Orange County Register

Photo by Phil McCarten/Mathew Imaging

Sunday afternoon at 3, the Philharmonic Society will present Esa-Pekka Salonen’s last concert in Orange County as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It could be a while before we see him conduct in Segerstrom Concert Hall again. Yes, he has a year to go on his contract with the Phil, but the ensemble visits our clime next season with a guest conductor on the podium. And Esa-Pekka’s future conducting plans with the orchestra are sketchy.

After the concert on Sunday, the Philharmonic Society is throwing Esa-Pekka a supper, hosted by Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom and Montres Breguet S.A., the watchmakers. Will the maestro get a watch? Don’t know, but I’ll tell you if he does. The Philharmonic Society has generously invited me to the supper and I plan to attend, if for nothing else than to show my respect for Esa-Pekka.

Tonight (or, this afternoon, actually), I’m off to L.A. to review the program that Salonen and the orchestra will play here Sunday afternoon, featuring Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (Michele Zukovsky, soloist) and Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony. (I’ll be sitting in the orchestra section, in row L, seat 151, or thereabouts. Stop by and say hello if you’re so inclined.)

My plan was to get the review in print on Saturday, in advance of Sunday’s concert. But because of a change in printing schedules at your favorite newspaper, Saturday’s arts section now goes to print Thursday night, too early for my review. So, it’ll appear in Sunday’s newspaper. And here, of course, late Friday morning.

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