Philharmonic Society

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County this week announced a new appointment to its executive team. Bonnie Hall will be the vice president of development for the Irvine-based nonprofit, which primarily acts as the county's presenter of visiting orchestras and other performing artists, according to a news release. It is one of three resident companies at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Hall will oversee the fundraising department, that manages sponsorships, gifts from individual donors, capital campaigns and memberships, said Dean Corey, the Philharmonic Society's president and artistic director.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County transformed the Samueli Theater into a New York supper club for a very special "Night of Broadway. " Two of the Orange Coast's most dynamic women, Marsha Anderson and Marta Bhathal , co-chaired the Irvine-based nonprofit's annual benefit gala. The duo produced an evening around the musical performance of composer-lyricist Neil Berg, creator of "100 Years of Broadway. " Berg's showcase was backed by a concert band and a Broadway-caliber cast of performers who shared with the crowd legendary songs from memorable shows, such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Chicago" and "South Pacific.

The philharmonic season in Orange County continued in a grand fashion in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa earlier this month with the debut of maestro Gustavo Dudamel in his tenure as the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music director. This week the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, led by Dean Corey in partnership with philanthropists Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom and the Segerstrom Select Concert Series, announced the exclusive West Coast recital of opera superstar Renée Fleming . The world-renowned soprano will appear in the concert hall for one night and one performance April 5. The beautiful Fleming has never performed in Orange County and is jetting in, making room in her sold-out concert schedule as a special gift to her friend Henry Segerstrom in honor of his 88th birthday, which also falls on the same day. At a luncheon event Monday at the outstanding Marché Moderne bistro on the penthouse level of South Coast Plaza, Henry Segerstrom joined his wife, Elizabeth, attired in a chic Louis Vuitton couture dark violet-blue trench dress, in announcing the special Fleming concert performance.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County has announced its 2012-13 season lineup that's going to be bringing a few A-list classical stars to local audiences. Among the highlights is cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman and the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel. The repertoire throughout the season continues in the multiyear Beethoven celebration. The Irvine-based nonprofit, now in its 59th season, is led by President and Artistic Director Dean Corey. He announced in a press release that he will be retiring in the summer of 2014.

NEWPORT COAST — A French-inspired estate overlooking Newport Harbor is the showcase of this month's 18th annual Philharmonic House of Design, one of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County's staple fundraisers. "Maison de la Mer," a newly built 10,820-square-foot, six-bedroom home in Newport Coast, is open for public tours through March 27. So far, it is the most luxurious home featured in the ongoing program, a committee member said this week. "We've had homes with views before, but this view is just stunning," benefit Chairwoman Cindy Kornhaber said of the estate's panoramic vistas of Newport Harbor.

TUESDAY: Philharmonic Society celebrates the holidays mariachi style with its annual Fiesta Navidad, featuring the Grammy Award-winning Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and tickets start at $25. For more information, visit http://www.philharmonicsociety.org.

TUESDAY: The Philharmonic Society of Orange County presents the New York Philharmonic, featuring conductor Alan Gilbert. The 8 p.m. concert is at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets start at $50. For more information, visit http://www.philharmonicsociety.org.

Can you think of a better way to offer music enrichment courses in financially challenged public schools than purchasing and providing musical instruments for students desiring to learn? A practice violin costs just $150. A cello runs $300, and an upright piano can be purchased for $500. That's just the beginning. Students want flutes and saxophones and yes, even a tuba. Enter the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Founded in 1954, the society of passionate men and women dedicated to fostering generational interest in the preservation as well as the future of classical music is one of the premiere resident companies associated with the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

As previously announced, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts — formerly known as the Orange County Performing Arts Center — plans to celebrate its 25th anniversary season by selling 10,000 tickets to assorted events for $10, in a discount program dubbed "Access for All. " With the season looming at the Costa Mesa center — opening shows include the Emerson String Quartet (Sept. 21), Sonny Rollins (Sept. 25) and the San Francisco Ballet (Sept. 27-Oct. 2) — some details have emerged.

