When Pacific Symphony Music Director Carl St.Clair was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the OC Music Awards last night at the Grove of Anaheim, he had some fans among the otherwise non-classical musicians being recognized. Best Indie band winner Young the Giant approached St.Clair after the ceremony. Bass player Payam Doostzadeh, who made sure he got a photo with Carl, was particularly excited to meet our Music Director, having grown up in Orange County and been taken to Pacific Symphony Classical Connections concerts in his youth. Payam was drawn to how Carl took apart the music and analyzed it, influencing him to approach other music with the same critical attention.
Music Director Carl St.Clair introduces the music of Puccini’s “Tosca,” a unique semi-staged production by Pacific Symphony, taking place February 21, 23 & 26 in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. For more information.
INside IN “Mozart’s Requiem & More”— Music Director Carl St.Clair explores the master’s final works in a concert taking place Thursday - Saturday, Jan. 31 - Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 3, at 3 p.m. for “Mozart’s Requiem Unwound.”
Trumpeter Barry Perkins honored with Spirit of Excellence Award
Proud moment! The Irvine Public Schools Foundation honored Pacific Symphony’s Principal Trumpet chair Barry Perkins with the Spirit of Excellence Award at their Gala at the end of October. We thought we would share a little of his story in honor of him as well.
From Irvine to Boston to Mexico City and back again, Barry Perkins and his trumpet have circled home and are making an impact in the Orange County community. Born in Rochester, N.Y., Barry and his family moved to Irvine when he was in the eighth grade. He attended Irvine High School, where he studied the trumpet with Richard Birkeimeier and Donald Green of the L.A. Philharmonic, and his dad opened a music shop, called Perkins Music Center, in the Northwood neighborhood of Irvine. After high school, Barry attended the New England Conservatory in Boston and studied with Charles Schlueter (formerly from the Boston Symphony.) At only age 20, Barry won a job at the Mexico City Philharmonic, so he packed his bags and moved to Mexico, where he stayed for five years. He moved back to California and began establishing himself as a freelancer for groups like San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera. In 2004, he became the principal trumpet chair of Pacific Symphony. Today, he teaches at Cal State Fullerton and runs a summer trumpet academy there.
“I used to come to concerts and listen to the Pacific Symphony,” he said, “and I used to think to myself, somehow it would be great just to sub in this orchestra. Basically, my life went to Boston, Mexico City, San Diego and coming back here. It was a nice homecoming.”
“Ute Lemper has become our version of Édith Piaf,” says Music Director Carl St.Clair. “Piaf, as we know, was the French international star who sang many songs that we are familiar with and love, such as ‘La Vie en Rose,’ and so many of the great ballads. Ute Lemper has just that type of voice, charisma and stage presence, and helps transform the concert hall into a cabaret atmosphere throughout the evening.”
HUMAN HARMONY
Tomorrow, before dawn, I’ll be leaving Gui Yang and China headed homeward. During the past two weeks my life has been enriched and my hopes for a future filled with human harmony and kindness have been bolstered. I realized that music provides the surest, most immediate and truest path toward oneness and common purpose. And, that the great composers—Mahler, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and others—with their masterworks, having originated in the heavens, have delivered us keys to places of the heart not otherwise reached.
So, I say 再见—Zai Jian, China—with great thankfulness for this wonderful experience, and with deepest gratitude to all the musicians of the Beijing Symphony and Gui Yang Symphony who have been so accepting and open to me and my musical ideas, feelings and interpretations.
You have extended me generous kindness, have renewed my hopes, and have given me a most rewarding musical experience. Xie Xie! Thank you!
—Pacific Symphony Music Director Carl St. Clair on tour in China
THE GREAT WALL OF CARL…
It is a great honor for me to be here in Gui Yang in that our performance on Friday evening will mark the first time the music of Gustav Mahler will be heard in this city or province. It is also the orchestra’s first encounter with the great master. For five hours today we rehearsed to meet the challenges Mahler composed in his first symphony, the “Titan.”
Mahler was 27 years old when he conducted the premiere of his symphony in Budapest. It just so happens that the average age of the Gui Yang Symphony is 27. We are all very excited and are taking to heart the great opportunity to bring the orchestra’s audience and this great composer together for the first time. Come Friday, we’ll all meet and embrace one another in the hopes that we will have created a long lasting and intimate new relationship.
—Pacific Symphony’s Music Director Carl St.Clair on tour in China
SMALL WORLD…China musings and MUSIC
“We had a wonderful experience at the concert…We were let off by our taxi outside of a beautiful city park in the darkness of night. We walked through the park and discovered the Forbidden City Concert Hall.
“It is a concert hall that hosts various classical music events, and the concert of the Beijing Symphony was part of a classical series presented by a private promoter. Inside the hall were photographs of famous conductors like Leonard Bernstein and Sir Georg Solti who had performed in the early days of the reopening of western culture in the city.
“Carl’s concert was very warmly received by the audience and, most interestingly, the orchestra cheered him when he asked them to stand. It was a very touching moment. The program included the overture to Beethoven’s Egmont, Wolfgang Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.
“The orchestra is comprised of 95% Chinese nationals, and a handful of European and American musicians. During the rehearsals, Carl spoke in German, Spanish, and French. The symphony was founded in 1977 just a year before the Pacific Symphony. We met a violist, Ming Pak, who had actually been a member of the Pacific Symphony in the mid 1990s.”
—John Forsyte (Pacific Symphony’s president, on tour in China with Music Director Carl St.Clair)
Wall’s kinda great, but what’s that tune?
“What can one say about the Great Wall that hasn’t already been said? The wall is now believed to be 5,500 miles long. We had an amazing climb with hordes of tourists, but still felt the enormity and majesty of this great world heritage site. Throughout the climb there were souvenir stands. Given the strenuous nature of climbing to these spots it’s impressive that the vendors are up there every day!
Funny, but we were treated to a repeating recording of Lara’s theme from Dr. Zhivago played on the piano as we climbed all the way to the top of the wall. Much of the wall is crumbling and not accessible.”
—John Forsyte (Pacific Symphony’s president, on tour in China with Music Director Carl St.Clair)
From Irvine to Boston to Mexico City and back again, Barry Perkins and his trumpet have circled home and are making an impact in the Orange County community. Born in Rochester, N.Y., Barry and his family moved to Irvine when he was in the eighth grade. He attended Irvine High School, where he studied the trumpet with Richard Birkeimeier and Donald Green of the L.A. Philharmonic, and his dad opened a music shop, called Perkins Music Center, in the Northwood neighborhood of Irvine. After high school, Barry attended the New England Conservatory in Boston and studied with Charles Schlueter (formerly from the Boston Symphony.) At only age 20, Barry won a job at the Mexico City Philharmonic, so he packed his bags and moved to Mexico, where he stayed for five years. He moved back to California and began establishing himself as a freelancer for groups like San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera. In 2004, he became the principal trumpet chair of Pacific Symphony. Today, he teaches at Cal State Fullerton and runs a summer trumpet academy there.
