Pacific Symphony announces 2008-09 season
February 8th, 2008, 2:28 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Timothy Mangan, classical music critic
Organist Paul Jacobs (Stefan Cohen)
The Pacific Symphony’s 2008-09 classics season, unveiled this week, will celebrate the orchestra’s 30th anniversary with special commissions, eminent soloists and the inauguration of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall’s William J. Gillespie Concert Organ. Conductor Carl St.Clair marks his 19th year as music director.
American organist Paul Jacobs is on hand for the season opening concerts (Sept. 18-20), launching the new 4,322-pipe organ for the public. The first sounds out of it will be Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The agenda is rounded out by the premiere of a commissioned work by Christopher Theofandis for organ, brass and percussion and Saint-Saens’ rafter-lifting Symphony No. 3, “Organ.”
The orchestra is also commissioning composer James Newton Howard (nominated for an Academy Award for his score to “Michael Clayton”) to write a work for its 9th annual American Composers Festival in February; and Mexican composer Ana Lara, who will write a work for organ and orchestra to close the season.
The American Composers Festival will explore the theme of “Hollywood’s Golden Age,” featuring the music of European exiles Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Miklós Rózsa as well as that of Bernard Herrmann.
Visiting soloists include violinist Sarah Chang (who will perform the concerto by Brahms) and Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg (in Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons in Buenos Aires”); and pianists Ingrid Fliter (recent winner of the prestigious Gilmore Prize), Nikolai Lugansky, Freddy Kempf, Alexander Toradze and Jorge Federico Osorio.
Members of the Syrian National Orchestra will participate in a program featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” as well as folk and contemporary music from Syria.
St.Clair conducts eight of the twelve programs in the classical series, all performed three times. Among the standard works he’ll lead are Holst’s “The Planets” (accompanied by HD video from NASA), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ Third Symphony and Britten’s “Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.” Five guest conductors will appear: Carlos Kalmar, music director of the of the Oregon Symphony, Arild Remmereit, a young Norwegian protégé of Leonard Bernstein, Missak Baghboudarian, who shares the podium for the Syrian program, Thierry Fischer and Carlos Miguel Prieto.
The Classics Series is once again sponsored by the Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family Foundation. For more information, call 714-755-5799 or visit www.pacificsymphony.org.
The full season slate follows, below.
September 18, 19 and 20, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 1
Carl St. Clair, conductor
Paul Jacobs, organ
ORGAN GRANDEUR
REPERTOIRE: (Performed without Intermission)
BACH/STOKOWSKI Toccata (solo organ) & Fugue (orchestra only)
THEOFANIDIS World Premiere for Organ, Brass and Percussion (WORLD PREMIERE)
LANGLAIS Fête
SAINT-SAENS Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op 78 (Organ Symphony)
BACH Fugue in D major BWV 532 (solo organ work)
September 21, 2008, at 3:00 p.m. Connections 1
Carl St. Clair, conductor and host
Paul Jacobs, organ
ORGAN SYMPHONY
REPERTOIRE:
SAINT-SAENS Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op 78 (Organ Symphony)
October 16, 17 and 18, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 2
Carl St. Clair, conductor
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
TANTALIZING TANGO
REPERTOIRE:
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale)
PIAZZOLLA The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Solo encore
GINASTERA Estancia
November 13, 14 and 15, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 3
Arild Remmereit, conductor
Ingrid Fliter, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH
REPERTOIRE:
GROVEN Hjalar-Ljod (Joyful Shout)
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54
Intermission
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 in E minor, op. 64
December 7, 2008, at 3:00 p.m. Messiah
Susannah Phillips, soprano
Stacey Rishoi, mezzo-soprano
Scott Ramsay, tenor
Jason Hardy, baritone
Pacific Chorale
December 11, 12 and 13, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 4
