The Philharmonic Society of Orange County

OCTOBER 2010 - APRIL 2011

PRESENTING SPONSORS

SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS
The roots of Segerstrom Center for the Arts date back to 1974 when South Coast Plaza a Segerstrom family partnership donated land in Costa Mesa, California, to an outstanding young theater company, South Coast Repertory (SCR), for construction of a new home. Encouraged by the meteoric success of SCR in the 1970s and early 1980s, South Coast Plaza gifted a 5-acre site adjacent to SCR to an embryonic community cultural group, Orange County Music Center (later renamed Orange County Performing Arts Center -- OCPAC), for construction of the 3,000 seat multi-purpose Segerstrom Hall. The outgrowth of these initiatives was the establishment of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, as officially announced in 1999 with a new gift of six acres of land. Set aside by the donors for the creation of a multidisciplinary arts center, the land was to be used for a major expansion of South Coast Repertory, the construction of a world-class concert hall and the development of a distinguished visual arts facility. These six acres have now become the site of the expanded South Coast Repertory, which opened in 2002; the beautiful 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, designed by Cesar Pelli, which opened in 2006; an arts plaza, featuring the Richard Serra sculpture Connector; and a parcel of 1.64 acres for the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art, which is being designed by Thom Mayne and his firm Morphosis and is scheduled to open in 2016.

SOUTH COAST PLAZA
South Coast Plaza is the crown jewel of shopping on the West Coast, and is recognized internationally for its unparalleled collection of over 250 boutiques, award-winning restaurants, spas and the adjacent world-renowned Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Its stellar cast of diverse retailers - from Oscar de la Renta, Balenciaga, Hermès and Harry Winston to Tory Burch, Barneys CO-OP, J. Crew, H&M and more - makes it Southern California's premier shopping experience. South Coast Plaza is located in Orange County, California, in the city of Costa Mesa. For more information, visit www.southcoastplaza.com or 1-800-782-8888.

FESTIVAL PARTNERS

BOWERS MUSEUM
One of Southern California’s finest museums and Orange County’s largest, the Bowers Museum promotes human understanding through art. Its state-of-the-art facilities enable the Bowers to present world-class exhibitions from the greatest museums in the world. Its own collections are particularly strong in the areas of African, South Pacific, Asian, Native American, and pre-Columbian art, and California plein-air paintings. Its location, close to four major freeways and four miles south of Disneyland, makes the Bowers an ideal destination for visitors to Southern California. www.bowers.org

IRVINE BARCLAY THEATRE
Irvine Barclay Theatre is a public benefit corporation established as an innovative public-private partnership with the vision of building a unique performing arts venue. The partners - the private sector, the City of Irvine and the University of California, Irvine – combined funding and land to achieve a long-standing mutual goal with the theatre’s opening in October of 1990. The partners created the Barclay to showcase top quality artists, to provide a superior facility for local and regional arts groups, and to enhance UCI’s educational mission. The structure is named after Mr. Richard Barclay, an area philanthropist, who provided the leading gift for the theatre’s construction. Cheng Hall, the theatre’s auditorium, is named after the late Dr. George Cheng and Mrs. Arlene Cheng, also area philanthropists. The Barclay’s 750-seat Cheng Hall is in constant use and events presented by Irvine Barclay Theatre enjoy audiences averaging 85% of capacity. Irvine Barclay Theatre has gained a national reputation for its acoustics, intimate feel, and the quality of its production facilities. Among artists, it is a venue of choice when performing in California. Today, over 100,000 people annually attend some 190 events offered by the theatre itself, UCI and dozens of community presenters. Internationally recognized artists and attractions such as Yo-Yo Ma, Bill Cosby, Mummenschanz, Hal Holbrook, Olympia Dukakis, Doc Severinsen, Philip Glass, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Cirque Éloize, David Sedaris, Judy Collins, Betty Buckley, Ira Glass, Pink Martini, Ravi Shankar, Audra McDonald, Mark Morris Dance Group, Bryn Terfel, Savion Glover, Julio Bocca and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company have wowed capacity audiences at the theatre. In 2002 & 2006, Irvine Barclay Theatre was named Outstanding Arts Organization by Arts Orange County. The award recognized the Barclay’s efforts in presenting diverse artistry from around the world and producing the critcally-acclaimed New World Flamenco Festival. www.thebarclay.org

