South Coast Symphony Concerts Return to OCC in ‘89-90 Season

South Coast Symphony will move all its concerts back to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa for the 1989-90 season, officials announced this week.

The 5-year-old orchestra, led by music director John Larry Granger, had divided its current season between the Costa Mesa-based campus and Santa Ana High School, only to find subscribers refusing to venture to the Santa Ana site.

Subscriptions fell off, two concerts at Santa Ana High were canceled or postponed, and a three-member panel was created to run the financially troubled symphony for up to a year.

Recent donations and better management of cash flow have improved the financial picture, according to officials, who decided to hold the final concert of this season, as scheduled, on April 29 at Orange Coast College.

All concerts of the 1989-90 season will be held at 8:15 p.m. in the Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College. Concert previews will be at 7:30 p.m.

Subscriptions are from $40 to $85 ($30 to $75 for youths and senior citizens). Individual tickets are from $9 to $25.

Information: (714) 662-7220.

The 1989-90 season:

Oct 7: Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy-Overture, Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 and Shostakovich’s Concerto in E-flat for Cello, with soloist John Walz.

Nov. 18: Overture to Handel’s “Royal Fireworks Music,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder,” with baritone John Atkins as soloist. Atkins had been scheduled to sing the work with the orchestra in January, but the concert was postponed because of the orchestra’s financial difficulties.

Feb. 17, 1990: Copland’s “Quiet City”; Haydn’s Symphony No. 92, “Oxford”; Brahms’ Violin Concerto, with soloist Sheryl Staples.

April 7: Randall Woltz’s “Fantasy Allegro” for Tympani and Orchestra, Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony and Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Michael Sellers.