Pacific Symphony will perform in NYC’s Carnegie Hall, then tour in China

In the coming days, the Pacific Symphony is taking its music on the road — and achieving a few historic moments along the way.

First, Orange County’s orchestra will have its debut performance at Carnegie Hall on April 21. A few weeks later, the orchestra will pack its bags and bows for a five-city trek across China, its first international tour since 2006, when the orchestra played nine cities in three countries in Europe.

For the Pacific Symphony, which is wrapping up its 39th season, the back-to-back performances abroad — with a few hometown appearances in between — make for a bustling schedule.

The Carnegie Hall performance in New York City has been long anticipated. Announced in January 2017, the program celebrates the work of composer Philip Glass, Carnegie Hall’s current composer-in-residence.

Alongside the Pacific Chorale and five vocal soloists, the orchestra will perform Glass’ “The Passion of Ramakrishna,” a 45-minute, oratorio-style composition inspired by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a revered Bengali mystic and yogi who died in 1886.

For Glass, the work pays tribute to Ramakrishna, whose teachings helped shaped modern India. The composition’s text is taken from highlights of Ramakrishna’s teachings.

“The Passion of Ramakrishna” holds a special place in the Pacific Symphony’s own history. The organization co-commissioned it with the Nashville Symphony and gave its world premiere in 2006 as part of the opening ceremonies for the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Costa Mesa venue the symphony now calls home.

The work was revived and recorded in 2011 as part of the symphony’s American Composers Festival.

Rounding out the Carnegie Hall program is another Glass composition, “Meetings Along the Edge,” from the larger work “Passages.” Glass composed it in 1990 alongside Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, whom Glass met in India in 1965. Shankar died in 2012.

Third on the lineup is Concerto No. 3 for Sitar and Orchestra, which Shankar premiered in 2009. Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka Shankar, will perform the work.

The Pacific Symphony’s China tour goes from May 9 to 15, starting in Shanghai’s Poly Grand Theatre. Following performances in Hefei, Wuxi and Chongqing, the tour ends in Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, a venue known for its egg-like architecture.

The touring program will include works by Leonard Bernstein, Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe, Suite. No. 2” and Ravel’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Solo violinist Pinchas Zukerman will join the tour to perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3.

Carl St.Clair, Pacific Symphony’s music director since 1990, called the China tour “an artistically significant opportunity for Pacific Symphony to embrace cultural diplomacy and to carry the message of music’s universality across the ocean to the other side of the Pacific Rim.”

“The halls we will be playing have all been built within the last 10 years. Some of the world’s leading architects have created contemporary temples of music with stunning acoustics that will beautifully showcase the fine playing of our musicians,” he said in a news release.

IPacific Symphony President John Forsyte noted Orange County’s large Asian American population and how, since 2013, the orchestra has been devoted to engaging with Chinese communities and building on their enthusiasm for symphony music.

“Crossing the Pacific Rim to perform for the Chinese population on the mainland is the logical extension of the work we’ve been doing here in Orange County,” Forsyte said in the news release.

Bradley Zint is a contributor to Times Community News.