Orchestra marks anniversary with flair

With “25” projected on three walls of Segerstrom Hall, large stands of calla lilies framed by illuminated white curtains at each side of the stage and a festive, black-tie audience filling the seats, the Pacific Symphony celebrated the opening of its 25th anniversary season Wednesday night.

More than survival was being marked at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Under music director Carl St. Clair, now beginning his 14th season, the orchestra has grown notably in musical achievement and resourcefulness.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, which closed the program (it was repeated Thursday), received a full-throated, emotionally cohesive and highly detailed reading under St. Clair’s exigent leadership. Minor glitches aside, this was a glorious, world-class performance -- cumulative and gripping. All parts of the orchestra showed their most polished facets, inner voices sang forth clearly, and the ensemble resonated with one voice.

St. Clair was equally deft at the start of the evening, conducting the world premiere of Frank Ticheli’s “Shooting Stars,” a commission for the anniversary. The piece is bright, jaunty and engaging and uses the full resources of this orchestra, which Ticheli knows well, having been its resident composer at one time for seven years.

Midori, now a superstar violinist, was the soloist at mid-program, achieving a definitive performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto. In detailing the intricacies and subtleties of this familiar but profound work while effortlessly negotiating its technical challenges, she made it seem perfectly new. She was aided by St. Clair, who worked hard to make the orchestra match her soft playing, though with intermittent success.

After intermission, Henry Fogel, president of the American Symphony Orchestra League, presented conductor and orchestra with an award on its 25th anniversary, calling the Pacific Symphony “a model for others to follow” and “a beacon in the orchestral world.”