Alexander Shelley will conduct major works by Ravel, Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Pacific Symphony’s 2025-26 classical series, announced today, includes four appearances by its music director designate, Alexander Shelley, who will assume the position full-time in 2026-27. Current music director Carl St.Clair will make several appearances, including a production of “Turandot” and a special all-Beethoven concert featuring pianist Lang Lang.
The season will also spotlight leading women artists: conductors Tianyi Lu, Anna Rakitina and Valentina Peleggi; soloists Gabriela Montero, Alexandra Dariescu, Aubree Oliverson and Anne Akiko Meyers; and music by Jessie Montgomery, Cassandra Miller and Gabriela Montero.
Shelly will conduct Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” in October, Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe” and Bizet’s Suite No. 1 from “Carmen” in November, Stravinsky’s “Firebird” in January and a special concert, “America at 250,” in May 2026.
Pacific Symphony president John Forsyte thinks the season is distinctive in several respects. He said he’s especially excited by the ambition of Shelley’s programming.
“Not a lot of orchestras play the complete ‘Daphnis’ or ‘Firebird,’” he said. “They’re very demanding. Each of these scores challenges the orchestra in a unique way.”
Forsyte said he was impressed by Shelley’s approach to programming the “America at 250” concert.
“He really thinks about the archetypal and thematic points that shaped the American revolution and California’s relationship to (American history). Before he gets into pieces he likes to think contextually and thematically. Who are the audiences in Orange County and what do they want to hear?”
St.Clair’s season also contains some special highlights, Forsyte said. St.Clair and pianist Lang Lang have developed a close relationship which Forsyte thinks will bring special poignancy to the all-Beethoven evening.
“We’ve built up a nice relationship with Lang Lang. He really loves working with this orchestra and with Carl. And he told me he loves performing in Orange County.”
PHOTO 1: Pianist Gabriela Montero will play her original composition, Latin Concerto, in November. Photo by Anders Brogaard. PHOTO 2: Tianyi Lu will conduct Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in December. Photo by Antony Potts. PHOTO 3: Valentina Peleggi will conduct the last concert of the season. All photos courtesy of Pacific Symphony
2025-26 HAL AND JEANETTE SEGERSTROM FAMILY FOUNDATION CLASSICAL SERIES
All concerts take place at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
Opening Night Celebration
Rachmaninoff and Sibelius
Sept. 18, 19 and 20 at 8 p.m.
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Alessio Bax, piano
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1
Shelley Conducts Scheherazade
Oct. 16, 17 and 18 at 8 p.m.
Oct. 19, 3 p.m. (Scheherazade only)
Alexander Shelley, conductor
Pablo Sainz-Villegas, guitar
Jessie Montgomery: Starburst (Full Orchestra)
Arturo-Marquez: Concerto for Guitar Mystical and Profane
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Shelley Conducts Bizet and Daphnis and Chloe
Nov. 20, 21 and 22 at 8 p.m.
Alexander Shelley, conductor
Gabriela Montero, piano
Pacific Chorale — Robert Istad, artistic director
Bizet: Suite No. 1 from Carmen
Gabriela Montero: Latin Concerto
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe (complete)
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
Dec. 4, 5 and 6 at 8 p.m.
Tianyi Lu, conductor
Alexandra Dariescu, piano
Cassandra Miller: Swim
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major
Tchaikovsky: Suite(s) from Swan Lake
Shelley Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird
Jan. 15, 16 and 17, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. (Firebird only)
Alexander Shelley, conductor
Aubree Oliverson, violin
John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Stravinsky: The Firebird (complete ballet, with visuals)
Carl St.Clair Conducts Beethoven and Don Quixote
Feb. 5, 6 and 7, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Carl St.Clair, conductor
Paul Huang, violin
Warren Hagerty, cello
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Strauss: Don Quixote
From Mozart to Mahler
Feb. 26, 27 and 28, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Eduardo Strausser, conductor
Yoav Levanon, piano
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
St.Clair Conducts Williams, Daugherty and Brahms
March 26, 27 and 28, 2026, 8 p.m.
March 29 at 3 p.m. (Brahms Symphony No. 4 only)
Carl St.Clair, conductor
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Williams: “Flying Scene” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Daugherty: Blue Electra
Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Puccini’s Turandot
April 16, 18 and 21, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Carl St.Clair, conductor
Pacific Chorale, Robert Istad, artistic director
Cast to be announced
Puccini: Turandot
Mozart, Say and Tchaikovsky
May 7, 8 and 9, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Anna Rakitina, conductor
Avi Avital, mandolin
Mozart: Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio
Fazil Say: Mandolin Concerto (U.S. premiere)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
Alexander Shelley Conducts America at 250
May 28, 29 and 30, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Alexander Shelley, conductor
Conrad Tao, piano
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F Major
Peter Boyer and Joe Sohm: American Mosaic (West Coast Premiere)
Rossini, Boccherini, Mascagni and Rachmaninoff
June 11, 12 and 13, 2026 at 8 p.m.
June 14 at 3 p.m. (Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 only)
Valentina Peleggi, conductor
Zlatomir Fung, cello
Rossini: Overture to William Tell
Boccherini: Cello Concerto in Bb Major (Grützmacher)
Mascagni: Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2
Lang Lang, left, will play Beethoven under Carl St.Clair's baton in March 2026. Photos courtesy of Pacific Symphony. Lang Lang photo by Detlef Schneider, St.Clair by Doug Gifford
SPECIAL EVENTS
Handel’s Glorious Messiah
Dec. 7, 2025 at 3 p.m.
Robert Istad, conductor
Pacific Chorale
Robert Istad, artistic director
Vocal soloists to be announced
Holiday Organ Spectacular
Dec. 16 at 8 p.m.
Todd Wilson, organ
Pacific Symphony musicians
10th Anniversary Lunar New Year
Feb. 21, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Carl St.Clair, conductor
Programming to be announced
Nowruz: Iranian New Year
March 21, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Carl St.Clair, conductor
Programming to be announced
Lang Lang Plays Beethoven
March 23, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Carl St.Clair, conductor
Lang Lang, piano
Beethoven: Egmont Overture
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Classical music coverage at Culture OC is supported in part by a grant from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Culture OC makes all editorial decisions.
