Music Director Carl St.Clair leads the Pacific Symphony.
In Thursday’s (9/26) Orange County Register (California), Erika I. Ritchie writes, “For more than three decades, Carl St.Clair has given his energy and passion to building the Pacific Symphony into one of the nation’s first-rate orchestras; tonight, Sept. 26, he will open his final season before stepping back as music director. While the idea that this will be his last season at the helm of the 84-musician symphony is met with mixed emotions, he said he will leave in June with the satisfaction of knowing his 35-year tenure is also his most significant life achievement. He will stay on as music director laureate … During his time at the podium, St.Clair not only accomplished his ‘secret goal’ of the symphony being named a top-tier orchestra in the United States … but also called his work building the symphony with help from the board, musicians and the community a ‘great gift.’… Since St.Clair came aboard—a time when the symphony’s musicians still rehearsed in an old Santa Ana church … the orchestra has gone from a $2 million undertaking to a $24 million operation that rehearses and plays its concerts at the more-than-1,700-seat Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall…. John Forsyte, who has been the symphony’s CEO for 26 years … commended the conductor for his guidance and for enriching the ‘cultural fabric’ of Orange County.”
