Arts Panel Lauds Pacific Symphony, Criticizes Clark

Embattled Pacific Symphony conductor Keith Clark was criticized, but the orchestra itself was praised by a California Arts Council advisory panel here this week.

Panel member Yoko Matsuda said Wednesday of the board of directors’ decision not to renew Clark’s contract after the 1988-89 season: “I want to congratulate the board on this decision. I really don’t think anything of Keith Clark. He is not a musician, frankly. I am glad (the board) realized it.”

Matsuda, founder and former first violinist of the highly regarded Sequoia String Quartet, was one of seven panelists reviewing about 110 applications from music organizations throughout the state seeking CAC grants. Six of the applicants are based in Orange County: Opera Pacific (which has applied for $125,000), the Master Chorale of Orange County ($40,000), the Pacific Chorale ($30,000), the South Coast Symphony ($25,000), the Garden Grove Symphony ($15,720), and the Pacific Symphony ($114,196). Grants will be awarded in August.

Panelist Benjamin Greene, executive director of the Sacramento Symphony, described the Pacific Symphony as “a good, quality orchestra made up of Los Angeles’ best musicians out there free-lancing” but said it “is capable of doing much better than it is now.” Greene gave Clark much credit for building the orchestra but added that “frequently it is quite healthy for an institution to make a change.”

Composer and panel member StevenC (Lucky) Mosko, a composer and faculty member at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, said he is “looking forward to the change (in musical directors). It could be a fine orchestra.”

The panel praised the orchestra’s budding outreach programs.

Opera Pacific was criticized for its mixed offering of operas and musicals and for using amplification in the operas. But the organization’s potential was cited, and it too was praised for its outreach programs.

Panelist Ian Campbell, general director of the San Diego Opera, said the repertory choices were “explainable of sorts,” considering the youth of the organization and its need to “attract people to the theater.”

“But I would like to see that stopped in the not too distant future,” he said. “I would like to see it go into opera only.”

The panel was less forgiving about the use of amplification. Elizabeth Appling, founder and music director of the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, called amplification of opera voices “dishonest.”

“I think it’s an artistic crime,” she said. “From an artistic point of view, for an opera company on this level, it is doing a great disservice to the entire music community to be miking the voices. That’s what separates opera from everything else. You have an instrument that doesn’t need amplification.”

“Get voices that can do it, or don’t do it,” Campbell added.

Campbell also found the casting “erratic . . . cream on top and not so strong below. There’s no difficulty casting a Leona Mitchell or a Carol Neblett. Any opera company can do that. The real trick is judging a voice that doesn’t have a pedigree.”

Panelists also expressed concern that Opera Pacific general director David DiChiera, who also directs Michigan Opera Theater and Dayton Opera Assn., might be spreading himself too thin and that the quality of Opera Pacific productions could suffer as a result.

“I worry about a general director running around with three companies at once,” Mosko said. “A general director should be there. “

Numerical rankings--from 4 (exemplary) to 1 (should not be funded)--were not yet available for either Pacific Symphony or Opera Pacific. Preliminary rankings were given, though, to the Pacific Chorale, the Master Chorale of Orange County and the Garden Grove Symphony. Summaries of the panel’s discussions of those groups, held earlier in the week, were read.

- The Pacific Chorale received a preliminary rank of 4-. According to the summary, the group offers “extremely superior quality singing” and was praised for “working with other musical groups.” Additional remarks addressed apparently unclear items in the organization’s budget presentation.

- The Master Chorale of Orange County received a preliminary rank of 3+. In the summary remarks, the panelists called it “a superior group” and said it “made a good move in hiring (William) Hall” as its new music director. The panel had some reservations about the group’s budget presentation and some other administrative procedures.

- The Garden Grove Symphony received a preliminary rank of 2. The summary called the organization “a band trying to be an orchestra” and notes that the panelists do not think “the conductor (Edward Peterson) is appropriate for the group,” because his background is mostly in conducting musical theater productions.

A preliminary ranking of the South Coast Symphony was not yet available but, according to a summary of a panel discussion Wednesday, the orchestra was found to be “quite good in some ways, though the conductor (Larry Granger) tends to (tempo and dynamic) extremes” that “seem to be a problem for the orchestra.”

Mosko said a visit to hear the orchestra resulted in “an aesthetic experience (which was) not something I would go back to.” Still, he praised the “excitement that was there as a community event.”

The review process actually began long before the panel members arrived in Sacramento this week. Months ago, three “primary readers” were designated for each application--some of which ran 30 pages and more--and began scrutinizing their facts and figures. While the emphasis has been on the artistic quality of the groups, their managerial and fiscal competence, community need and representation, and the impact of the CAC’s funding also are being reviewed.

This week’s reviews began at 9 a.m. and often lasted into the night. Audiocassettes and videotapes submitted by the groups were played, and reports were heard from panelists who had heard the groups in person.

To avoid conflicts of interest, panelists associated with any group under review were required to leave the room during all discussions and voting sessions.

All panelists serve without compensation. Along with those mentioned, the panel included Rae Imamura, a keyboard artist and teacher from Berkeley, and Mitchell Sardou Klein, music director of the Santa Cruz County Symphony and of the San Francisco-based Peninsula Symphony.