Big Sur, the stars and beyond

There is, of course, Disney Hall. The fall concerts have a festival-like allure, what with the Los Angeles Philharmonic featuring an exceptional sequence of major conductors and soloists as well as presenting stellar guest ensembles and recitalists. Among the big-ticket items likely to make news are Esa-Pekka Salonen premiering, at one of the exclusive opening galas (Sept. 24), John Adams’ “The Dharma at Big Sur,” which pays tribute to the composer’s California heroes -- Lou Harrison, Terry Riley and Jack Kerouac -- and Simon Rattle bringing in the Berlin Philharmonic for two programs, Nov. 21-22.

Throughout the schedule for the hall’s opening months, Mahler stands out -- Salonen conducting the huge Second (“Resurrection”), Oct. 30-Nov. 2; Pierre Boulez turning to the visionary Adagio movement from the unfinished Tenth, Nov. 28-30; and L.A. native Michael Tilson Thomas returning to the Philharmonic for the first time in two decades for the Sixth, Dec. 11-14. And don’t forget that the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon, is also a resident company of Disney, and its first program includes a new work by Bobby McFerrin.

But don’t forget as well that there will be life beyond Disney Hall. The two most notable American works premiered last year happen to be by Bay Area composers, and they will reach the West Coast for the first time next month as part of the Eclectic Orange series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. One, Oct. 14, is an evening-long hymn to the stars and the human spirit -- Terry Riley’s “Sun Rings,” written for the Kronos Quartet, chorus and sounds recorded from outer space. The other, Oct. 19, is also a hymn to the transcendent human spirit -- John Adams’ meditative, deeply moving, Pulitzer Prize-winning 9/11 memorial, “On the Transmigration of Souls,” for chorus, orchestra and prerecorded sounds of the city.