Summer ’93 Lineup Set by Symphony

From Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to a musical salute to John Wayne, the Pacific Symphony’s sixth summer season at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre will be eclectic, to say the least.

The five-concert series, announced Monday, will begin on July 4 with Richard Kaufman, vice president of television music at MGM, conducting a “Stars, Stripes and Pops” program that will include fireworks and music from such John Wayne movies as “The Quiet Man” and “The Cowboys.”

“The Fourth of July is a pops concert,” Pacific executive director Louis Spisto said Monday. “We use film music a lot on those programs. It seems an appropriate time and an appropriate place for that music. We’re delighted about it. We think it’s going to be an exciting concert.” Music by Richard Rodgers, Gershwin and other composers will complete the program.

On July 24, Pacific Symphony music director Carl St.Clair will conduct Beethoven’s Ninth on a program that also will include Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.” The orchestra will be joined by the Pacific Chorale and soprano Karen Anderson, tenor David Hamilton and baritone Kimm Julian. A mezzo-soprano soloist will be announced.

St.Clair also will lead the orchestra on Aug. 14 in works by Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and William Kraft (a commission by the Assn. of California Symphony Orchestras to commemorate its 25th anniversary). Benjamin Pasternak will be piano soloist for Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.”

George Cleve of the San Jose Symphony will conduct a Mozart program on Sept. 4. Seung-Un Ha will be piano soloist for the Concerto No. 23.

Samuel Wong, an assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, will lead the traditional Tchaikovsky series closer on Sept. 25. Cellist Daniel Gaisford will be soloist for “Variations on a Rococo Theme.” The program also will include the Symphony No. 5 and the “1812” Overture with cannons and fireworks.

Each program will begin at 8 p.m. Subscriptions, ranging from $75 to $225, will go on sale in March. Tickets to individual concerts will go on sale June 1. Information: (714) 755-5799.