Pacific Symphony to Continue Free Concerts

MORE FREE CONCERTS: The Pacific Symphony will continue its free outdoor summer concerts in Santa Ana and Anaheim for another three years.

“We’ve received word that at least part of the costs for another three years will be picked up by the Walt Disney Foundation in cooperation with Disneyland, beginning next year,” Pacific executive director John Forsyte said.

“Chevron has provided another significant grant. We need another $30,000 or $40,000, but things look pretty solid.”

The cost of each pair of concerts is roughly $120,000, Forsyte said.

The concerts today in Santa Ana and Sunday in Anaheim are the last of the three-year summer program sponsored by the cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim and corporate sponsors such as Edison International, Chevron and Disneyland Resort.

Program highlights include music by Gershwin, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, a Beach Boys medley and music by John Williams.

There also will be a fireworks show in Santa Ana and a laser show at Pearson Park.

The music begins at 7:30 p.m. Free craft activities for children start at 6.

“We will have these educational programs for children--instrument-making, a conducting class with [Pacific music director] Carl [St.Clair], face-painting and so on,” Forsyte said.

“The community is enormously enthusiastic. People are thrilled to have a professional symphony come out and play for them, and they’re happy with the format--a mix of classical and pop repertoire. There’s also often a collaboration with dancers, so there’s the visual interest too.”

Carl St.Clair will conduct the Pacific Symphony today at Centennial Park, 3000 W. Edinger, Santa Ana, and Sunday at Pearson Park, 400 N. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim. (714) 755-5788, Ext. 285.

APPOINTMENT: Erich Vollmer, executive director of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County from 1984 to 1993, has been named president and chief executive officer of the Caramoor (N.Y.) Center for Music and the Arts, effective Oct. 1. Located in Katonah, N.Y., in Westchester County 40 miles northeast of New York City, Caramoor is best known for its annual music festival--now in its 56th season--which hosts classical, opera and jazz artists. It is also the summer home of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, to be led next season by Donald Runnicles. A native of California, Vollmer was executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1993 to 1995, and executive director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival since 1995.

SOLD OUT: The “New World Flamenco Festival,” produced and sponsored by the Irvine Barclay Theatre, has sold out all of its concerts, workshops and the juerga (party and jam session), according to theater president Douglas Rankin. The nine-day festival features companies from Jerez de Frontera, Spain, and San Francisco. It concludes with a performance by Compania Belen Maya from Madrid tonight at 8 at the theater, 4242 Campus Drive. (949) 854-4646.

MET AUDITIONS: The Orange County District Metropolitan Opera auditions will be held Oct. 13 at 10 a.m. in Memorial Hall at Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell, Orange. Sopranos, mezzo-sopranos and contraltos must have turned 19 and tenors, baritones and basses must have turned 20 by Aug. 1. No applicant may be older than 33. Winners will compete in the Western Regional Auditions Oct. 26 and 27 at USC.

For application forms and more information, write to Metropolitan Opera Orange County Auditions, 24571 Kings View, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677, or call (949) 249-2101. There is a $20 application fee. Deadline for applications is Oct. 1. The auditions are open to the public to observe.

PIANO SALE: Chapman University will sell its acoustic and digital pianos Sunday) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bertea Hall, 1 University Drive, Orange. The selection will include grands, baby grands, studios, consoles, spinets and digital keyboards. Many instruments are less than 2 years old. Chapman has a loan program with Kawai America Corp. that allows the later sale of these instruments. Pianos by other manufacturers will also be available. Financing and delivery can be arranged. Information: (714) 997-6871.