Kluxen’s Debut Impresses, Launching Pacific Symphony’s Conductor Tryouts
REVIEW: The Danish conductor made a strong case for himself with a dazzling reading of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. The games have begun and they’re going to be fun. A...
October 20, 2023
Pacific Symphony Searches for a New Leader in Challenging Times
The 2023-2024 season will feature many guest conductors seeking to succeed longtime music director Carl St.Clair. This article kicks off a series of in-depth looks at the past, present and...
October 16, 2023
Orange County Arts Awards Honor Local Talent, Organizations and Patrons
The five honorees who will be recognized Oct. 17 at the 23rd Orange County Arts Awards hail from distinctly different artistic sectors: flamenco dance, theater education, professional music performance, stimulating...
October 13, 2023
Andrew Brown Announces His Departure from the Pacific Chorale
After almost five years at the helm of the Pacific Chorale, Andrew Brown has announced that he is stepping down at the president and CEO at the end of October....
October 5, 2023
Jazz Legend Monty Alexander Brings His Swingin’ Musical Talents to the Barclay
The world over knows June 6, 1944 as the historic date known as D-Day, when the Allied Forces invaded Nazi-occupied France. Something else occurred on that date, across the Atlantic,...
September 25, 2023
Philharmonic Society of OC & American Friends of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Announce Partnership
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...
September 22, 2023
Pacific Symphony Opens 45th Season with Rousing Strauss
REVIEW: Carl St.Clair leads a capable performance of the composer’s Ein Heldenleben as the orchestra begins searching for his successor. It’s going to be a fun-to-watch season at the Pacific...
September 22, 2023
How Has the Pandemic Hangover Affected O.C.’s Arts Scene?
The doom-and-gloom reports surged shortly after the pandemic faded. Crowds weren’t coming back to theaters, museums and concert halls. Did Orange County venues and arts presenters experience the same audience...
September 11, 2023
Jean-Yves Thibaudet Follows His Own Score
French pianist Jean Yves Thibaudet has played Claude Debussy’s Préludes since he was a child. They’re a cornerstone of classical piano literature, after all, and in France they occupy a...
April 1, 2023
Branford Marsalis, on the Road, but Never Far from Home
Fame has become such a permeable monolith in our media-driven age, so vulnerable to the affronts of mere celebrity, that authenticity seems harder and harder to determine. Still, audiences tend...
March 10, 2023
Pacific Chorale Tackles a Massive Choral Classic
For all the fame surrounding it, Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, more commonly known as the Vespers of 1610, isn’t performed all that often — not only because of...
March 3, 2023
Triumph Over Adversity Festival Brings Dynamic New Talent to O.C.
The darkest years of the pandemic are behind us, but their memory lingers. The sudden shutdown of public life was one of many upheavals that threatened to tear apart the...
February 17, 2023