JAPANESE AMERICAN CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY CENTER
Founded in 1971, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center is one of the largest ethnic arts and cultural centers of its kind in the United States. The mission of the JACCC is to present, perpetuate, transmit and promote Japanese and Japanese American arts and culture to diverse audiences, and to provide a center to enhance community programs. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center is the preeminent presenter of Japanese and Japanese American, and Asian American performing and visual arts nationally. The JACCC also provides office space to a wide variety of nonprofit cultural, educational and community-based organizations in Los Angeles. www.jaccc.org

JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
The Japanese American National Museum is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to sharing the experience of Americans of Japanese ancestry. The mission of the Japanese American National Museum is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. For more information, call the Japanese American National Museum at (213) 625-0414, or go to www.janm.org

LAGUNA ART MUSEUM
Laguna Art Museum is a museum of American art with a special focus on the art of California. Its purpose is to provide the public with exposure to art and to promote understanding of the role of art and artists in American culture through collection, conservation, exhibition, research, scholarship and education. Founded in 1918 by a small group of painters who settled in Laguna Beach, the Laguna Beach Art Association developed an exhibition space in which to introduce the best curren t works being produced by artists in the area. This early emphasis on supporting the California artists and their work has been an integral part of Laguna Art Museum throughout its ninety-two-year history. The Museum's exhibitions, catalogue s, and educational activities illustrate an ongoing examination of California art, which includes looking at unconventional, but regionally important influences within a national and international context. For more information, visit www.lagunaartmuseum.org.

LAGUNA BEACH MUSIC FESTIVAL
Laguna Beach Music Festival is a week-long event in scenic Laguna Beach, California. Co-presented by Laguna Beach Live! and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, it draws from across Southern California, although it is firmly rooted in the arts-aware community of Laguna Beach. The Festival earns strong support from the City of Laguna Beach and its hospitality industry as it draws visitors during the off-season. The Festival deepens and broadens the impact of its excellent concerts with a variety of activities to attract both the casual listener and the aficionado, who share space in the Festival’s intimate, human-scale venues. Concerts are held at Laguna Playhouse, located a few blocks from the beach, within easy walking distance of many Laguna Beach hotels, restaurants, shops and galleries. For more information, visit www.lagunabeachmusicfestival.com.

NOGUCHI GARDEN AT PACIFIC ARTS PLAZA
Situated between two office towers at South Coast Plaza Town Center in Costa Mesa, is Noguchi’s California Scenario, a 1.6 acre metaphorical abstraction of California’s natural resources. Comprised of trees, plants, water, and sculpture, the garden is a space filled with beauty and tranquility. Commissioned by developer and philanthropist, Henry Segerstrom, Isamu Noguchi offered a plan that challenged everyone’s notions of a garden. California Scenario suggests an outline of the vastness and diversity of California. With redwoods and cacti, among other indigenous plantings, the garden transports visitors to terrains ranging from the High Sierras to the deserts of Joshua Tree National Park. Noguchi gave the design elements in the garden evocative and allegorical titles such as The Desert Land, The Forest Walk, Energy Fountain, Land Use and Water Source and Water Use. The masterwork of the garden, Spirit of the Lima Bean, is a seven foot high granite sculpture made from seven boulders that fit together as tightly as those of the stone walls at Sacsayhuamán, near the ancient city of Cuzco in Peru. California Scenario is celebrating its 30th anniversary. In 1980, when Henry Segerstrom envisioned a garden for the site of the family land that had once been a lima bean farm, he saw it as a lushly green and shady space. Instead Noguchi created a bare, stone covered plaza that with time has grown into a magical landscape. Together the artist and the developer created a garden surpassing anything that had been projected and, in Noguchi’s words, “Henry Segerstrom had the courage to imagine the ultimate within our limits.” The Noguchi Museum gratefully acknowledges Elizabeth and Henry Segerstrom for generously underwriting California Scenario: The Courage of Imagination. www.noguchi.org.

NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL
Celebrated as one of the leading lifestyle film festivals in the United States, the Newport Beach Film Festival seeks to bring to Orange County the best of classic and contemporary filmmaking from around the world. Committed to enlightening the public with a first-class international film program, a forum for cultural understanding and enriching educational opportunities, the NBFF focuses on showcasing a diverse collection of studio and independent films from around the globe. The twelfth annual Newport Beach Film Festival runs in April of 2011 and will spotlight over 400 films from around the world. www.NewportBeachFilmFest.com

ORANGE COUNTY FILM SOCIETY
Created to promote and celebrate international and American cinema, the Orange County Film Society is a non-profit organization that offers year-round programming of films to its membership. Founded in 2006 by the Newport Beach Film Festival, the OCFS presents advance screenings of studio and independent films followed by discussions with filmmakers, critics, curators and scholars. Since its inception, the OCFS has screened an impressive slate of narrative features and documentary films, including Golden Globe® and Academy Award® nominees and winners. Past screenings include The Blind Side, Precious, Young Victoria, Red Cliff, Little Miss Sunshine, Milk, Earth, The Proposal, Away We Go and Ponyo. For information visit www.OrangeCountyFilmSociety.com

ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
The nationally recognized Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA) provides a creative, challenging and nurturing environment that offers bright and talented students unparalleled preparation for higher education and a profession in the arts. Established in 1987, OCHSA offers students the opportunity to focus on one of 11 arts conservatories offered, including ballet folklorico, classical/contemporary dance, commercial dance, creative writing, film and television, instrumental music, integrated arts, music and theatre, opera and choral, production and design and visual arts. OCHSA is one of the top scoring academic schools in the state of California. The school’s recent API score exceeded the Governor’s target goal for all schools in California, and the school is one of the top-ranking high school academic programs in Orange County. It is the only specialized arts program of its kind in the region to offer tuition-free academic and arts instruction to students from Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. The non-profit school relies solely on private and corporate donations, totaling $4 million annually, to fund the 11 arts conservatories offered. For additional information, visit www.ocsarts.net

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY
South Coast Repertory was founded in the belief that theatre is an art form with a unique power to illuminate the human experience. We commit ourselves to exploring the most urgent human and social issues of our time, and to merging literature, design, and performance in ways that test the bounds of theatre’s artistic possibilities. We undertake to advance the art of theatre in the service of our community, and aim to extend that service through educational, intercultural, and outreach programs that harmonize with our artistic mission. The Folino Theatre Center, which opened in October 2002, is SCR’s renovated and expanded three-theatre complex. There are five productions on the 507-seat Segerstrom Stage, four on the new 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage, with numerous workshops and theatre conservatory performances held on the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. In addition, the threeplay “Theatre for Young Audiences… and their Families” Series is produced on the Julianne Argyros Stage. An Education Center within the three-story addition has office space and classrooms for the burgeoning Education Department. More than forty percent of SCR’s 445 productions have been world, American or West Coast premieres. Among the 114 world premieres are: Wit by Margaret Edson, Blue Door by Tanya Barfield, Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lucas, The Piano Teacher by Julia Cho, Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, Sight Unseen, Collected Stories, Brooklyn Boy and Shipwrecked! by Donald Margulies, Golden Child by David Henry Hwang, Three Days of Rain, The Violet Hour, Hurrah at Last and A Naked Girl on the Appian Way by Richard Greenberg, The Beard of Avon by Amy Freed and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones. For information visit www.scr.org