Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Orange County's premiere resident ballet company with an exciting gala performance where world-renowned ballet artists share their love and expertise of the craft with future, inspired young stars.
Great Performances and Pacific Symphony, led by music director Carl St.Clair, pay tribute to America's history with a performance of composer Peter Boyer's Grammy-nominated contemporary classical work "Ellis Island: The Dream of America," at a free, public screening in Orange County, June 29, 8:00 p.m. at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University.
THIRTEEN's Great Performances and Pacific Symphony, led by music director Carl St.Clair, pay tribute to America's history with a performance of composer Peter Boyer's “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” a Grammy-nominated contemporary classical work celebrating the historic American immigrant experience.Great Performances – Ellis Island: The Dream of America with Pacific Symphony premieres nationwideFriday, June 29 at 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month. It will be available to stream the following day via pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps.
Premiere violinist Anne Akiko Meyers returns to play with Pacific Symphony for "A Hero's Life" to close out the 2017-18 Classical series, joined by Concertmaster-Designate Dennis Kim.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts has announced its annual Jazz, Cabaret and Chamber Music series for the 2018-2019 Season. It's another musically absorbing year of great and most gifted artists whose works and performances will canvas a vast range of styles and traditions.
Making his first appearance with Pacific Symphony, Moscow-born Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg brings fresh dynamism to one of the world's best known, most popular and lyrical piano concertos-Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Giltburg's talents are highlighted in the middle of this program of Russian symphonic music, led by guest conductor Ben Gernon. The evening begins with the massive and sonorous "Russian" Overture by Sergei Prokofiev, and ends with Stravinsky's 1947 version of "Petrushka," a piece driven by its innate theatricality.
The young wind musicians of Pacific Symphony have been blowing up a storm lately. Since last season's milestone 10th anniversary, which culminated in a triumphant European Tour, Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble (PSYWE)-wind and percussion students in grades 8 through 12-has continued to knock its audience off its feet with exciting and diverse programs performed with awe-inspiring talent. After opening the 2017-18 season with John Philip Sousa's march for the inauguration of President Garfield, PSYWE closes with another piece by the American march king, composed for the same president's funeral. The program also includes such gems as "Variations on America" by Charles Ives and a Suite of "Old American Dances" by Robert Russell Bennett.
Pacific Symphony today announced the details of its first-ever tour to China and first international tour since the Symphony toured European capitals in 2006. The five-city tour launches May 9, 2018 with a concert at the Shanghai Poly Grand Theatre, followed by performances in Hefei (capital of Anhui province), Wuxi (Jiangsu province), Chongqing (a major city in southwest China) and Beijing. The final concert takes place at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, colloquially known as The Giant Egg due to its distinctive dome-shaped, titanium and glass architecture. The Symphony's tour will include works by Leonard Bernstein in celebration of his centennial, as well as Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2; Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky (arranged by Ravel); and Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3, featuring soloist Pinchas Zukerman. The visit to China follows another important tour this season to New York City for the Orchestra's Carnegie Hall debut on April 21, 2018.
THIRTEEN's Great Performances and Pacific Symphony, led by music director Carl St.Clair, pay tribute to America's history with a performance of composer Peter Boyer's “Ellis Island: The Dream of America,” a Grammy-nominated contemporary classical work celebrating the historic American immigrant experience. Great Performances – Ellis Island: The Dream of America with Pacific Symphony premieres nationwide Friday, June 29 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month. It will be available to stream the following day via pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps.
Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra's (PSYO) 2017-18 season finale celebrates young talent by spotlighting this year's Concerto Competition winners, violinists Danielle Liu and Leo Matsuoka. The concert opens with Matsuoka's performance of the first movement of Alexander Glazunov's beautifully searing violin concerto, with its rich melodies and gorgeous orchestration, cast with extreme lyricism. It has become a modern classic, standing among the top concertos in the repertoire. The first movement of Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto then takes full advantage of the violin's expressive range, from the rippling high chords to the growling alto notes, delivered impressively by Liu. The concert closes on a sumptuous note with the ever-popular "An American in Paris" by George Gershwin.
Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles' youngest students (grades 6-9)-Pacific Symphony Santiago Strings (PSSS)-bring their season to a close with the warm, breezy concert, "Summer Dances."
Pacific Chorale, the resident choir of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, is pleased to announce its 2018-2019 season under the inspired leadership of Artistic Director Robert Istad.
Considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century and a perennial favorite of Pacific Symphony, Andre Watts returns to the stage with one of Beethoven's most beloved works-his Fifth Piano Concerto, "Emperor." A work prized for its serene and tender second movement, Beethoven's last piano concerto is a testament to the composer's emotional range. From sheer beauty to dazzling grandeur, the "Emperor" requires extreme virtuosity from its soloist, making it an ideal centerpiece in the hands of the talented Watts. Complementing the evening is Shostakovich's electrifying Symphony No. 10, full of tragedy, terror and-ultimately-triumph, when the orchestra, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, delivers an unforgettable night of deeply contrasting music.
