FOR PHILHARMONIC : PERFORMERS ‘TOO GOOD TO PASS UP’

Pianist Alicia de Larrocha and soprano Montserrat Caballe have been added to the 1987-88 offerings that the Orange County Philharmonic Society will present at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

At the Society’s annual meeting Monday in Newport Beach, executive director Erich Vollmer also unveiled the roster of performers to be featured in the 1988-89 season, headed by soloists Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivo Pogorelich, Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman.

Symphonies will include the Bavarian Radio Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis, the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Charles Dutoit and the Israel Philharmonic directed by Zubin Mehta.

De Larrocha will appear in recital on Nov. 11. Caballe will be joined by the Master Chorale of Orange County, the Pacific Chorale and an orchestra that will be announced later for her performance on May 26, 1988, Vollmer said. Both are non-subscription events. Programs for the concerts will be announced later.

“These artists were made available to us after we had put the (1987-88) season together, and the opportunities were too good to pass up,” Vollmer said.

Also, he said, “We were encouraged by the number of single tickets we sold to our six-concert series we added last spring.”

Ticket prices for the De Larrocha recital will range from $6 to $25. Prices for the Caballe concert have not been set, he said, but will probably range from $8 to $40.

Tickets for these events will be offered to Society subscribers first and to the public in mid-October.

As to the Society’s 1988-89 season at the Center, Vollmer said, “We have secured the dates, and everything is definite.”

Orchestras will include the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit; the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta; Sir Colin Davis conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony; Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony; Richard Bonynge and the Sidney Symphony; Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony; Claus Peter Flor and the Berlin Symphony, and the Moscow Symphony, with conductors to be announced.

Soloists will include pianists Ivo Pogorelich, Andre Watts and Vladimir Ashkenazy and sopranos Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman.

Chamber orchestras will include the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster and I Musici.

Vollmer said specific dates and repertory for the 1988-89 events will be announced later.

The 1987-88 Philharmonic Society season at the Center will open on Oct. 15 with James Conlon conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic in a program that will include works by Martinu, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky. Bella Davidovich will be piano soloist.

In other Philharmonic Society news:

- The budget for the 1987-88 season was announced to be $1,774,000.

- Resubscription figures have reached approximately 70% for each of two orchestral concert series and about 35% for a recital and chamber music “International Artists” series.

- In response to a critical letter from a subscriber who was not renewing his subscription because the Society was presenting the Los Angeles Philharmonic only three times next season, Vollmer gave two replies: “Scheduling nights at the Performing Arts Center is horrendous because there are not enough nights (available) for everyone who wants to play (there).

“Also, the L.A. Philharmonic has taken a new posture on what we call ‘run-out’ concerts. . . . And they don’t want to do that (as often) anymore.” He was referring to performances away from the Philharmonic’s base, the Los Angeles Music Center.

- H.C. Jack Caldwell was named president of the Society upon completion of Eva Schneider’s two-year term.