Carl St.Clair is one of the longest tenured music directors of a major American orchestra, celebrating 25 years at the helm of the Orange County-based Pacific Symphony this year. It is the largest orchestra formed in the last 50 years in the U.S. A graduate of the University of Texas, he went on to become a tenured professor at the University of Michigan and studied conducting under Leonard Bernstein and Gustav Meier as a Conducting Fellow at Tanglewood. He was the assistant director of the renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra with the legendary conductor Seiji Ozawa before joining Pacific Symphony. He is on the faculty of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and is the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. He has led symphonies in the largest cities of North America and he has appeared with orchestras in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and South America. Tokyo Journal’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with Carl St.Clair about his 25th anniversary.

TJ: Can you tell us about working with Seiji Ozawa?
ST.CLAIR: I came to Orange County in 1990 after having been the assistant director for the Boston Symphony. I was assistant director to none other than the most distinguished Japanese conductor ever, Seiji Ozawa. I also studied with him in 1985 as a conducting fellow at Tanglewood, which is the summer home of the Boston Symphony. During my tenure with the Boston Symphony, we made two tours to Japan and that’s where I got to know Japanese culture. I’m so happy that his health is better and that he’s back on the podium. He’s a great, great conductor. I was really fortunate to be his assistant for those four years in Boston.

TJ: How did you come to join Pacific Symphony?
ST.CLAIR: I was recommended by John Williams. I was not only Seiji’s assistant but I was always working with John Williams, the famous film composer, who at the time was conductor of the Boston Pops. I was helping him out in any way I could. He said, “Carl, you know there’s this orchestra I just conducted out in Orange County, California, south of L.A., and they’re a crackerjack orchestra — a great orchestra with great musicians. They’re looking for a music director. They should know about you and you should know about them.” So my manager gave them a call. I was invited to conduct a concert at the end of January 1990, and in early March I was appointed music director.

TJ: How did you first get into music?
ST.CLAIR: I studied piano when I was six years old and my aunt was my piano teacher. The idea of a piano lesson was a gift from my mom for my sixth birthday. I was living on a farm in a town of 35 people in South Texas and piano lessons weren’t really even on my list of gifts for consideration, so I was pretty disappointed when my birthday came and the announcement was, “You’re getting piano lessons.” It took me a couple of years to realize that it really was the greatest thing she could have ever given me.

The complete article is available in Issue #277. Click here to order from Amazon.