Thursday, November 14, 2019 @ 8 p.m.Friday, November 15, 2019 @ 8 p.m.Saturday, November 16, 2019 @ 8 p.m.Segerstrom Center for the ArtsRenée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

Mei-Ann Chen, conductorAaron Diehl, piano

2019 NOV

r H A P S O d Y I N b L u E2019-20 HAL & JEANETTE SEGERSTROM FAMILY FOUNDATION CLASSICAL SERIES

OFFICIAL HOtEL OFFICIAL MuSIC StAtIONOFFICIAL tv StAtION

“JubILEE” FrOM SYMPHONIC SKETCHES

DANCES IN THE CANEBRAKESNimble FeetTropical NoonSilk Hat and Walking Cane

PIANO CONCErtO IN ONE MOvEMENtAaron Diehl

RHAPSODY IN BLUEAaron Diehl

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

Chadwick

Price

Price

Intermission

Gershwin

Gershwin

This concert is being recorded for broadcast on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2019, at 7 p.m. on Classical KUSC.

This concert has been generously sponsored by thethe Nicholas Endowment.

The Friday night performance has been generously sponsored by Four Seasons resort Maui at wailea.

The Saturday night performance has been generouslysponsored by viking river Cruises.

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In looking for the connections between the important American composers George Chadwick, Florence Price and George Gershwin, we can draw a timeline from the last-born, Gershwin, straight back to the earliest, Chadwick, and extend it further, surprisingly, to Antonin Dvořák. That line has special relevance this year, the 400th anniversary of the year when Africans were first brought to the colonies in chains and the American slave trade began.

Born seven years before the Civil War’s opening shots, Chadwick rose to prominence in Boston, a bastion of high culture and progressive thought that was home to the young nation’s best orchestra and its leading music school, the New England Conservatory. As Chadwick went on to become an instructor and then director of the conservatory, his students went on to become the most important American composers of the 19th Century. One of the conservatory’s brightest stars was an African-American woman from Arkansas named Florence Price.

George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898, eleven years after Price. Though New York lagged Boston in highbrow classical music, as a center of commerce and entertainment it was a cultural crossroads. There, in the home of the original Tin Pan Alley, every conceivable kind of music filled the air, and Gershwin absorbed everything he heard. He was fascinated by similarities between the sounds of jazz and blues and the Jewish folk songs he’d grown up with. And that, surprisingly, brings us back to Dvořák.

Dvořák had come to New York in 1892 at the invitation of the progressive-minded Jeannette Thurber to serve as director of her newly-founded National Conservatory of Music. Thurber was a strong believer in

PROGRAM NOTEScultural diversity, and knew Dvořák was an advocate for incorporating folk sources in classical music. For his part, Dvořák—when he heard the richness of what we now call “roots music”—was baffled by the American intelligentsia’s dismissal of folk music as primitive. In interviews he insisted that the future of American music should be founded on what were called “Negro melodies,” a classification that also included American Indian tunes. “These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States,” he told an interviewer in the New York Herald. “These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them.” In Chadwick, Price and Gershwin, we can see that slow turn: Chadwick, strongly influenced by German composers, formal and programmatic; Price “pushing the envelope” with spiritual themes and folk idioms; and Gershwin, the autodidact, breaking rules and using jazz and blues elements without limit.

george Chadwickborn: 1854. Lowell, Mass. died: 1931. Boston, Mass.

“Jubilee” from Symphonic SketchesComposed: 1895-1904world premiere: Feb. 7, 1908, with Karl Muck conducting

Most recent Pacific Symphony performance:April 17, 2002

Instrumentation: 2 flutes including piccolo, 2 oboes including English horn, 3 clarinets including bass clarinet, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones; timpani; percussion; harp; strings

Estimated duration: 8 minutes

Florence Priceborn: 1887. Little Rock, Ark. died: 1953. Chicago, Ill.

Dances in the Canebrakes Composed: 1953

First Pacific Symphony performance:Today

Instrumentation: 2 flutes including piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets including bass clarinet, 2 bassoons; 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones; timpani; percussion; harp; alto sax; strings

Estimated duration: 9 minutes

Piano Concert in One Movement Composed: 1932-34

world Premiere: 1934, with Price as soloist

First Pacific Symphony performance:Today

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones; timpani; percussion; strings; solo piano

Estimated duration: 18 minutes

George Chadwick: “Jubilee” from Symphonic Sketches

Born in 1854 in Lowell, Mass., George Chadwick studied organ and music theory in Boston, and at age 22 moved to Germany for studies at the Leipzig Conservatory. Returning to the

U.S. three years later, he joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory, teaching music theory. In 1897 he was appointed

director, a post he held for almost 35 years. During that time, he emerged not only as a leader of the “New England Group” of American composers, but also as a leader in the development of American classical music, teaching composers including Horatio Parker, Henry Hadley and Frederick Converse.

