The Vollmer Years

A look at what the Orange County Philharonic Society has presented here since 1986

1986-87: Three series, 18 concerts and recitals, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic led on different dates by Kurt Sanderling, Andre Previn and Esa-Pekka Salonen; the Chicago Symphony led by Georg Solti; the Cleveland Orchestra led by Christoph von Dohnanyi; the Avaz International Dance Theatre and the Karpatok Hungarian Folk Ensemble; the Canadian Brass; duo-pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque.

1987-88: Three series, 17 concerts and recitals, including Orchestra de la Suisse Romande with conductor Armin Jordan; the Pittsburgh Symphony under Charles Dutoit; the Royal Philharmonic under Enrique Batiz; the City of Birmingham Symphony under Simon Rattle; recitals by soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, pianist Leonid Kuzmin, and Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd with clarinetist Richard Stolzman.

1988-89: Three series, 23 concerts and recitals, including the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti; the London Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas; the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin; separate recitals by soprano Leontyne Price and pianist Andre Watts.

1990-91: Ten series, 29 concerts and recitals, including the Philharmonic Society’s first chamber music series at the Irvine Barclay Theatre with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam led by Riccardo Chailly, the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg under Hans Graf, the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under Philippe Entremont, and the Andreyev Balalaika Orchestra; recitals by violinist Itzhak Perlman, soprano Kathleen Battle, the Canadian Brass, and the Juilliard String Quartet with the Billy Taylor Trio.

1991-92: Four series, 39 concerts and recitals, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Zubin Mehta; the Cincinnati Symphony led by Jesus Lopez-Cobos; recitals by Jessye Norman, Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffrey Kahane, the Chieftains, the Mzowsze! folk dance company from Poland. The second season at the Irvine Barclay included three programs by the Salzburg Marionette Theatre and other recitals. Also, the first joint-season with the Laguna Chamber Music Society, at the Irvine Barclay.

1992-93: Four series, 23 concerts and recitals, including the Seattle Symphony led by Gerard Schwarz; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra led by Christof Perick; the Handel and Haydn Society; Ballet Folklorico de Mexico and the Krasnoyarsk Dance Company of Siberia.