Pacific Expands Summer Series

SANTA ANA — The Pacific Symphony will mark its 10th annual summer series at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre by adding a sixth concert to the usual five-concert season.

The orchestra also has renewed its lease there through 2001 even though the fate of the theater is in dispute.

Businessman Harry Shuster, who has subleased the property to Irvine Meadows, has been feuding with his landlord, the Irvine Co., and has threatened to bulldoze the theater when his lease expires Feb. 28 if he is not paid for the improvements he says he has made to the property. An Orange County Superior Court judge refused in December to grant an injunction preventing Shuster’s company from pursuing permits for the demolition.

“It remains our fervent hope and expectation that a responsible business accommodation will be arrived at prior to March 1,” Brian Lysaght, Shuster’s attorney, said Wednesday.

For its part, the Irvine Co. has gone ahead on its own. “We have extended the lease of the amphitheater to operate into the year 2017,” spokesman Larry Thomas said Tuesday. “When the lease expires with [Shuster] on Feb. 28, the amphitheater would continue to operate under a lease to the Irvine Co.”

Bob Geddes, managing partner of Irvine Meadows, said Tuesday: “We fully expect the ’97 season to be played. . . . We’ll proceed accordingly to vigorously defend our rights as they relate to Mr. Shuster’s attempts to extract additional financial opportunities from the Irvine Co.”

On that basis, the orchestra has proceeded to schedule its season.

“We have had several discussions with Irvine Meadows and have been assured that their problems--and they are obviously real--will be resolved, and they are in fact planning their own seasons,” executive director Louis Spisto said Tuesday by phone from New York, where he is attending the annual American Symphony Orchestra League conference.

“We’re moving from five to six concerts based on audience response, success in ticket sales and our new agreement.”

The new five-year contract will allow up to seven subscription concerts a year, although more single events may also be scheduled, Spisto said. None are planned.

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Music director Carl St.Clair will conduct three of the summer concerts, with guests David Bishop, Richard Westerfield and Jack Everly leading the others.

Soloists include violinist and composer Mark O’Connor (who has recorded “Appalachia Waltz” with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer), pianists Christopher O’Riley and John Novacek and guitarist William Kanengiser.

Two of the concerts will use multiscreen video projections of musicians, the conductor and other activity onstage. One of these programs will include principal dancers from American Ballet Theatre in choreography after Petipa.

The six-part series, announced Tuesday, will begin July 4 with a pops program and will close Sept. 20 with a Tchaikovsky program. Both will include fireworks.

All the concerts will begin at 8 p.m. Subscriptions will go on sale in March at prices ranging from $123 to $294. Tickets to individual concerts will be $13 to $54 and will go on sale June 1.

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SUMMER SERIES

The 1997 Pacific Symphony Season:

* July 4: David Bishop, conductor; soprano and baritone to be announced; Kevin Bell, bass; John Novacek, piano: music by Gershwin, Kern, Joplin, Leonard Bernstein, Sousa. Fireworks.

* July 19: Richard Westerfield, conductor; Mark O’Connor, violin: William Schuman’s “American Festival” Overture; Jay Ungar’s “Ashokan Farewell”; Mark O’Connor’s Fiddle Concerto No. 1 (third movement); Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”). Videos.

* Aug. 9: Carl St.Clair, conductor; Christopher O’Riley, piano: Overture to Mozart’s “The Abduction From the Seraglio” and Piano Concerto No. 19; Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”; “Emperor” Waltz and “Thunder and Lightning” Polka by Johann Strauss Jr.; “Radetzky” March by Johann Strauss Sr.

* Aug. 23: St.Clair, conductor; Jeanine Thames, soprano; Glen Siebert, tenor; Andrew Schroeder, baritone; Pacific Chorale: excerpts from Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote”; Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”

* Sept. 6: St.Clair, conductor; William Kanengiser, guitar; violinist to be announced: Chabrier’s “Espana”; Ginastera’s “Estancia”; Sarasate’s “Carmen Fantasy”; Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez; Ravel’s Bolero.

* Sept. 20: Jack Everly, conductor; principal dancers and soloists from American Ballet Theatre: Tchaikovsky program including excerpts from “The Sleeping Beauty”; “Romeo and Juliet” Overture-Fantasy; “1812” Overture. Cannons, videos, fireworks.

All concerts will be at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive. Information: (714) 755-5799.