Carl St.Clair
CONDUCTOR
"...St.Clair conducted with such expressiveness and lucidity, shaping, sculpting, molding, pulling out from his players, by turns, power, grace, precisely delineated jarring rhythms, and an overall fluidity underlying these abrupt changes of mood...[Bernstein: Chichester Psalms]."
PACIFIC SYMPHONY
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
BIOGRAPHY
Music Director Carl St.Clair is the longest-tenured American-born conductor of a major American orchestra. During St.Clair’s lengthy history, Pacific Symphony has become the largest budgeted orchestra formed in the last 50 years. Pacific Symphony was invited by the League of American Orchestra to become the newest and youngest orchestra among America’s Tier 1 Orchestras. Few orchestras can claim such rapid artistic development. During his tenure, St.Clair has become widely recognized for his musically distinguished performances and his innovative approaches to programming. In April 2018, St.Clair led Pacific Symphony in its sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, celebrating Philip Glass’s 80th birthday at the final concert of Carnegie’s yearlong celebration of the preeminent composer. The concert ended with a standing ovation and with The New York Times calling the Symphony “a major ensemble!” St.Clair led Pacific Symphony on its first tour to China in May 2018, the orchestra’s first international tour since touring Europe in 2006. The orchestra’s European tour included playing concerts in nine cities (including Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Lucerne, and Vienna) in three countries appearing before capacity houses and receiving standing ovations and critical acclaim. The Hannoversche Allgemeine raved, “St.Clair and his fabulous orchestra completely won over Hanover…with spirit, a sense of sound, and utterly breathtaking precision” and Cologne’s General Anzeiger exclaimed, “Electrifying…captivating!” Internationally, St.Clair has appeared with orchestras throughout the world. He has led orchestras in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe. In January 2024, following a 27- year relationship with Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal (Germany), St.Clair was named Honorary Guest Conductor for Life. In 2023, he concluded a highly acclaimed 10-year tenure as Music Director with the National Symphony of Costa Rica. From 2008-10, St.Clair was General Music Director for the Komische Oper in Berlin. He also served as General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the German National Theater and Staatskapelle (GNTS) in Weimar, Germany, where he led Wagner’s Ring Cycle to critical acclaim. He was the first non-European to hold this position at the GNTS; the role also gave him the distinction of simultaneously leading one of the newest orchestras in America and one of the oldest in Europe. St.Clair has led the Boston Symphony Orchestra (where he served as Assistant Conductor for several years 1985-90), New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver symphonies, among many. Carl St.Clair is a strong advocate of music education for all ages and is internationally recognized for his distinguished career as a master teacher. In addition to his professional conducting career, St.Clair has worked with most major music schools across the country. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Chapman University and has served as a Presidential Fellow, working closely with the students of the College of the Performing Arts. St.Clair has been named “Distinguished Alumni” at the University of Texas Butler School of Music beginning 2019. And, for over 30 years, he has had a continuing relationship with the USC Thornton School of Music where he is Artistic Leader and Principal Conductor of the orchestral and large ensemble program.
RECORDINGS
Carl St.Clair
PRESS ACCLAIM
PACIFIC SYMPHONY
“Carl St.Clair has a special gift for complicated, daunting music. He can negotiate the impenetrable thickets of a George Crumb score or some other atonal Rubrik's Cube with gusto and ease, and he has a knack for making difficult things understandable ... St. Clair mastered [all] challenges effortlessly.”
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
“Carl St.Clair made an impression as a solid and often imaginative leader. If there is any test of a conductor’s skills, it is Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. St. Clair handled the bloated forces of the ballet’s Suite No. 2 with skill and elegance.”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA / TAIWAN
"St.Clair is a fantastic, energetic, charismatic leader, and I hope we get to see more of him in the future ... it was a fantastic evening, very exciting." [Beethoven Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"]
FUGUE FOR THOUGHT
PACIFIC SYMPHONY (European Tour)
“St.Clair and his fabulous orchestra completely won over Hanover … with spirit, a sense of sound and utterly breathtaking precision.”
HANNOVERSCHE ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
"[Carl St.Clair] led the NSO in a performance that was remarkable for its precision and clarity ... His reading was full of passion and febrile intensity — the pathos in the work's slow finale was heartrending ..." [Frank Ticheli's Radiant Voices]
NASHVILLE SCENE/Country Life
KOMISCHE OPER BERLIN
“The concert began with the dramatic and indestructible overture to Bernstein’s Candide, and after this piece, which lasts less than five minutes, one already knew quite a bit about Carl St.Clair, his working economy, his mastery, his taste and his showmanship … a new, heartier tone will enter the Komische Oper with St. Clair.”
BERLIN ZEITUNG
DISCOGRAPHY
GLASS
The Passion of Ramakrishna
Pacific Symphony Orchestra
Pacific Chorale
Orange Mountain Music
STEVENS
Grand Concerto 4 Tubas
with Melton Tuba Quartet
Duisburger Philharmoniker
Acousence
LISZT
The Legend of St. Elisabeth
with Melanie Diener, soprano
with Dagmar Pecková, mezzo-soprano
with Mario Hoff, baritone
with Renatus Mészár, bass
and Alexander Günther, bass
Staatskapelle Weimar
Chor des Ungarischen Rundfunks
Chor Die Ameisenkinder des Goethegymnasiums Weimar
CPO Records
New American Works for Clarinet
DAVIDSON
McKINLEY
SACKS
with Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
MMC Records
VILLA-LOBOS
Symphony No. 2
SWR Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart
CPO Records
TAKEMITSU
Orchestral Works
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Nexus
Sony Classical
VILLA-LOBOS
Symphony Nos. 3 & 9
SWR Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart
CPO Records
VILLA-LOBOS
Symphony No. 7; Sinfonietta No. 1
SWR Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart
CPO Records
DANIELPOUR
An American Requiem
with Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano
with Hugh Smith, tenor
and Mark Oswald, baritone
Pacific Symphony Orchestra
Pacific Chorale
Reference Recordings
VILLA-LOBOS
Symphony Nos. 6 & 8
SWR Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart
CPO Records
FOSS
Piano Concerto; Elegy for Anne Frank
with Jon Nakamatsu, pianist
and Yakov Kasman, pianist
Pacific Symphony Orchestra
Harmonia Mundi
VILLA-LOBOS
Symphony Nos. 4 & 12
SWR Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart CPO Records
VILLA-LOBOS
Symphony Nos. 1 & 11
SWR Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart
CPO Records
GOLDENTHAL
Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio
with Yo-Yo Ma, cellist
with Ana Panagulias, soprano
and James Maddalena, baritone
Pacific Symphony Orchestra
Pacific Chorale and Children’s Chorus
Ngah-Khoi Vietnamese Children Choir
Sony Classical
CORIGLIANO
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
TICHELI
Radiant Voices and Postcard
with Alain Lefèvre, pianist
Pacific Symphony Orchestra
Koch Classics
Premiere Oboe Works
BASSETT
BOLCOM
COWELL
SINGER
with Harry Sargous, oboist
Toronto Sinfonietta
Crystal Records
GABRIELI
Music of Gabrieli and his Contemporaries
Empire Brass
Telarc
WAGNER
Der Ring des Nibelungen (live recording)
Deutsches National Theater
Staatskapelle Weimar
ARTHAUS Musik
NEWS