Carl St. Clair, conductor
John Tessier, tenor
Keith Popejoy, horn
THE PLANETS IN HD
REPERTOIRE:
LAURIDSEN O Magnum Mysterium
BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
PART Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Intermission
HOLST The Planets (With High Definition Video)
December 14, 2008, at 3:00 p.m. Connections 2
Carl St. Clair, conductor and host
THE PLANETS
REPERTOIRE:
HOLST The Planets
January 8, 9 and 10, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 5
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
Freddy Kempf, piano
BRILLIANT AND DAZZLING
REPERTOIRE:
MOZART Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504 (Prague)
JANACEK Taras Bulba
Intermission
LISZT Piano Concerto No. 1 in Eb major
ENESCO Rumanian Rhapsody No. 2 in D major
February 5, 6 and 7, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 6
Carl St. Clair, conductor
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
RACHMANINOFF’S MIGHTY THIRD
REPERTOIRE:
BRAHMS Symphony No. 3 in F major, op. 90
Intermission
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, op. 30
February 26, 27 and 28, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 7
Carl St. Clair, conductor AMERICAN COMPOSERS FESTIVAL
Raymond Kobler, violin HOLLYWOOD
Timothy Landauer, cello
REPERTOIRE (not necessarily in order):
HERRMANN Suite from Vertigo (Prelude, Nightmare, and Love Scene)
HERRMANN Melodrama “The City of Brass”
JAMES NEWTON HOWARD Commission (12-15’) WORLD PREMIERE
KORNGOLD Scherzo from Symphony in F-sharp, Op. 40
ROZSA Selections from Ben Hur (Prelude, Love Theme and Parade of the Charioteers)
ROZSA Tema and Variations for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, Op. 29a
March 1, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. Connections 3
Carl St. Clair, conductor and host
Timothy Landauer, cello
(PIECES ARE NOT CONFIRMED YET EXCEPT… ROZSA
Tema and Variations for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, Op. 29a
HOLLYWOOD HAVEN
March 12, 13 and 14, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 8
Carl St. Clair, conductor
Missak Baghboudarian, guest conductor
Feras Charestan, Qanoun
Moslem Rahal, Nai
Kinan Azmeh, Clarinet
Athil Hamdan, Cello
Mohamad Osman, Bouzoq
ARABIAN NIGHTS
REPERTOIRE:
VIVALDI Winter from “Four Seasons” for Qanoun and Orchestra
BADERDDIN Concerto for Nai and String Orchestra
JABRI Oriento Grosso for Clarinet, Cello and Orchestra
ABDULKARIM Tango for Bouzaq and Strings
SOLHI AL WADI Meditation on a theme by M. Abdul Wahhab
Intermission
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade
April 16, 17 and 18, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 9
Carl St. Clair, conductor
Sarah Chang, violin
Benjamin Lulich, clarinet
Rose Corrigan, bassoon
SARAH CHANG
REPERTOIRE:
STRAUSS Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
STRAUSS Duet-concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon, Strings, and Harp
Intermission
BRAHMS Violin Concerto in D major, op. 77
April 19, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. Connections 4
Carl St. Clair, conductor and host
Benjamin Lulich, clarinet
Rose Corrigan, bassoon
STRAUSS SAMPLER
REPERTOIRE:
STRAUSS Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
STRAUSS Duet-concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon, Strings, and Harp
May 7, 8 and 9, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 10
Thierry Fischer, conductor
Alexander Toradze, piano
20th-CENTURY TITANS
REPERTOIRE:
DEBUSSSY Prelude to the Afternoon of Faun
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, op. 26
Intermission
STRAVINSKY Petrushka (1947 version)
June 4, 5 and 6, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 11
Carl St. Clair, conductor
Cynthia Haymon-Coleman, soprano
Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano
Garrett Sorenson, tenor
Kevin Deas, bass
Pacific Chorale
BEETHOVEN’S NINTH
REPERTOIRE:
LAURIDSEN Lux Aeterna (Version either orchestra-chorus or orchestra/organ-chorus)
Intermission
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D minor, op 125 (Choral)
June 11, 12 and 13, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. Classics 12
Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Jorge Federico Osorio, piano
THE EMPEROR
REPERTOIRE:
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 in Eb major, op. 73 (Emperor)
Intermission
ANA LARA WORLD PREMIERE for Organ and Orchestra
REVUELTAS La Noche de Los Mayas
MONCAYO Huapango
