Carl St.Clair

For more than 35 years, Carl St.Clair led Pacific Symphony, making him the longest-tenured American-born conductor of a major American orchestra. He was honored with the lifetime role of Music Director Laureate in December 2025 during the orchestra’s 47th season, as well as inducted into the Orange County Hall of Fame by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Under his leadership, Pacific Symphony has grown into the largest-budgeted orchestra founded in the past half-century, recognized nationally for its artistic, innovative programming, and community impact. St.Clair also helped catalyze the vision to build a 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in 2006, the Symphony’s permanent home and one of the nation’s finest concert venues.

St.Clair has guided the Symphony through many landmark achievements. In 2018, he led its sold-out Carnegie Hall debut celebrating Philip Glass’s 80th birthday, which the New York Times praised as proof that Pacific Symphony is “a major ensemble!” That same year, he conducted the orchestra’s first tour of China. Earlier, in 2006, he led the Symphony on its European debut, performing in nine cities across three countries, including Vienna, Munich, Cologne, and Lucerne, to capacity audiences and widespread acclaim. He also conducted the orchestra’s national PBS debut on Great Performances with Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America. His artistic initiatives include the long-running American Composers Festival and Symphonic Voices, the orchestra’s acclaimed opera-in-concert series.

A champion of new music, St.Clair has commissioned and premiered dozens of works. Recent highlights include the 2024–25 premieres of Viet Cuong’s Marine Layer and Adolphus Hailstork’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (“The Way Things Are”). In 2024, Pacific Symphony released the world-premiere recording of Sir James MacMillan’s Fiat Lux. Other notable commissions include works by Philip Glass, Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Richard Danielpour, John Wineglass, and Elliot Goldenthal. His discography also includes collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Lukas Foss, and others.

Internationally, he was appointed Music Director of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra in 2025 and holds honorary posts with the National Symphony of Costa Rica and Germany’s Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal. Earlier positions include General Music Director of Berlin’s Komische Oper and of the German National Theater and Staatskapelle in Weimar.

Equally committed to education, St.Clair has overseen the development of one of the country’s most comprehensive orchestra-based education networks, reaching more than 50,000 participants annually. Pacific Symphony’s award-winning Class Act program, arts-X-press, Youth Ensembles, Heartstrings, and Symphony on the Go bring music to schools and communities across Southern California. He has also taught at Chapman University, the University of Texas, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and the USC Thornton School of Music, where he has served for more than three decades as Artistic Leader and Principal Conductor of orchestral programs.