16 PERFORMANCES : SYMPHONY CLASSICAL SERIES SET

The Orange County Pacific Symphony will present violinist Henryk Szeryng, trumpeter Maurice Andre and pianist/conductor Lukas Foss in the orchestra’s first season at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. The 3,000-seat, multipurpose hall is scheduled to open Sept. 29.

The orchestra’s 16-performance classical subscription series, which will start Oct. 2, will also include contralto Maureen Forrester and mark the return appearances of violinist Ruggiero Ricci, pianist John Browning and cellist Janos Starker.

A work by Karel Husa commissioned by the Pacific Symphony will debut May 7 and 8. The world premiere of a concerto for double bass and orchestra by Lalo Schifrin will be given March 19, with bassist Gary Karr as soloist.

Programming details for the series were announced Tuesday afternoon by Keith Clark, music director of the 85-member professional ensemble, at a press conference held at the orchestra’s new headquarters in Santa Ana.

The opening classical-series program Oct. 2 and 3 will present Szeryng in the Brahms violin concerto. On Oct. 22 and 23, Foss at the keyboard, with soprano Evelyn de la Rosa, actor Michael Wager and the Pacific Chorale, will perform in an all-Bernstein program.

Also featured are soloists Starker, Nov. 5 and 6; Browning, Dec. 3 and 4; Ricci, Jan. 28 and 29; Andre, March 17, and Forrester April 9.

The 1986-87 Orange County Center season will be the orchestra’s most extensive yet, and will include a previously announced 10-performance pops series. This series starts Oct. 25 with Foss conducting a “Bernstein on Broadway” night, followed by programs with Henry Mancini, Shirley Jones, Michel Legrand, Doc Severinsen and Mel Torme.

Dates for a four-performance youth matinee series, also at the new center, are to be announced later, Clark said.

Clark said the Pacific Symphony staff has been expanded to 10 full-time members, including Luke Bandle, newly named general director of marketing. She quit last fall as general manager of the San Fernando Valley Cultural Foundation and previously has held arts posts with the Hult Center in Eugene, Ore., the Wolf Trap Foundation in Virginia and the Washington (D.C.) Opera.

No successor is being sought at this time to fill the executive director’s post, Clark said. The top staff post has been vacant since November, when Wesley Brustad quit after 3 1/2 months to take a similar post with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.