Pacific Symphony, Segerstrom Concert Hall – May 17, 2025
The person in my Buy Nothing group who offered up the opera tickets had tickets for another concert in Costa Mesa and I was the first (and I think only) person to raise my hand. I left super early – 5:00 for an 8:00pm show because I needed to stop at Costco for gas and sometimes that takes a while and I also wanted to have dinner at Boudin. It turns out that around 5:15 on a Saturday night is a great time to get gas at Costco. I only had to wait for one car to finish before I was pumping. Not bad! Traffic wasn’t great, but also wasn’t horrible. I did take the Fast Trac lane for 1 exit and then decided I would probably be okay in the non-pay lanes. I got to the South Coast Plaza and parked at 6:08, so I had lots of time for a leisurely dinner. There was a musician there eating dinner with me too. Well not WITH me, but near me. Judging from the case, I’d say violin. Julie did not get there with enough time to eat, but parked near me at South Coast Plaza so we could take the pedestrian bridge across and forego the $15 parking fee.
When we entered the concert hall, we were greeted by the sounds of Gregorian chanting. The priests and seminarians were arranged in a circle in the open section of the lobby that goes up several floors with stairs spiraling around. The acoustics were fantastic. There were a couple of priests sitting on a bench and Julie wanted me to go sit by them and take a picture but I declined. And then we watched someone else go take a selfie with them. Sigh. We did stop by the photo booth to make a funny GIF. The wi-fi and cell reception is so bad in the concert hall that I wasn’t able to receive them until I got home and it turned out we got someone else’s pictures. I can only wonder who got ours.
This time our comp seats were at the very top of the balcony, but dead center. The conductor took the stage and explained the program. He said he’d arranged for the pre-show chant in order to bring our blood pressures down before the program. I’d say it worked. The Norbertine Fathers from St. Michael’s Abbey opened the evening with another chant, followed by Bach’s Sinfonia in D Major, BWV 1045, and then another chant. It was lovely.
Then Paul Jacobs took his place at the organ and we heard Guilmant’s Symphony No. 1 in D minor for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 42. Wow!!! The organ was spectacular and Paul Jacobs was amazing. I was glad for our balcony seats because we could really see him play from where we were sitting.
After intermission, we heard Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E Major. The conductor, Carl St. Clair introduced this piece by telling us that even though it was written in the Romantic Era, it was not a Romantic piece. He told us that Bruckner was an organ virtuoso and you could definitely hear the organ in the arrangements although there was no organ part in this symphony. It was good, but I really should have had a cup of tea with dinner because I could feel myself drifting off. I think that’s more the result of the weird hours I’ve been keeping than any fault of the orchestra or the piece. At the end, Julie said she thought Carl St. Clair was incorrect because she could definitely hear elements of Romanticism in the piece.
All in all it was a lovely evening. Here’s to hoping for more Pacific Symphony comp tickets!