Víkingur Ólafsson’s Extraordinary Goldberg Year
The Icelandic pianist has devoted 88 concerts to Bach’s keyboard masterpiece, and nothing else. Most concert pianists in the midst of their careers follow a familiar path: performing the warhorse...
April 29, 2024
Shiyeon Sung Leads Pacific Symphony in Impressive Performance of Tchaikovsky
REVIEW: The Korean conductor, the first woman to try out for the orchestra’s music directorship, exhibits authority and intelligence. Shiyeon Sung became the first woman conductor this season to try...
April 26, 2024
Great Park Arts Campus is Finally Taking Shape
After years of planning and negotiations, the Cultural Terrace is a step closer to reality. The city of Irvine has greenlighted construction for two tenants of the Great Park’s dedicated...
April 12, 2024
Ukulele Against the Machine
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performs Saturday, April 13 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Consider the ukulele. It’s not exactly the Rodney Dangerfield of instruments. That’s the accordion, obviously....
April 10, 2024
St.Clair and Pacific Symphony Find the Heart of ‘La Bohème’
REVIEW: The annual semi-staged opera features a talented young cast in Puccini’s masterpiece. “Is anything in the world more poignant than youth and love and tuberculosis?,” Virgil Thomson once wrote...
April 5, 2024
Pacific Chorale Names Rhett M. Del Campo President and CEO
The following is a press release from an organization unaffiliated with Culture OC. The information provided has been written by the submitting organization and not by the writers at Culture OC. We include...
March 27, 2024
Pacific Symphony in Transition, Part 3: Finding a New Conductor for Changing Times
PREVIOUSLY Pacific Symphony in Transition, Part 1: An Ambitious Young Orchestra Survives Some Growing Pains Pacific Symphony in Transition, Part 2: Growth, Turmoil, Tragedy and Triumph Pacific Symphony is looking...
March 27, 2024
Prieto and Pacific Take the Fifth (Mahler’s, That Is)
REVIEW: In an impressive reading of the composer’s symphony, Carlos Miguel Prieto makes his case for the orchestra’s directorship. We’ve had a number of Fifths this season at the Pacific...
March 15, 2024
Andrew Litton Throws His Hat in Pacific Symphony Ring
REVIEW: The American conductor leads an authoritative Shostakovich; Alessio Bax plays Beethoven. Candidate number five for the position of the Pacific Symphony’s music directorship showed up Thursday night at Segerstrom...
February 23, 2024
Pacific Symphony Announces 2024-25 Season, Probably Conductor St.Clair’s Last
Pacific Symphony’s 2024-25 season, announced today, will be a year of tribute and transition. The tribute is to music director Carl St.Clair, who will be marking his 35th year with...
February 22, 2024
Pacific Symphony’s New Pops Conductor is Ready to Make a Splash
Instead of waving a conductor’s baton, he wielded a lightsaber. Instead of wearing a tuxedo, he donned a black tunic from a galaxy far, far way. These are the creative...
February 9, 2024
One Teen’s Vision Culminates in a Concert at Soka University for Maui Wildfire Victims
The recent Maui wildfires hit close to home for one Orange County teen. Sydney Malone, 15, of Laguna Niguel discovered her cousin and ukulele teacher in the Lahaina region of...
February 2, 2024
