Anniversary of Note
Carl St.Clair’s 20th anniversary season as music director of the Pacific Symphony is underway; the orchestra just marked its 30th anniversary. In 2005, St.Clair led the ensemble on its first European tour. In 2006, the orchestra moved into its home at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. In 2008, St.Clair was also named general music director of the Komische Oper Berlin, founded in 1892, and concluded his tenure with the German National Theater and Staatskapelle in Weimar, where he led Wagner’s “Ring” cycle. He was the first non-European to hold that position, which gave him the distinction of simultaneously leading one of the newest orchestras in America and one of the oldest in Europe. He lives with his wife and three children in Laguna Beach.
How has the Pacific Symphony changed in these two decades?
The Pacific Symphony has accomplished something quite remarkable. It’s become an orchestra of national recognition that remains locally acclaimed. When I first came here, most people didn’t know they had a symphony orchestra. Now, the orchestra means more to the community. When we went to Europe, we were the torchbearer, a beacon, for the arts in Orange County.
You conduct all over. What sets your O.C. players apart?
Their versatile virtuosity. They play Oak Ridge Boys one night, Mahler the next, then with American Ballet Theatre, then go up to Hollywood for a film score. They play at a public school, they play chamber music. They play with Patti LuPone or Kenny Loggins, and with the Pacific Chorale. Their approach to new music, commissioned works, is incredible. That breadth is unique. And they seem to do it all with the same élan and ease and passion.
You’re applying new formats and visuals to the masterworks.
We received an Andrew Mellon grant of half a million dollars to be spent on audience engagement, to enhance the experience. In this economic time, to receive any grant is incredibly important. One upcoming program focuses on Tchaikovsky’s final thoughts. We’ll use film clips, actors, narrators—it’s completely scripted.
If—in addition to your present posts, of course—you were appointed director of, say, the Berlin Philharmonic, where in Orange County would you go to celebrate?
Most of my celebration time is family time. We might go to Irvine Spectrum Center, to Dave & Buster’s. The kids love it, I love it—I love cashing in my tickets. We love hanging out by the water. Doheny Beach. Main Beach in Laguna. The tide pools. We love going out to dinner—and we’re locally loyal. For Mexican, even though it’s moved to Crystal Cove Promenade, we head to Javier’s. Watermarc is new. Nick’s, because it has Etch A Sketches for the kids, and the Wedge is a great salad. The Lumberyard is a loud and exciting place. And we don’t mind heading down to Studio at the Montage as well. Our motto is: If we can’t find it in Laguna, we probably don’t need it.
Where do you take out-of-towners to show them the real O.C.?
Let’s put it this way: Anybody who’s come to visit, if we didn’t leave Laguna, they were never disappointed.
Details
Dave & Buster’s Irvine Spectrum Center, 71 Fortune Drive, Irvine, 949.727.0555; The Block at Orange, 20 City Blvd., Orange, 714.769.1515 • Doheny Beach Dana Harbor, along Del Obispo and Pacific Coast Highway, Dana Point, 949.496.6171 • Irvine Spectrum Center 71 Fortune Drive, Irvine, 949.753.5180 • Javier’s 7832 E. Coast Hwy., Newport Coast, 949.494.1239 • The Lumberyard 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach, 949.715.3900 • Main Beach Broadway and Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, 949.497.0706 • Nick’s 440 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, 949.376.8595 • Studio The Montage Laguna, 30801 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, 866.271.6953 • Watermarc 448 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, 949.376.6272
CARL ST.CLAIR CONDUCTS St.Clair’s new Music Unwound series uses varied formats and visual elements to highlight such masterworks as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique, which he presents Jan. 7-9. Feb. 4-6, he leads the orchestra and Pacific Chorale in an American program featuring music by Aaron Copland, Roy Harris and Kurt Weill and the world premiere of a commissioned work by Michael Daugherty. Feb. 25-27, he canvasses Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, with “21st-century enhancements,” and the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s Piano Concerto with soloist Jeffrey Biegel. Concerts take place in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.
