Orchestra Plans Shift From OCC to Irvine Barclay

South Coast Symphony is temporarily abandoning its traditional home at Orange Coast College and will hold all 1991-92 concerts in the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“We don’t consider this a move away from Costa Mesa,” music director John Larry Granger said Monday. “We are not becoming an Irvine orchestra. It’s just that Orange Coast College is planning to remodel the Robert B. Moore Theatre. No specific date is set for its completion. We hope it wouldn’t be more than two seasons. But we expect to be adding concerts again at OCC when they are finished renovating the hall.”

The current plan calls for the 1,198-seat theater to be closed for six months beginning in June, 1992, according to Doug Bennett, executive director of the OCC Foundation, which raises money for college projects. The orchestra, formed in 1984, expanded its season this year by offering the same programs at Orange Coast and the Irvine theater but had to cancel three of the five programs at OCC because of poor ticket sales. Concerts at the 750-seat Irvine Theatre, on the other hand, were sold out, Granger said.

The season schedule, announced Monday, is highlighted by the May 16, 1992, appearance by New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glen Dicterow, who will be featured in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. All performances are at 8:15 p.m. The 1991-92 season:

* Oct 5: Milhaud’s “Suite Provencale”; Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Stephen Prutsman; Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations.

* Nov. 2: Libby Larson’s “Parachute Dancing”; Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 1, with soloist Larry Kaplan; Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

* Feb. 8, 1992: Joseph St. George’s Symphony No. 1; Debussy’s “La Mer”; Suite No. 2 from Falla’s “Three-Cornered Hat”; concerto be announced, with winner of the South Coast Symphony Young Artist Competition as soloist.

* April 4: Henry Cowell’s “Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 10, for Oboe and Strings,” with soloist John Ralston; Saint-Saen’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with soloist David Buechner; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.

* May 16: George Walker’s “Lyric”; Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, with New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glen Dicterow as soloist; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

Season tickets: $50 to $105, with a limited number of box seats at $120; ($40 to $95 for youths and seniors). Single tickets: $12 to $25 ($9 to $22, for youths and seniors). Student tickets: $5, subject to availability.

Information: (714) 662-7220.