Orange County’s Pacific Symphony played Carnegie Hall Saturday night (barring the unforeseen—The Business Journal goes to press Friday afternoon). It is as it seems. “A big deal. Always been at the apex,” said symphony President John Forsythe during the intermission of a “practice concert” at Segerstrom Concert Hall on April 14. “And to be invited and part of this series. And finishing it off there Saturday night. Very proud.”
The invitation came through one of America’s pre-eminent composers, Phillip Glass, who wrote “The Passion of Ramakrishna” for the orchestra and chorale and for mutual admirer, PSO conductor Carl St. Clair to inaugurate Segerstrom Concert Hall in 2006.
Twelve years later, Glass is artist in residence at 117-year-old Carnegie Hall.
“When asked which orchestra he wanted to invite,” said Gary Good, senior executive for special campaigns with the symphony, “he replied, ‘My first choice would be Pacific Symphony.’” And he asked that they play the piece from 2006.
When St. Clair conducts “The Passion” on April 21, crammed into the sold-out hall will be about 250 PSO volunteers and patrons, some dating back to the founding in Fullerton 39 years ago, and a big part of this story.
Good for Business
Mary Moore of Fullerton had a friend, Marcy Mulville. Moore also had a husband, Bill, started a little food distribution company, Golden State Foods, and grew the meat company to be a distribution center for a growing burger chain, McDonald’s. Today GSF is the third-largest private company in the county. Moore also made an early $1 million donation to the fledgling Performing Arts Center, real money back then.
Thus began the nexus of the OC community of business and PSO and the arts in OC.
Moore, 91, is in New York with her daughter and granddaughter. She’s listed in the program as Principal Underwriter, Mary Moore Family.
“To be going to the concert,” [is one thing] Moore said, “[but] to know the man conducting the symphony, the MAN, Carl St. Clair!”
Mark Hilbert is in New York with Moore and her kin. “Evolution of a businessman,” said the managing director of Newport Beach-based Hilbert Properties. “I recognize now the importance of the arts to give back to the arts, the need to have more than just nice neighborhoods and nice schools.”
Businessman David Horowitz shares the sentiment, nudged there by his classical pianist wife. He runs a small family office of private equity after selling the family business, Ready Mix Concrete, in 1990.
“The maturity of a community has something to do with a symphony they have,” Horowitz said. “When companies look at financial headquarters, sometimes they’ll gravitate toward putting that corporate headquarters here.”
Good agreed. “The business of the arts doesn’t get talked about a lot, we’re a $22 million company—arts are a tremendous economic driver. Economists use a 4 to 1 multiplier for arts when totaling economic impact.”
Good points to the internationally renowned Boston Symphony. “3.2 billion dollars in spending,” he gushed. “One orchestra.”
And there’s the marketing aspect of the tour, which moves from Midtown Manhattan to a five-city run in China.
“[PAAMCO co-founder and Chief Executive] Jane Buchan always says the symphony and the arts are her No. 1 recruiting tool,” Good added.
“It’s a marketing opportunity,” Hilbert said, “the quality of Pacific Symphony, how it’s a world-class symphony.”
There are hopes the tour kindles more support at home. “With the symphony, mostly older patrons, played when they were young,” 20-year supporter Horowitz noted. “We haven’t had that support, except transactional. It should be coming.”
Practice
The symphony may have been invited to Carnegie Hall, but no surprise, the performance fee for the concert doesn’t cover the costs. Gifts of $500,000 just about cover the incremental cost of the trip. Capacity in the main hall is 2,804, a venue funded by banker Andrew Carnegie, opened by Tchaikovsky, played by the Beatles, and saved from an urban renewal plan in the 1970s by violinist Isaac Stern and investor Sandy Weill. That nexus again.
The Passion
The symphony has about 180 performers, including the Pacific Chorale. For most orchestra members, it’s their primary employment. The bonus for concertgoers is that Philip Glass wrote “Passion” with legendary sitarist and Beatles muse Ravi Shankhar. Shankhar composed Sitar Concerto No. 3 for his daughter Anoushka—and she’ll play No. 3 with St. Clair and the symphony on Saturday night.
“A rock star,” Forsythe said of Anoushka, who, like St. Clair and Glass, is on many critics’ lists as foremost in their craft.
“Invited to play this symphony by Phillip Glass,” Forsythe said at intermission of the Costa Mesa performance, “and to be able to play there, Carnegie Hall, in front of our biggest supporters. It’s a dream.”
Horowitz said, “What will I be thinking? Pride. Pride for the orchestra, the county.”
And then onto China.
“If you think about what we’re doing—Carnegie Hall and China—what we’re doing is exporting Orange County,” Good said.