Chadwick’s easy way with melody and his skill as an orchestrator are evident in his “Symphonic Sketches,” a suite of four movements he composed between 1895 and 1904. Chadwick’s music is often programmatic, and here each movement is keynoted by a poem; the descriptively titled “Jubilee” is the first movement, and is dominated by a beautiful tune that sounds palpably American, but it also incorporates a Spanish habanera rhythm. Writing for the website ArtsFuse.org, commentator Jonathan Blumhofer astutely notes that the result “…smells pretty strongly of Dvořák’s influence. It shares an exuberant mood and key signature with the Carnival Overture…” High praise, piquantly phrased.

Florence Price: “Dances in the Canebrakes”Piano Concerto in One Movement

Born in Little Rock, Ark., Florence Price had a childhood that might have resembled that of any European musical prodigy—except that she was American, black and female. When no one in

town would accept her for early music instruction, her mother gave her lessons. She graduated high school when she was 14

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george gershwinborn: 1898. Brooklyn, N.Y. died: 1937. Los Angeles, Calif.

Rhapsody in Blue Composed: 1924

world Premiere: Feb. 12, 1924, with Paul Whiteman’s band and Gershwin on piano

Most recent Pacific Symphony performance:April 10, 2016, with Carl St.Clair conducting

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets including bass clarinet, 2 bassoons; 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani; percussion; 2 alto sax, tenor sax; banjo; strings; solo piano

Estimated duration: 16 minutes

An American in ParisComposed: 1928

world Premiere: Dec. 13, 1928, at Carnegie Hall with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic

Most recent Pacific Symphony performance:July 20, 2014, with Carl St.Clair conducting

Instrumentation: 3 flutes including piccolo, 3 oboes including English horn, 3 clarinets including bass clarinet, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani; percussion; celesta; alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax; strings

Estimated duration: 16 minutes

as valedictorian of her class. For advanced musical study, there was only one possible choice: the New England Conservatory, where she enrolled in 1904 and distinguished herself, earning diplomas in organ studies and education.

Price’s career as a composer was, and remains, a perplexing combination of creative achievement and public neglect. In the music world, she was acclaimed, becoming the first African-American woman to have a major work performed by a major American orchestra (her first symphony, premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). But accomplishment did not bring wider recognition or financial security and to cover expenses she was forced to accompany silent film screenings and compose advertising jungles. In a 1943 letter to the conductor Serge Koussevitzky, she wrote, “I have two handicaps. I am a woman and I have some Negro blood in my veins.”

“Dances in the Canebrakes” is one of Price’s late works, composed the year she died and later orchestrated by the American composer William Grant Still. A canebrake can refer to any marshy stand of dense, high-growing grasses, but the title takes on added meaning when we know that Price was referring to stands of sugar cane. Her music is imbued with the African-American experience, in this case expressing the tradition of music and dance as ways of sustaining backbreaking farm work.

Price herself performed the premiere of her Piano Concerto in One Movement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1934. Its title notwithstanding, the concerto proceeds in the traditional three sections, fast-slow-faster, like movements without pause—possibly reflecting Chadwick’s influence. The final movement offers a juba, a folk dance popular before the Civil War.

George Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is usually cited as the most popular and widely performed of all American classical works. Gershwin composed it as a commission for the influential

conductor Paul Whiteman, who asked him for piece with the characteristics of a classical piano concerto, but suitable for inclusion in an all-jazz concert. Scored for solo piano and jazz band, Rhapsody in Blue combines elements of classical music with jazz effects and formal elements including “blue notes”—especially flatted third and seventh notes of the diatonic scale.

Its premiere, when Gershwin was 25, took place in New York with the Palais Royal Orchestra under Paul Whiteman’s baton. Billed as “An Experiment in Modern Music,” the event attracted such luminaries as John Phillip Sousa and Sergei Rachmaninoff. The “experiment” proved long and tedious, with the audience’s attention reportedly wandering until the Rhapsody’s opening clarinet glissando brought an electrified hush to the hall. Not surprisingly, the work’s melodic richness and the rhythmic drive kept everyone spellbound.