In my two years and five months of writing this column, I've found that the best and worst time doing it happened on the same evening. The Vienna Philharmonic — widely considered one of the best orchestras in the world, if not the best — was playing in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. On the stands was Mahler's Sixth Symphony, a long-winded but mighty work. The third movement alone is worth the price of admission. Furthermore, it was Vienna's first concert in Costa Mesa in nearly a decade.

Can you think of a better way to offer music enrichment courses in financially challenged public schools than purchasing and providing musical instruments for students desiring to learn? A practice violin costs just $150. A cello runs $300, and an upright piano can be purchased for $500. That's just the beginning. Students want flutes and saxophones and yes, even a tuba. Enter the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Founded in 1954, the society of passionate men and women dedicated to fostering generational interest in the preservation as well as the future of classical music is one of the premiere resident companies associated with the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

In my two years and five months of writing this column, I've found that the best and worst time doing it happened on the same evening. The Vienna Philharmonic — widely considered one of the best orchestras in the world, if not the best — was playing in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. On the stands was Mahler's Sixth Symphony, a long-winded but mighty work. The third movement alone is worth the price of admission. Furthermore, it was Vienna's first concert in Costa Mesa in nearly a decade.

Baton in hand, Ryan Youd, 8, led his orchestra of invisible violins, drums, French horns, flutes and clarinets with increasingly frenetic arm movements through an energetic piece of classical music. With all the formality and prestige of Gustavo Dudamel after conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Stravisnky's "Rite of Spring," Ryan took his bow. "When I was conducting, it was so fun," he said. "I was listening to the music, and I was raising the baton; it went faster and faster.

LAGUNA HILLS — There were times in Dean Corey's young life when an appreciation for great music was encouraged during his earliest waking hour. His mother liked to awake him to the dignified sounds of the early 19th century — specifically, the symphonies of Beethoven, Ludwig van. "I could have my breakfast if I could identify which movement it was," Corey, 65, recalls with a smile from his home in Laguna Hills. "So I got that down, but then she started dropping a part randomly from any movement.

The two strangers leafed through the scrapbook, their memories of a man in common flowing like the airy music that earlier filled the hall. There they were, backstage at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall after Tuesday night's Philharmonic Society of Orange County concert, my grandmother and the New York Philharmonic musician reminiscing over the late Saul Goodman. Goodman was my 96-year-old grandmother's "Uncle Solly," but in the world of classical music, he was a giant among timpanists and played with the New York Phil for 46 years.

TUESDAY: The Philharmonic Society of Orange County presents the New York Philharmonic, featuring conductor Alan Gilbert. The 8 p.m. concert is at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets start at $50. For more information, visit http://www.philharmonicsociety.org.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County this week announced a new appointment to its executive team. Bonnie Hall will be the vice president of development for the Irvine-based nonprofit, which primarily acts as the county's presenter of visiting orchestras and other performing artists, according to a news release. It is one of three resident companies at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Hall will oversee the fundraising department, that manages sponsorships, gifts from individual donors, capital campaigns and memberships, said Dean Corey, the Philharmonic Society's president and artistic director.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County transformed the Samueli Theater into a New York supper club for a very special "Night of Broadway. " Two of the Orange Coast's most dynamic women, Marsha Anderson and Marta Bhathal , co-chaired the Irvine-based nonprofit's annual benefit gala. The duo produced an evening around the musical performance of composer-lyricist Neil Berg, creator of "100 Years of Broadway. " Berg's showcase was backed by a concert band and a Broadway-caliber cast of performers who shared with the crowd legendary songs from memorable shows, such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Chicago" and "South Pacific.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County has announced its 2012-13 season lineup that's going to be bringing a few A-list classical stars to local audiences. Among the highlights is cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman and the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel. The repertoire throughout the season continues in the multiyear Beethoven celebration. The Irvine-based nonprofit, now in its 59th season, is led by President and Artistic Director Dean Corey. He announced in a press release that he will be retiring in the summer of 2014.

TUESDAY: Philharmonic Society celebrates the holidays mariachi style with its annual Fiesta Navidad, featuring the Grammy Award-winning Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and tickets start at $25. For more information, visit http://www.philharmonicsociety.org.