Philharmonic Society Considers Presenting Some Events at UCI

The Orange County Philharmonic Society is considering presenting some concerts in the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine instead of at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

According to society board president Steven Lupinacci, the society first started thinking about the Bren Center while waiting for arts center officials to approve an ethnic-concert series that was opposed by arts center president Thomas Kendrick.

The arts center board approved the series Thursday (see accompanying story), but a statement issued by Kendrick’s office stressed that permission for any such programming “not oriented to classical music (is) specifically limited to the 1993-94 season.”

Looking to the future, the society found the 5,000-seat Bren Center “attractive,” Lupinacci said.

“It may not be feasible for events that require fine acoustics,” he said. “But for performances such as Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, where we had to turn away people (from the 3,000-seat arts center), it would be nice to have the additional seats.”