According to the account that Gershwin reported to his first biographer, Isaac Goldberg, the Rhapsody was inspired by a train ride he took only five weeks before the piece was due. “It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer—I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise… And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper—the complete construction of the Rhapsody, from beginning to end.”

George Gershwin: “An American in Paris”“An American in Paris” is rhapsodic and buoyant, a combination of characteristically French textures and can-can rhythms, a traditional tune or two, and Gershwin’s usual melodic and harmonic inventiveness. It’s not surprising that Gershwin manages to make American blues scales sound Gallic, as French composers were already using the flatted third and seventh notes of the scale in their own works. Besides, remember—this is an American in Paris, so we hear the Parisian scene through Yankee ears.

The work is structured in five rough sections that form a loosely arched structure, A-B-A in form. But it is best heard without an awareness of these formal elements. Gershwin’s music takes us to jazz joints and dance clubs, and it begins with one of the most vivid streetscapes in all of music, an evocation of a Parisian traffic jam that is simultaneously beautiful and hilarious in its verisimilitude.

Though he was already doing well as a songwriter, he young Gershwin had so far experienced only mixed success with his serious compositions, and critics were less than enthusiastic about “An American in Paris.” But its joy and piquant realism enthralled listeners. Gershwin had even brought a passel of authentic Parisian car horns for the premiere.

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.

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Praised for her dynamic, passionate conducting style, Taiwanese-American conductor Mei-Ann Chen is acclaimed for infusing orchestras with energy, enthusiasm and high-level music-making, galvanizing audiences and communities alike. Music director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta since 2011, Chen has been named principal guest conductor of Austria’s Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz, and the first-ever artistic partner of Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO), both effective September 2019. She also has served as artistic director and conductor for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival since 2016. Highly regarded as a compelling communicator and an innovative leader both on and off the podium, and a sought-after guest conductor, she continues to expand her relationships with orchestras worldwide. Upcoming highlights for 2019-20 season include debuts with Germany’s NDR Radiophilharmonie and Darmstedt Staatsorchester, Interlochen Arts Festival in Michigan, Netherland’s Residentie Orkest at The Hague, New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts, Norway’s Oslo Philharmonic, Spain’s Basque National Orchestra, Switzerland’s Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and at Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying, the world’s largest performing arts center since 2018) with Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra. In her ninth season as music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Chen returns to Styriarte’s Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz for multiple programs as the new principal guest conductor and to ROCO as

the new artistic partner. Chen will also lead National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra’s 2019 Summer Festival Youth Orchestra on a four concert Tour in Taiwan and Vietnam, as well as return engagements with the symphony orchestras of America’s Detroit, Pacific and Tucson, Sweden’s Gävle, Helsingborgs, Malmö and Norrlands Operan, and Finland’s Tampere Filharmonia. North American guesting credits include appearances with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, National, Nashville, Oregon, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, to name a few. Among her overseas guesting credits are the symphonies of Austria’s Tonkünstler in Vienna; BBC Scottish; Brazil’s São Paulo (OSESP); Denmark’s National, Aalborg, Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen Philharmonic; Germany’s Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe; Mexico’s National; Norway’s Radio and Trondheim; Sweden’s Gothenburg and Norrköping; the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw; Switzerland’s Basel; Turkey’s Bilkent; and Taiwan’s Philharmonic. Chen’s U.S. summer music festival credits include Aspen, Grant Park, Grand Teton, Ravinia, Texas and Wintergreen. As music director of Chicago Sinfonietta, Chen has made two recordings for Cedille Records: “Project W - Works by Diverse Women Composers” (March 2019), featuring the world premiere recordings of newly commissioned American works by Jennifer Higdon, Clarice Assad, Reena Esmail and Jessie Montgomery, and William Grant Still’s orchestral arrangement of Florence Price’s Dances in the Canebrakes; and “Delights and Dances” (June 2013) featuring world

