New foundation provides grant for classics

Jennifer K Mahal

COSTA MESA -- Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming season, announced

Wednesday, has a little bit of everything -- Beethoven, Dvorak and a

$1.3-million grant from the newly formed Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom

Family Foundation.

The money, spread over five years, will underwrite the Santa Ana-based

orchestra’s Classics Series, which will be renamed for the Segerstroms.

For nine years, the series has been kept afloat by funding from the

Leo Freedman Foundation. When that foundation decided to step down as the

series’ benefactor -- though they still support the orchestra in other

ways -- Sandy Segerstrom Daniels said she and her family saw a chance to

launch their newest foundation with a major gift.

“We love music, and it was a natural thing,” Daniels said. “The timing

was perfect for us and the foundation.”

The goal of the Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Foundation is to provide

grants to Orange County groups that help to provide music and performing

arts education and to support local music and performing arts efforts.

Doug Freeman, chairman of the orchestra’s board of directors, gave the

Segerstroms the Pacific Symphony Crystal Award, which is only handed out

to benefactors who donate $1 million or more to the orchestra.

“The most delightful years of my life, I played cello in several

orchestras,” said Jeanette Segerstrom, who met her husband, Hal, while

working as an accompanist for a men’s glee club.

The Segerstroms’ gift will allow the orchestra to afford higher

quality artists, ones who have not been available in previous years, said

John Forsyte, Pacific Symphony Orchestra president.

Among the orchestra’s plans for its 2001-02 season are the world

premieres of “American Requiem,” by Richard Danielpour, and “That Which

Remains Unspoken,” by Michael Kurek, as well as concerts by such guest

artists as violinists Robert McDuffie and Kyung-Wha Chung, a partnership

with South Coast Repertory to present “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and a

festival titled “Dvorak in America.”

The orchestra, founded in 1978, will also team with the Orange County

Performing Arts Center and the Irvine Barclay Theatre to present two new

all-Beethoven series -- Cafe Ludwig and Beethoven at the Barclay. Cafe

Ludwig entails three chamber music concerts presented cabaret style at

the Center.

The concerts, meant to entice a younger audience, will be in a

“really relaxed” environment, complete with tables, candlelight and

cappuccinos, Forsyte said. “You don’t need to dress up to hear

Beethoven.”