RSVP : Lively ‘Thank You’ to Contributors

In the Air That Night

Spicy barbecue and ethnic entertainment were the scheduled treats for 410 guests attending Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s “Thank You Fiesta” Saturday night at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. The preconcert party--to honor the symphony’s donors and its Hispanic Advisory Committee--was held on a half-acre plot roped off with a single band of yellow “caution” tape. Dinner was served from a nearby concession stand. Picnic tables surrounded a makeshift stage. When the stage show started--first mariachis, then the Santa Ana-based Mexican folk dance troupe Relampago del Cielo--a peanut gallery began accruing on the outskirts of the private party. By the time PSO’s guests brushed the crumbs from their laps and headed for the amphitheater, at least as many concert-goers had enjoyed the festivities from outside as from inside the yellow tape.

Social Strata

Marcelo Doffo was thinking along those inside-and-outside-the-tape lines as he greeted guests and kept an eye on his three picnicking children. Doffo, who co-chairs the Hispanic Advisory Committee with Lucille Lemus, said he became interested in classical music about 10 years ago when he “got a little more mature and had a little more time to relax and enjoy life. . . . People sometimes associate classical music with a different social class, like you have to have a certain kind of car or some kind of fancy clothes to go to a classical concert,” Doffo said. “I don’t believe in that. Music is music. It’s for everyone.” Through the work of the Advisory Committee, Doffo said, a greater number of local Latinos are being exposed to classical music at free concerts and instructional clinics held at Santa Ana High School. On a personal level, Doffo has taken it upon himself to teach his children in the music classics. “I say to them, ‘I respect your New Kids on the Block, and I want you to listen to this Vivaldi, Pavarotti, Puccini . . . and learn to respect that, too.’ ”

Meeting, Greeting

Carl St. Clair--dubbed “Music Director-Designate” on the invitations--worked the crowd with his true love Jennifer Keeney at his side. The symphony’s new maestro pressed the flesh, posed for snaps and chitchatted with his new constituency (patiently, repeatedly--even enthusiastically--reporting to all comers that, yes, he moved to Irvine earlier in the week, into a quiet new home 10 minutes from his new job). Before the entertainment began, Lucille Lemus chided the suit-clad St. Clair from the stage. Dressed in a short black skirt and black cowboy boots, Lemus noted that although St. Clair is a native Texan, “I look more Western than he does.” To which the honored guest responded, when it was his turn at the microphone: “I’m sorry I don’t look more like I’m from Texas. I was trying to look Californian.”

Also Seen

Symphony President Randy Johnson got on stage after the mariachis and the Mexican folk dancers were through and said he couldn’t imagine his ancestors in Sussex, England, “having that kind of fun on a Friday night.” Also seen inside the yellow tape were executive director Lou Spisto; board chairwoman Marcy Mulville and her husband, Maurice; and assistant conductor Lucas Richman, who later led the symphony through a program of Spanish-influenced selections. Among guests were Judy and Rogue Hemley, Gina and Reed Royalty, Peggy and Harold Benash, Linda Rizzo Crowley and Philip Crowley, Catherine and Bob Break, Diana and Scott Tobias and John Palacio.