premiere recordings of works by Michael Abels, An-Lun Huang, Randall Craig Fleischer’s arrangement of Bernstein’s West Side Story Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra and Benjamin Lees’ Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, featuring the Harlem Quartet. This past November, Innova Records released River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s debut album “ROCO: Visions Take Flight,” praised by ArtsFuse.org as “one of those rarest of accomplishments: a contemporary music album that’s a sheer joy to listen to, from start to finish.” Chen, a frequent guest conductor with the orchestra, conducts the CD which features the world premiere recordings of five of the orchestra’s commissioned works. Recognized as someone who has redefined the orchestra experience, amongst Chen’s honors and awards are being named one of the 2015 Top 30 Influencers by Musical America, (the bible of the performing arts industry); the 2012 Helen M. Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras; Winner, the 2007 Taki Concordia Fellowship; and 2005 First Prize Winner of the prestigious Malko Competition. Chen is the recipient of several ASCAP awards for innovative programming during her tenure as the music director of Chicago Sinfonietta & Portland Youth Philharmonic in Oregon (2002-07). Chen is also conductor laureate of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, having served as music director from 2010-16. Born in Taiwan, Chen came to the United States to study violin in 1989 and became the first student in New England Conservatory’s history to receive Master’s Degrees simultaneously in both violin and conducting. She later studied with Kenneth Kiesler at the University of Michigan, where she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting. Chen participated in the National Conductor Preview, National Conducting Institute, Aspen American Academy of Conducting and Pierre Monteux School.

mei-ann Chen

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A 34-year-old classically trained pianist and composer, Aaron Diehl has made an indelible mark on the jazz world over the last 15 years. Showing an affinity for early jazz and mid-20th century “third-stream” music, his latest evolution comes as he begins to tackle modern classical works, performing works by George Gershwin with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra and LA Philharmonic in the last year alone. Diehl has collaborated with living masters ranging from from NEA Jazz Master Benny Golson to 20th century classical titan Philip Glass, while establishing himself as one of the preeminent interpreters of the Great American Songbook in his own trio and with the vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. Jazz critics from The New York Times have extolled Diehl’s “melodic precision, harmonic erudition and elegant restraint,” while the same paper’s classical critics have noted, “Mr. Diehl plays magnificently.” His meticulously conceived performances, collaborations and compositions are refreshing as his highly personal aesthetic spearheads a union of tradition and original artistry, while bounding ahead on an uncharted course. Born in 1985 in Columbus, Ohio to a funeral director and a former Olympian turned education administrator, Diehl grew up in a nurturing musical environment. His grandfather, Arthur Baskerville, a pianist and trombonist was an early influence. He began studying classical piano at age 7, while his passion for jazz was further fueled while attending the Interlochen Arts Camp as a pre-teen, where he met the pianist Eldar Djangirov,

aaron Diehl

who exposed him to Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum recordings. At age 17, Diehl was a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, where he was noticed by Wynton Marsalis. Soon after, Diehl was invited to tour Europe with the Wynton Marsalis Septet (Marsalis has famously referred to him as “The Real Diehl.”) That Fall he would matriculate to the Juilliard School, studying with jazz pianists Kenny Barron and Eric Reed and classical pianist Oxana Yablonskaya. Diehl came to wider recognition in 2011 as winner of the American Pianists Association’s Cole Porter Fellowship, which included $50,000 in career development and a recording contract with the esteemed Mack Avenue Records. Diehl has been a staple of the New York jazz scene since 2007. His role as pianist and musical director for vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, the most arresting and authentic jazz vocalist to emerge in three decades, has enhanced his profile well beyond the jazz world. Shortly before Salvant released her highly acclaimed “WomanChild,” which featured Diehl and his trio, the pianist released his Mack Avenue debut, “The Bespoke Man’s Narrative,” a tribute of to the sophisticated classicism of the Modern Jazz Quartet; particularly the pianist John Lewis. At the time, the New York Daily News wrote, “Diehl, a rising star of jazz piano, has an individual talent so huge that one day he may extend the jazz tradition.” The Financial Times commented, “as sharp, opulent and stylish as the title might suggest. Diehl’s fluency is remarkable and his light-but-sensuous

