Tuned Up for a New Season of Classics : 1993 Opens With Opera Pacific Performing ‘Il Trovatore’ and a Mixed Repertory From ABT

If it’s a new year, can opera season be far behind? The 1993 classical music offerings begin, as usual, with an Opera Pacific season at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. This year’s works are Verdi’s “Il Trovatore,” Jan. 9-17; Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette,” Feb. 19-March 7, and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” Feb. 24-March 6.

Some highlights for the year:

The Orange County Philharmonic Society brings the Russian National Orchestra in a program of Prokofiev, Scriabin and Brahms on Jan. 11 at the center. The society’s offerings also include, among many others, I Solisti Italiani on Feb. 5, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields on April 23, the Handel and Haydn Society on April 24, and Loren Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony on May 1.

The chamber-music series at the Irvine Barclay Theatre jointly sponsored by the Philharmonic Society and the Laguna Chamber Music Society continues with the Borodin Trio on March 1. Additionally, the Founders Hall chamber-music series at the center will include the Brodsky Quartet on March 21.

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For choral music, turn to William Hall and the Master Chorale of Orange County in Bach’s Passion According to St. Matthew on March 21 (at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach), and Beethoven’s Mass in C and the Ninth Symphony on May 15 (at the center).

John Alexander will lead the Pacific Chorale in the West Coast premiere of Dominick Argento’s Te Deum on April 25 at the center.

Carl St.Clair will conduct the Pacific Symphony in pairs of concerts in February, March, May and June at the center. Jerzy Semkow and Kenneth Schermerhorn take over the podium for dates in March and April, respectively. Carter Brey will be the soloist in Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto with the Pacific on March 31 and April 1. Soprano Ealynn Voss will appear with St.Clair to sing the final scene from Strauss’ “Salome” on the June 2 and 3 program.

The Orange County Symphony will play straight man behind the comic antics of pianist Leonid Hambro in a Hoffnung Gala Concert (humor in classical music) on Feb. 6. at the Don Wash Auditorium in Garden Grove.

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Pianist Ursala Oppens plays Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand with the UC Irvine Symphony under Zelman Bokser on Feb. 5-7 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Composer Charles Wuorinen will conduct members of the Southwest Chamber Music Society in the premiere of his “A Winter’s Tale” on April 16. The program, at Chapman University in Orange, also will include music by Stravinsky and Dowland.

Concerts by smaller groups at the Irvine Barclay include the Irvine Camerata singing works by Purcell and Schutz on Jan. 13 and the Orange County Chamber Orchestra playing music by Bach and Vivaldi on Jan. 14, among other dates.

The Harmonia Baroque Players will give concerts on Sunday and April 25 at Christ Church by the Sea United Methodist in Newport Beach. The Mozart Camerata plays at St. Andrew’s on Jan. 23, April 3 and May 15. The North Orange County Community Concerts Assn. will continue programs at the Fullerton First United Methodist Church. The Fullerton Friends of Music continues its free series of concerts at Sunny Hills High School on Feb. 21, March 28, and April 18.

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No word yet on dates or repertory for the Corona del Mar Baroque Festival or the Seal Beach Music Festival, but we can assume they will continue this summer.

Summertime also brings the Pacific Symphony’s sixth season at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, opening July 4 and running through Sept. 25. A highlight is the premiere of a work by William Kraft, commissioned by the Assn. of California Symphony Orchestras to celebrate its 25th anniversary on Aug. 14. As usual, the five-concert summer season begins and ends with fireworks.

DANCE The dance year opens on Saturday at 8 p.m. with Orange County dancers and choreographers participating in the Inland AIDS Project Riverside dance program at the Riverside Community College Landis Auditorium, 4800 Magnolia Ave., Riverside. All proceeds benefit the Inland AIDS Project, which provides various services for residents of San Bernardino and western Riverside counties. Information: (714) 684-9337. Nothing of its kind has been slated for Orange County as of this writing.

American Ballet Theatre opens a six-day engagement at the center on Jan 19. The run is split between programs of mixed repertory, including Agnes De Mille’s “The Other,” Glen Tetley’s “The Rite of Spring,” Frederick Ashton’s “Symphonic Variations” and other works, and four performances of the full-length “Giselle,” with different casts of principal dancers.

The “Feet First Contemporary Dance” series at the Irvine Barclay Theatre continues with the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago company on Jan. 29-31, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company on March 2, and the Joe Goode Performance Group on May 7.

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Ethnic and international dance will be represented at the Irvine theater by Ballet Folclorico Nacional de Mexico on Jan. 16 and the American Indian Dance Theatre on Feb. 11 (sponsored by UCI Cultural Events). The Krasnoyarsk Dance Company of Siberia will dance March 19 at the center, courtesy of the Philharmonic Society.

Back at the Irvine Barclay, the Swiss mask-mime troupe Mummenschanz will appear on March 8 at the theater and Anthony Shaw’s AVAZ International Dance Theatre will present a program of Iranian dance and music on June 6.

Ballet Pacifica dances at the Irvine theater on March 5-6 and June 4-5. The St. Joseph Ballet Company celebrates its 10th anniversary with a series of concerts May 20-22 at the Irvine Barclay.