Henry Segerstrom News

Romantic and riveting: Pacific Symphony uncovers the intricate mastery of Johannes Brahms' chamber music during 'The Brilliance of Brahms,' the last Cafe Ludwig concert this season. Pianist Orli Shaham, whose playing the London's Guardian recently called 'perfection'performs and leads Symphony musicians in an array of Brahms' treasured classics for strings and piano with Concertmaster Raymond Kobler and Bridget Dolkas on violin, Robert Becker and Meredith Crawford on viola, and Timothy Landauer and Kevin Plunkett on cello. The program opens with the composer's Sonata No. 1 in E Minor for Cello and Piano, which paved the way for fully orchestrated cello concertos to come. Then, with expressive beauty and unlimited interpretive possibilities, Shaham performs Brahms' 'Six Pieces for Piano,' dedicated to the love of his life, Clara Schumann; the second to last work published during his lifetime, this piano set shows unprecedented fluidity and grace.

Eight-time Grammy winner and film/television sensation Gladys Knight and her famous soulful voice perform for the first time with Pacific Symphony during the orchestra's next Pops concert. For this concert, she'll be singing favorites such as 'Midnight Train to Georgia,' 'Every Beat of My Heart,' her James Bond single 'License to Kill' and 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine,' all backed by the lush sounds of the full symphony orchestra.

Strike up the (big) band for a one-of-a-kind concert experience as Pacific Symphony Pops celebrates the greatest team of collaborators in American music history: George and Ira Gershwin. 'The Gershwins: Here to Stay' is a unique multimedia event that illuminates the lives and music of the composer and his lyricist brother with home movies, original photos and rare audio and video footage.

In this week's featured regional orchestra of the week, we're thrilled to introduce you to the renowned Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra in Orange County, California!

It's a fond farewell for Pacific Symphony's beloved Assistant Conductor Maxim Eshkenazy, as he leads Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) in their 2012-13 'Spring Concert.' During his five-year tenure as music director of PSYO, Eshkenazy has enhanced the ensemble's creativity through unique collaborations, performances of contemporary music, interdisciplinary projects and its first international tour to his native country, Bulgaria. In 2012, the ensemble was named Youth Orchestra of the Year by Classics Alive, and a record-breaking 402 people auditioned for the current season. In the spirit of these accomplishments, the Pacific Chorale Honor Choir (PCHC), led by Robert Istad, joins PSYO (for the fourth time) in a performance of masterpieces and music that holds a personal connection to the maestro.

With its haunting depths, eerie chords and funereal power, the $3.1-million William J. Gillespie Concert Organ provides a chilling soundtrack to the 1925 classic horror film, 'The Phantom of the Opera,' for the second concert this season of Pacific Symphony's Pedals and Pipes series.

The beloved children's classic and highly-revered ballet, "Cinderella," is given a whole new, whimsical look with life-size puppets helping to tell the famous tale set to Serge Prokofiev's timeless music for Pacific Symphony's next Family Musical Mornings concert, presented by Farmers &Merchants Bank.

Enrollment applications are being accepted now for Segerstrom Center's Six Days of Broadway summer musical theater camp, which returns to the Center's campus June 24 through July 7.

Strike up the (big) band for a one-of-a-kind concert experience as Pacific Symphony Pops celebrates the greatest team of collaborators in American music history: George and Ira Gershwin. 'The Gershwins: Here to Stay' is a unique multimedia event that illuminates the lives and music of the composer and his lyricist brother with home movies, original photos and rare audio and video footage.

With its haunting depths, eerie chords and funereal power, the $3.1-million William J. Gillespie Concert Organ provides a chilling soundtrack to the 1925 classic horror film, 'The Phantom of the Opera,' for the second concert this season of Pacific Symphony's Pedals and Pipes series.

Pacific Symphony performs Puccini's passionate and beautiful music in its full glory for the orchestra's second semi-staged opera production. The new opera-vocal initiative 'Symphonic Voices' launched last season with three sold-old nights of 'La Boheme,' in an effort to bring opera back to Orange County following the loss of Opera Pacific. Inspired by Music Director Carl St.Clair's successful career as an opera conductor in Europe, the Symphony once again takes the music out of the pit and onto the stage to reveal the composer's brilliant orchestration, which paints the scenery and emotion behind the tragic tale. The production stars a cast of world-renowned opera singers, Pacific Chorale and the Southern California Children's Chorus.

It's a fond farewell for Pacific Symphony's beloved Assistant Conductor Maxim Eshkenazy, as he leads Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) in their 2012-13 'Spring Concert.' During his five-year tenure as music director of PSYO, Eshkenazy has enhanced the ensemble's creativity through unique collaborations, performances of contemporary music, interdisciplinary projects and its first international tour to his native country, Bulgaria. In 2012, the ensemble was named Youth Orchestra of the Year by Classics Alive, and a record-breaking 402 people auditioned for the current season. In the spirit of these accomplishments, the Pacific Chorale Honor Choir (PCHC), led by Robert Istad, joins PSYO (for the fourth time) in a performance of masterpieces and music that holds a personal connection to the maestro.

Segerstrom Center's Family Explorer Series opens with the Terrapin Puppet Theatre from Australia performing the moving and poetic play Boats on April 6 and 7 in Samueli Theater. Boats is the story about a man named Jof, as told by his friend Nic. These two life-long friends and mariners, who met through bizarre circumstances involving a chicken, a deserted island and a sombrero, escape their past and embrace the unknown future with a great sense of adventure.

Top off the old cliche of roses, chocolates and heart-shaped candies with the sexy, smooth sounds of saxophone sensation Kenny G, as he makes his debut with Pacific Symphony for a romantic holiday program this Valentine's Day. With a recording career that spans almost three decades and 23 albums, the Grammy Award-winning saxophonist has sold more than 75 million records worldwide (45 million in the U.S. alone) and enjoyed more than a dozen climbs to the top of Billboard's contemporary jazz chart.

The highly-respected students of Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble (PSYWE) have the rare first-time experience of performing with the magnificent 4,322 pipes of the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for their "Spring Concert." Composed for wind ensemble, soprano soloist and organ, Frank Ticheli's "Angels in the Architecture" becomes the centerpiece of the program and features 11-year-old vocalist Max Uehara and organist Kristen Lawrence. Inspired by the Sydney Opera House where it premiered, the piece explores the forces of the divine and evil on humanity. Led by Music Director Joshua Roach, PSYWE's second concert of the season takes place Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 each, general admission. For more information or to purchase tickets call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, will make its Segerstrom Center premiere May 7 - 19, 2013.