touch oozes class without breaking boundaries.” Upon the release of his 2015 Mack Avenue album, “Space, Time, Continuum”—featuring special guests Golson and Joe Temperley—in some ways a reaction to the classicism of “Bespoke,” the New York Times reframed its prior appraisal. “Mr. Diehl, who once might have suggested an emissary from another time himself, has brilliantly advanced his art under current conditions.” The Irish Times noted, “his second studio album...hints at new horizons.” Golson told the Wall Street Journal, “He’s going to go the distance. He’s going to be one of the important ones.” Diehl’s first solo album, “Live at Caramoor” (2008), was a concert recorded at the Caramoor Festival. “Live at the Players” (2010) featured two of his trios: Quincy Davis and David Wong, and Paul Sikivie and Lawrence Leathers. He won the 2012 Prix du Jazz Classique from the Académie du Jazz for “Live at the Players”; the 2013 Jazz Journalists Award for Up-And-Coming Artist, and in 2014 was the Monterey Jazz Festival Commission Artist, becoming one of the youngest artists to receive that honor. For Monterey, he composed “Three Streams of Expression,” dedicated to Lewis. Diehl served in 2014-15 as music director for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s New Orleans Songbook series, performed in the 2014 New York premiere of Philip Glass’ complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, collaborated with the flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz (produced by Savannah Music Festival and Flamenco Festival). He served as the inaugural artistic director of the Catskill Jazz Factory in Tannersville, N.Y.

tHANK YOu tO Our SPONSOrS:

the Nicholas Endowment

We are most grateful to The Nicholas Endowment for their underwriting of Garrick Ohlsson, our piano soloist for this weekend’s concerts. Through generous gifts to the Symphony’s endowment fund, the Nicholas family has established a fund that will sponsor an outstanding guest pianist in each Pacific Symphony season. In addition, the Nicholas Endowment provides an annual gift to support the Symphony’s HEARTSTRINGS program, purchasing tickets and providing transportation for underserved populations to attend Pacific Symphony Family Concerts on Saturday mornings throughout the year. For their continuing support, we are truly grateful to the Nicholas Endowment.

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The 2019-20 season marks Music Director Carl St.Clair’s 30th year leading 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-budgeted orchestra formed in the United States in the last 50 years, which was recently elevated to the status of a Tier 1 orchestra by the League of American Orchestras—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. In April 2018, St.Clair led Pacific Symphony in its sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, as the finale to the Carnegie’s yearlong celebration of pre-eminent composer Philip Glass’ 80th birthday, ending in a standing ovation, with The New York Times calling the Symphony “a major ensemble!” He led Pacific Symphony on its first tour to China in May 2018, the orchestra’s first international tour since touring Europe in 2006. The orchestra made its national PBS debut in June 2018 on Great Performances with Peter Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” conducted by St.Clair. Among St.Clair’s many creative endeavors are the highly acclaimed American Composers Festival, which began in 2000; and the

opera initiative, “Symphonic Voices,” which continues for the ninth season in 2019-20 with Verdi’s Othello, following the concert-opera productions of Madame Butterfly, The Magic Flute, Aida, Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata, Tosca and La Bohème in previous seasons. 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 2016-17 season featured commissions by pianist/composer Conrad Tao and composer-in-residence Narong Prangcharoen, a follow-up to the recent slate of recordings of works commissioned and performed by the Symphony in recent years. These include William Bolcom’s Songs of Lorca and Prometheus (2015-16), Elliot Goldenthal’s Symphony in G-sharp Minor (2014-15), Richard Danielpour’s Toward a Season of Peace (2013-14), Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna (2012-13), and Michael Daugherty’s Mount Rushmore and The Gospel According to Sister Aimee (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 James Newton Howard, Zhou Long, Tobias Picker, Frank Ticheli, 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. 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, China, Thailand, Malaysia, 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. Carl St.Clair is a strong advocate of music education for all ages, and is internationally recognized for his distinguished career as a master teacher. He has been essential to the creation and implementation of the Symphony’s education and community engagement programs including Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles, Heartstrings, Sunday Matinées, OC Can You Play With Us?, arts-X-press and Class Act. In addition to his professional conducting career, St.Clair has worked with most major music schools across the country. In 2018, Chapman University President Danielle Struppa appointed St.Clair as a Presidential Fellow, working closely with the students of the College of the Performing Arts at Chapman University. St.Clair has been named “Distinguished Alumni in Residence” at the University of Texas Butler School of Music beginning 2019. And, for over over 25 years, he has had a continuing relationship with the USC Thornton School where he is artistic leader and principal conductor of the orchestral program.

