot Goldenthal to compose something for this anniversary season. There is an hour-long YouTube clip of adagios from his film scores. They’re gut-wrenching and some of his best music. I asked him to write an adagio similar to some of those movie adagios.” The world premiere of Goldenthal’s Adagio for Carl’s 30thwill open a program that also holds Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Vadim Kolodenko and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, which St.Clair conducted on his first concert with Pacific Symphony as Music Director and his mentor, Leonard Bernstein conducted on his final concert.
BEETHOVEN’S VIOLIN CONCERTO (Jan. 16-18, 2020)
The Beethoven birthday celebration continues with the composer’s Violin Concerto performed by Clara-Jumi Kang, who “just won the prestigious Indianapolis International Violin Competition. She comes to us highly recommended,” commented St.Clair. The program also holds Dvorák’s Eighth Symphony.
LEFEVRE PLAYS RAVEL (Feb. 6-8, 2020)
Le Tombeau de Couperinby Ravel opens an all French program. St.Clair wanted to feature the Symphony’s principal oboist, Jessica Pearlman. “This is a beautiful piece,” he declared, “very much like chamber music. And our pianist for the evening, Alain LeFèvre, has been with us a lot. He plays this concerto—Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major—like an animal. It’s not the delicate wallflower with a little tick of jazz when he plays it.” The program concludes with Symphonie Fantastiqueby Berlioz, a true pièce de résistance.
HADELICH PLAYS PAGANINI (Feb. 27-29, 2020)
“Augustin Hadelich just did the Bernstein Serenade with us last season. He’s an impeccable player,” St.Clair exclaimed. Hadelich will perform Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 on a concert that opens with Prospero’s Roomby the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse, a close colleague of St.Clair. “I’ve known Rouse since 1978 at University of Michigan,” remarked St.Clair. “He’s probably the smartest man on planet. He’s got an incredible memory, and knowledge about just about everything.” Concluding the concert will be Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony.
BEETHOVEN’S PIANO CONCERTOS (March 19-21, 2020)
Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle is the centerpiece of Pacific Symphony’s celebration of the 250thanniversary of the composer’s birth. St.Clair selected Alexander Romanovsky as the soloist of the cycle, commenting “Romanovsky played the Prokofiev Second Piano Concerto in the Symphony’s 2017-18 season. I’ve done about four different concertos with him in various places. He’s one of the greatest pianists I’ve ever heard.”
OTELLO (April 23, 25, 28, 2020)
“Otellowas the first Verdi opera I ever conducted,” imparted St.Clair. “Our tenor, Carl Tanner, just recently sang the role of Otello at the Metropolitan Opera. And we have Kelebogile Besong in the role of Desdemona. I think their voices will combine beautifully.”
YANG PLAYS RACHMANINOFF (May 7-9, 2020)
“Schumann’s Fourth – I love it,” St.Clair stated emphatically. Guest conductor José Luis Gomez leads a program that includes Margariteñacomposed by fellow Venezuelan Inocente Carreño and pianist Joyce Yang playing Rachmaninoff’s virtuosic Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
TAO PLAYS MOZART (May 28-30, 2020)
“Frank Ticheli was our first composer-in-residence, and I invited him to write a brief piece for the audience and me,” commented St.Clair. “So the audience will perform the world premiere of Ticheli’s Concerto for Audiencetogether with me.” After this rousing opener, Conrad Tao, whom St.Clair describes as “a fan favorite,” will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor. The concert concludes with the Fourth Symphony of Brahms.
SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND (June 11-13, 2020)
The season concludes with Mahler’s magnificent Symphony of a Thousand. St.Clair remarked, “We’ve done this work once before; we did it in the other hall.” The Symphony of a Thousandis a fitting capstone to Carl St.Clair’s carefully curated 30thanniversary season. It promises to be as exciting and remarkable as his three-decade tenure as Music Director has been.