LOCAL : Pacific Symphony Selects St. Clair as Music Director

Carl St. Clair, one of two assistant conductors of the Boston Symphony, today was named music director of Orange County’s Pacific Symphony.

St. Clair--at 37 the youngest of nine announced candidates for the position--will assume his duties Oct 1. The announcement was made at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

Under the terms of a three-year contact, St. Clair will oversee artistic development and planning for the orchestra and will conduct six pairs of classical concerts each season at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and two concerts in the summer season at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. In addition, he will oversee school and community outreach programs. St. Clair and orchestra officials would not disclose his salary.

His appointment ends a search that began in February, 1988, with the resignation of founding music director Keith Clark after a bitter power struggle with the board of directors. The search made headlines earlier this month when previous front-runner Lawrence Foster said the Pacific had offered him the job in December but withdrew the offer after talks broke down over salary and rehearsal demands and, apparently, residency requirements. The orchestra management has refused to comment on Foster’s statements.

St. Clair also is music director of the Ann Arbor (Mich.) Symphony and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra of Ithaca, N.Y. He said today that he would maintain one of those posts in addition to his job with the Pacific but that he has not yet decided which he will give up.

He also said that he will maintain a residence in Orange County but that it will not be his exclusive address. However, he said, “I intend to spend as much time here as needed and as much time as I can.”