Pacific Symphony Orchestra's Carl St. Clair visits SOCSA at Dana Hills High School (20 images)
Music Director and conductor of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Carl St. Clair, visited with the intermediate and advanced SOCSA DHHS Orchestra classes and Sonja Hammad, SOCSA Orchestra Director, on Tuesday, February 26th at Dana Hills High School's orchestra room. Students reviews after class included, "This was awesome!", "Wow! Will he come back someday again? I learned so much." and "What an honor. I really got alot out of that."
Hammad said after the workshop, " We are so fortunate that Carl -- the director of a professional orchestra -- made time to work with our students, as it is so rare that this kind of opportunity is extended to a high school. Not only was he able to elicit wonderful playing from the students, but he also captivated them with his words. He is an incredibly charismatic speaker. I know that his words will remain with me for a long time, and I sensed that the students were equally inspired."
Now in his 18th year with the Pacific Symphony, Mr. St. Clair worked with each class for about an hour, providing students the opportunity to learn from a master in his field. St. Clair started his conducting career and studied under the world famous conductor Leonard Bernstein, as assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his orchestral work, St. Clair is also sought after as an opera conductor. St. Clair has led the Austin Lyric Opera. He made his Opera Pacific debut conducting Mozart's "The Magic Flute". He has also been guest conductor of the opera house in Bonn, Germany and the Staatstheater in Hanover.
CARL ST. CLAIR LINKS: Pacific Symphony, Sony Classical and Wikipedia.
SONJA HAMMAD LINKS: SOCSA Orchestra Director
SOCSA HOME PAGE
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