Pacific Symphony to Present THE PLANETS as Part of Summer Festival, 7/13

As grand and shimmering as the stars above, the powerful music of Gustav Holst's "The Planets" soars under the night sky at Pacific Symphony's second concert of the Summer Festival 2013, presented by Hoag, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. With stunning images of space from NASA projected on the big screen to complement Holst's sweeping music, this event is sure to inspire awe in both the magnificence of the universe and the wonder of music. Led by Guest Conductor Case Scaglione, assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic and winner of the Conductor's Prize by the Solti Foundation U.S., this majestic composition follows works by the beloved Mozart, beginning with his energetic Overture to "The Magic Flute." The brilliance of youth is then magnified when violin virtuoso Caroline Goulding, just 20 years old, performs Mozart's serene yet exotic Violin Concerto No. 5, which he composed at the young age of 19.

"The Planets" takes place Saturday, July 13, at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $25 (lawn seating) to $104 (orchestra seating); children under 14 are half price in most sections with the purchase of an adult ticket. Guests are welcome to picnic on the grounds of the amphitheater starting at 6 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Mozart composed five violin concertos during his "year of the violin" before he made the decision to pursue the piano for his own virtuosic displays and performing career. However, his prodigious talents with strings and his deep affinity for the violin shine through in his chamber music, symphonies and especially in this fifth concerto, perhaps the most loved and frequently performed.

"Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major is truly one of my favorite pieces to play!" says violinist Goulding. "It is filled with vibrant characters and emits a radiant beauty that particularly draws one into Mozart's world. Intertwined within the hearts of its characters (ranging from the noble hero, to the innocent, playful child, to the teasing Turkish gypsy), is a clear vision of true hope, courage and love that can tragically diminish with age. This piece especially resonates with me for its purity, spontaneity and humor immersed in all of its depth. There seems to be a sort of spunk and snappiness to it that I particularly enjoy as well."

The very first sounds the Symphony and Music Director Carl St.Clair heard reverberate through the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall the summer before its opening in 2006 were from "Jupiter"-a movement from Holst's awe-inspiring "Planets" suite. It was emotional and profound for the musicians, who were rehearsing in preparation for a performance at the Symphony's Summer Festival 2006 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Symphony audiences had a chance to hear the dramatic music in its entirety in the concert hall in December 2008, but the upcoming summer 2013 concert is the first since then.

Catalogued as a "Suite for Large Orchestra," Holst's "The Planets" is a remarkable seven-movement work, which uses mood and personality as the driving force behind its success and popularity. From the sparkling notes of the celesta, harp and glockenspiel in "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" to the pounding rhythms of "Mars, the Bringer of War" to the charming English folk tunes of "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity," each movement of this 50-minute piece conveys the affects and emotions the planets have on the human psyche.

The concert's violinist, Goulding, has been garnering praise from musical colleagues and critics since her professional debut at the age of 13, when she won the Aspen Music Festival's Concerto Competition. She has performed as a soloist with some of North America's premier orchestras as well as appearing in recital at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, the Kennedy Center, Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, among others. In 2011 Goulding was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 2009 she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was the recipient of the Helen Armstrong Violin Fellowship. That same year, Goulding received a Grammy nomination for her debut recording on the Telarc label, which spent several weeks on Billboard's Classical Chart. A past recipient of the Stradivari Society, Goulding currently plays the General Kyd Stradivarius (c. 1720), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.

"The most rewarding aspect of performing-whether it be with an orchestra or in a more intimate chamber music setting-is the intrinsic connection established among everyone involved, both musicians and audience," says Goulding. "Ideally, I think the experience should invoke a communal eagerness to act; both in the literal sense, as in applause, and in a more spiritual and inward sense.

"I am greatly looking forward to performing with Pacific Symphony!" she adds.

American conductor Scaglione began his tenure as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic in September 2011 and made his subscription debut in November 2012, stepping in for Kurt Masur. During the 2012-13 season, he visited the Lyric Opera of Chicago to work with Sir Andrew Davis on a production of Strauss' "Elektra" and led a production of "La Traviata" at Palm Beach Opera. He also made his Asian debut with the Guangzhou Symphony and China Philharmonic at the personal invitation of Maestro Long Yu. During summer 2013, Scaglione returns to the Sinfonia por el Peru to conduct a production of Britten's "Turn of the Screw" at the Siena Music Festival in Italy. From 2008-11, Scaglione was music director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles, where he founded 360° Music, an educational outreach program, which brought the orchestra to inner city schools.

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