Curtain call for OCC conductor

Christine Carrillo

Alan Remington is about to take his final bow as both conductor and

professor at Orange Coast College.

Only the second conductor to lead the OCC Symphony Orchestra in

its 42-year history, Remington began his career at the college as a

full-time professor in 1977 and took over as conductor of its

60-piece symphony orchestra in the mid-1980s. He will retire next

month.

“I’m going to miss it very much,” Remington said. “I’m going to

miss my students, my colleagues ... it’s going to leave a big whole

in my life but it’s time to leave.”

With a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the American

Conservatory of Music and years of experience as a bassoonist with

the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, Remington

has made his mark as a musician. He has also worked as an

orchestrator for Paramount Studios and a free-lance composer and

arranger for many years, which has added to his knowledge of music.

At OCC, he taught courses ranging from fundamentals of music to

orchestra, and has acted as musical director for two of OCC’s summer

shows, “Pacific Overtures” and “South Pacific.”

“He loves his students and he’s demanding of his students, but

he’s inspired them and he has their best interests at heart,” said

Sylvia Impert, dean of the fine arts division, which includes visual

and performing arts. “He’s very passionate about what he does so he

really imparts that passion to his students.”

Not seeing his presence at the college as anything exceptional,

the humble professor sees his stint at OCC as a wonderful run that

has now come to an end.

Others around him see it as much more than that.

The symphony “plays a hugely significant role as one of our

biggest community events and, as far as performing arts go on this

campus, it’s one of the premier things,” Impert said. “We hope to

have Alan Remington come back as a guest conductor. He’s really going

to be missed.”

And he will definitely miss it.

“I did my job and enjoyed doing it and just had a tremendous

amount of support from my colleagues and my students,” Remington

said. “I’ve done everything I could, I think, and I’ve enjoyed it.”

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.