Carl St. Clair
William J. Gillespie Music Director Chair
The 2024-25 season marks Music Director Carl St.Clair’s 35th year leading Pacific Symphony. He is the longest-tenured American-born conductor of a major American orchestra. During St.Clair’s lengthy history, Pacific Symphony has become the largest budgeted orchestra formed in the last 50 years. Pacific Symphony was invited by the League of American Orchestras to become the newest and youngest orchestra among America’s Tier 1 Orchestras. Few orchestras can claim such rapid artistic development.
During his tenure, St.Clair has become widely recognized for his musically distinguished performances and his innovative approaches to programming. In April 2018, St.Clair led Pacific Symphony in its sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, celebrating Philip Glass’ 80th birthday at the final concert of Carnegie’s yearlong celebration of the preeminent composer. The concert ended with a standing ovation and with The New York Times calling the Symphony “a major ensemble!” St.Clair led Pacific Symphony on its first tour to China in May 2018, the orchestra’s first international tour since touring Europe in 2006. The orchestra’s European tour included playing concerts in nine cities (including Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Lucerne, and Vienna) in three countries appearing before capacity houses and receiving standing ovations and critical acclaim. The Hannoversche Allgemeine raved, “St.Clair and his fabulous orchestra completely won over Hanover…with spirit, a sense of sound, and utterly breathtaking precision” and Cologne’s General Anzeiger exclaimed, “Electrifying…captivating!”
The 2024-25 season marks Music Director Carl St.Clair’s 35th year leading Pacific Symphony.
The orchestra made its national PBS debut in June 2018 on Great Performances with Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America, conducted by St.Clair. Among St.Clair’s many creative endeavors are the highly acclaimed American Composers Festival, which began in 2000, and the opera initiative, “Symphonic Voices,” which has included concert-opera productions of Madama Butterfly, The Magic Flute, Aida, Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata, Tosca, Rigoletto, and La Bohème in previous seasons.
St.Clair’s commitment to the development and performance of new works by composers is evident in the wealth of commissions and recordings by the Symphony. Beginning in the 2023-24 season, Viet Cuong was named the Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence. The 2016-17 season featured commissions from pianist/composer Conrad Tao and Composer-in-Residence Narong Prancharoen, a follow-up to the slate of recordings of works commissioned and performed by the Symphony in recent years. Other commissions include John Wineglass’ Alone Together, William Bolcom’s Songs of Lorca and Prometheus, Elliot Goldenthal’s Symphony in G-sharp minor, Richard Danielpour’s Toward a Season of Peace, Philip Glass’ The Passion of Ramakrishna, and Michael Daugherty’s Mount Rushmore, and The Gospel According to Sister Aimee. St.Clair has led the orchestra in other critically acclaimed recordings including two piano concertos of Lukas Foss, Danielpour’s An American Requiem, and Goldenthal’s Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Other commissioned composers include James Newton Howard, Zhou Long, Tobias Picker, Frank Ticheli, Sir James MacMillan, Chen Yi, Curt Cacioppo, Stephen Scott, Jim Self (Pacific Symphony’s Principal Tubist), and Christopher Theofanidis.
Internationally, St.Clair has appeared with orchestras throughout the world. He has led orchestras in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe. In January 2024, following a 27-year relationship with Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal (Germany), St.Clair was named Honorary Guest Conductor for Life. In 2023, he concluded a successful 10-year tenure as Music Director with the National Symphony of Costa Rica. From 2008-10, St.Clair was General Music Director for the Komische Oper in Berlin. He also served as General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the German National Theater and Staatskapelle (GNTS) in Weimar, Germany, where he led Wagner’s Ring Cycle to critical acclaim. He was the first non-European to hold this position at the GNTS; the role also gave him the distinction of simultaneously leading one of the newest orchestras in America and one of the oldest in Europe.
St.Clair has led the Boston Symphony Orchestra (where he served as Assistant Conductor for several years 1985-90), New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver symphonies, among many.
Carl St.Clair is a strong advocate of music education for all ages and is internationally recognized for his distinguished career as a master teacher. He has been essential to the creation and implementation of the Symphony’s extensive education and community engagement programs. In addition to his professional conducting career, St.Clair has worked with most major music schools across the country. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Chapman University and has served as a Presidential Fellow, working closely with the students of the College of the Performing Arts (2018-22). St.Clair has been named “Distinguished Alumni” at the University of Texas Butler School of Music beginning 2019. And, for over 30 years, he has had a continuing relationship with the USC Thornton School of Music where he is Artistic Leader and Principal Conductor of the orchestral and large ensemble program.