Harmonic Habitat

The Laguna Beach home of Pacific Symphony maestro Carl St.Clair and wife Susan is a musical retreat and a haven for healing.

In the spotlight: The light-filled Laguna Beach residence of Pacific Symphony maestro Carl St.Clair and his wife, Susan. The 3,300-square-foot home has raw-cedar ceilings, a 12-by-12-foot skylight in the foyer and a rooftop patio with a sweeping ocean view.

The house they wanted: After their marriage in 1995, the couple lived in the fashionable, waterside condominium in Laguna Beach that had been St.Clair’s bachelor pad. “I’d bought that intending to live there the rest of my life,” Carl said. “It couldn’t have been a more ideal spot for a bachelor. But the first weekend I moved in, I met Susan.”

When Susan became pregnant in 1997 with Cole Carsan St.Clair--a son the couple lost last summer in a drowning accident--they began to search for a home that could accommodate a family. “The condo was gorgeous, but it was time to move on,” said Susan, who is three months pregnant with the couple’s second child.

“After finding a new home that was large enough for a family, the most important thing was to find a house in Laguna Beach,” Carl said. “Laguna has its own personality; it has a very prevalent artistic feeling about it. That helps me as an artist.”

Home as haven: After suffering the overwhelming loss of their small son, the couple’s house became the haven where they helped each other heal.

Susan’s pregnancy has filled their house with a renewed joy, Carl said. “I couldn’t be more excited to see the changes in Susan since she has become pregnant. It’s definitely a very important aspect of our healing process.”

Musical retreat: Carl prepares for his appearances with the orchestra in a music room/study that contains a Yamaha piano, sofa, leather chair, desk, computer and cabinets filled with orchestral scores.

“I do all my work--all my studying--at home,” Carl said. “I am in contact daily with orchestras and managers around the world.”

Situated on the home’s lower level and apart from its activity areas, the retreat affords St.Clair a quiet place to prepare for a concert.

“I have my little oddities when I study there,” Carl said. “I can’t have any of the cabinet doors open and I can’t have any other papers on my desk but the score. I’ll clear everything off and just have Beethoven’s Ninth, a favorite ruler and pencil sharpener. I have to be totally focused.”

Carl uses the piano to play the passages he wants to hear “as opposed to those I have in my head,” he said.

Although Carl has a repertoire of 200 scores he conducts on a regular basis, he likes to refresh his memory each time he is about to perform.

“Every time you come back to a masterpiece, you have to approach it almost as if it was the very first time,” he said. “It’s like climbing Mt. Everest; every time you climb it, you have to train.”

What does Susan do when Carl hunkers down with a musical masterpiece?

“If it’s Mahler, I hide,” she joked.

Ann Conway can be reached at (714) 966-5952 or by e-mail at ann.conway@latimes.com.