Although Halloween lies in the rearview mirror, Pacific Symphony is bringing horror back to Orange County, with “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror!” Organ star Dennis James performs the soundtrack to the 1922 classic horror film “Nosferatu” on our $3.1-million William J. Gillespie Concert Organ for the final concert this season of Pacific Symphony's Pedals & Pipes series. Considered by many to be the foremost scholar and performer of silent film accompaniment, James recreates the live musical experience heard in movie palaces of the 1920s with his unique musical style, combining film score and original music to create a truly terrifying atmosphere. In prior concerts, he has performed the soundtrack for “Jekyll and Hyde” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” In this new arrangement of “Nosferatu,” James' organ soundtrack will enhance the character drama and visual intrigue of this German Expressionist masterpiece. Set in 1838 Transylvania, our protagonist Thomas Hutter finds that there is much more to be discovered about his new real estate client, the mysterious and gothic Count Orlok, who he suspects might be the dreaded and blood-loving Nosferatu, the “Bird of Death.” After some frightening ordeals, Hutter hurries home to return to his sickly fiancée, Ellen, when the Count appears one final time before his reign of terror is finally brought to an end.
Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, will present a special Carnegie Hall sendoff concert in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on April 12, 13 and 14 so that Orange County audiences can experience the program the Symphony will perform on its debut concert in New York's classical mecca.
Principal Pops conductor Richard Kaufman returns to Pacific Symphony's Pops series for his 28th season, featuring modern sensations and classic favorites. Television, film and Broadway star Vanessa Williams joins the Symphony to perform her catalogue of hits; "The Wonderful Music of Oz" brings an exciting show featuring favorites from the hit Broadway show "Wicked," "The Wiz" and the original classic, "The Wizard of Oz"; "Christmas with Jackie Evancho" leads the holidays with this teenage singer's Pops debut; "Valentine's Day with Kenny G" delivers a romantic evening of R&B, Latin pop and smooth jazz; Tony- and Grammy Award-winner Leslie Odom, Jr., of "Hamilton" fame, joins our Pops series for a curated night of exciting Broadway and jazz hits; tribute band "Windborne" performs "The Music of Queen," one of the greatest rock'n'roll bands of all time; "My Fair Lady in Concert" ends the series with a semi-staged production of Lerner and Loewe's elegant and enchanting musical performed live.
Pacific Chorale, the resident choir of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, will be concluding its 50th anniversary year with a salute to modern-day California composers on May 19, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Artistic Director Robert Istad will be conducting, with accompaniment by David Clemensen on piano and Jung-A Lee on the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ.
'Cirque de la Symphonie" returns once again to Pacific Symphony, its third show in the orchestra's Pops series since 2012. This electrifying show returns by popular demand, with an all-new program featuring stunning aerial acrobatics, dancers, contortionists, strongmen and jugglers performing their cirque acts to classical favorites and popular film themes. Under the baton of Assistant Conductor Roger Kalia, the Symphony will provide a soundtrack for this special night, including compositions by composers John Williams, Jimmy Webb and Dmitri Kabalevsky, and featuring some of Hollywood's most memorable movie themes, such as "Mission Impossible," "Star Wars," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, makes its Carnegie Hall debut in the concluding program of the venue's season-long celebration of the music of Philip Glass. The program explores the influence of Ravi Shankar and Indian aesthetics on Mr. Glass and features the New York premiere of his The Passion of Ramakrishna, a Pacific Symphony co-commission for chorus, soloists, and orchestra that was given its world premiere by Pacific Symphony in 2006. The Pacific Chorale, which sang in the world premiere, will join Pacific Symphony for the performance at Carnegie Hall. The program also includes "Meetings Along the Edge" from Glass/Shankar collaboration Passages and Shankar's Third Sitar Concerto, featuring the composer's daughter Anoushka Shankar as soloist. Philip Glass is Carnegie Hall's 2017-2018 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair.
Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, makes its Carnegie Hall debut in the concluding program of the venue's season-long celebration of the music of Philip Glass. The program explores the influence of Ravi Shankar and Indian aesthetics on Mr. Glass and features the New York premiere of his The Passion of Ramakrishna, a Pacific Symphony co-commission for chorus, soloists, and orchestra that was given its world premiere by Pacific Symphony in 2006. The Pacific Chorale, which sang in the world premiere, will join Pacific Symphony for the performance at Carnegie Hall. The program also includes "Meetings Along the Edge" from Glass/Shankar collaboration Passages and Shankar's Third Sitar Concerto, featuring the composer's daughter Anoushka Shankar as soloist. Philip Glass is Carnegie Hall's 2017-2018 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair.