Carl St.Clair

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Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair for the last 30 years, has been the resident orchestra of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for over a decade. Currently in its 41st season, the Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the U.S. in the last 50 years and 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. In April 2018, Pacific Symphony made its debut at Carnegie Hall as one of two orchestras invited to perform during a yearlong celebration of composer Philip Glass’ 80th birthday, and the following month the orchestra toured China. The orchestra made its national PBS debut in June 2018 on Great Performances with Peter Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” conducted by St.Clair. Presenting more than 100 concerts and events a year and a rich array of education and community engagement programs, the Symphony reaches more than 300,000 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. Nine seasons ago, the Symphony launched the highly successful opera initiative, “Symphonic Voices,” which continues in April 2020 with Verdi’s Otello. It also offers a popular Pops season, enhanced by state-of-the-art video and sound, led by Principal Pops Conductor Richard Kaufman. Each Symphony season also includes Café Ludwig, a chamber music series; an educational Family Musical Mornings series; and Sunday Matinées, an orchestral matinée 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, and from 1987-2016, the orchestra additionally presented a Summer Festival at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. In 2006, 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 2016-17 season continued St.Clair’s commitment to new music with commissions by pianist/composer Conrad Tao and former composer-in-residence Narong Prangcharoen. Recordings commissioned and performed by the Symphony include the release of William Bolcom’s Songs of Lorca and Prometheus in 2015-16, Richard Danielpour’s Toward a Season of Peace and Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna in 2013-14; and Michael Daugherty’s Mount Rushmore

and The Gospel According to Sister Aimee in 2012-13. In 2014-15, Elliot Goldenthal released a recording of his Symphony in G-sharp Minor, written for 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, James Newton Howard, 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 and community engagement 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. The Symphony also spreads the joy of music through arts-X-press, Class Act, Heartstrings, OC Can You Play With Us?, Santa Ana Strings, Strings for Generations and Symphony in the Cities.

PaCifiC SymPhony

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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 • Associate ConductorMary E. Moore Family Assistant Conductor Chair

F IR ST V IOL IN

Dennis KimConcertmaster; Eleanor and Michael Gordon Chair

Paul Manaster Associate Concertmaster

Jeanne Skrocki Assistant Concertmaster

Nancy Coade EldridgeChristine Frank Kimiyo TakeyaAyako SugayaAnn Shiau TenneyJoanna LeeRobert SchumitzkyAgnes GottschewskiDana FreemanAngel LiuJulie Ahn

SECOND V IOL IN

Bridget Dolkas*Elizabeth and John Stahr Chair

Jennise Hwang**Yen Ping LaiYu-Tong SharpAko KojianOvsep KetendjianLinda OwenSooah KimMarlaJoy WeisshaarAlice Miller-WrateShelly ShiHanbyul Jang

VIOL A

Meredith Crawford*Catherine and James Emmi Chair

Joshua Newburger**Carolyn RileyJohn AcevedoAdam NeeleyJulia StaudhammerJoseph Wen-Xiang ZhangCheryl GatesMargaret Henken

C E LLO

Warren Hagerty* Catherine and James Emmi Chair

Kevin Plunkett**John AcostaRobert VosLázló MezöIan McKinnellM. Andrew HoneaJennifer GossRudolph Stein

BASS

Douglas Basye**Christian KollgaardDavid Parmeter+Paul ZibitsDavid BlackAndrew BumatayConstance Deeter

FLUTE

Benjamin Smolen*Valerie and Hans Imhof Chair

Sharon O’ConnorCynthia Ellis

PI CCOLO

Cynthia Ellis

OBOE

Jessica Pearlman Fields*Suzanne R. Chonette Chair

Ted Sugata

ENGLI SH HORN

Lelie Resnick

CL ARI NET

Joseph Morris*The Hanson Family Foundation Chair

David Chang

BASS CL ARI NET

Joshua Ranz

BASSOON

Rose Corrigan*Elliott MoreauAndrew KleinAllen Savedoff

CONT R ABASSOON

Allen Savedoff

F RENCH HORN

Keith Popejoy*Adedeji OgunfoluKaylet Torrez**Elyse Lauzon

T RUMPET

Barry Perkins*Susie and Steve Perry Chair

Tony EllisDavid Wailes

T ROMBONE

Michael Hoffman*David Stetson

BASS T ROMBONE

Kyle Mendiguchia

TUBA

James Self*

T I MPANI

Todd Miller*

PERCUSSI ON

Robert A. Slack*

HARP

Mindy Ball*Michelle Temple

LI BR ARI AN

Brent Anderson

DI RECTOR OF PRODUCTION

Will Hunter

DI RECTOR OF MULTIMEDIA OPER AT I ONS

William Pruett

P A C I F I C S Y M P H O N Y

* Principal** Assistant Principal† On Leave

The musicians of Pacific Symphony are members of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 7.

N O V 2 0 1 9PacificSymphony.org 3