Carl Ray St.Clair (born June 5, 1952) is an American conductor.

Early life and education

Born in

Hochheim, Texas Hochheim ( ) is an unincorporated community in DeWitt County, Texas, United States. It was founded as a settlement for German immigrants along the Guadalupe River. Geography Hochheim is located at , above sea level. It is located on the Texas ...

, St.Clair went to school in

Yoakum, Texas Yoakum is a city in Lavaca and DeWitt counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 5,908 at the 2020 census. History The area was sparsely settled until a townsite was laid out with the construction of the San Antonio and Aransas P ...

, and graduated from Yoakum High School. He attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and later studied conducting with Gustav Meier at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

. He, was music director of the

Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A2SO) is an American orchestra based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is one of two symphony orchestras in Southeast Michigan alongside the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 1928, the A2SO plays most of its conc ...

(Michigan) from 1985 to 1992, and of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (Ithaca, New York) from 1986 to 1991. Beginning in 1986, he was an assistant conductor with the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

. In 1990, he was a recipient of the

Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award The Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award was an award for conductors in the United States. History The award was established in 1985 as the ''Affiliate Artists' Seaver Conducting Award''. The award was being given every two or t ...

. St.Clair has served on the faculty of

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

Success as a conductor

In January 1990, he conducted the

Pacific Symphony The Pacific Symphony is a symphony orchestra located in Orange County, California. The orchestra performs at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall as a part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. From 1987 to 2016 ...

for the first time, and on the success of that appearance, he was named the orchestra's music director, a position he still holds. During his Pacific Symphony tenure, he and the orchestra have commissioned and recorded several works, including Richard Danielpour's ''An American Requiem'' (Reference Recordings) and Elliot Goldenthal's ''Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio'' (Sony Classical) with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Other recordings include "Radiant Voices" and "Postcard" by composer in residence

Frank Ticheli Frank Ticheli (born January 21, 1958) is an American composer of orchestral, choral, chamber, and concert band works. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where he is a Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California. He was ...

(Koch International Classics), and the two piano concertos of Lukas Foss (harmonia mundi). The orchestra and St.Clair host an annual festival of American composers, including "Uncharted Beauty: The Music of Lou Harrison" (2005–2006), "Los Sonidos de México" (2006–2007), and "The West — Music inspired by the American Frontier" (2007–2008). In Europe, St.Clair was the principal guest conductor of the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart from 1998 to 2004, where his work included a three–year recording project of the Villa–Lobos symphonies. He became ''

Generalmusikdirektor A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

'' (General Music Director, or GMD) of the

Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of s ...

in 2005, a post he held for three years. In 2008 he took up the post of GMD of the Komische Oper Berlin, with an initial contract of six years, but in May 2010 he resigned effective with the end of the 2009/10 season. In 2012, St.Clair was appointed to Principal Conductor and Artistic Leader of the Thornton Symphony Orchestra at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

's Thornton School of Music. St.Clair has worked on the creation and implementation of various symphony education programs, including "Classical Connections", "arts-X–press" and "Class Act". In 2006, he worked with the German Bundesjugendorchester (National Youth Orchestra). On September 13, 2013, St.Clair was appointed Principal Conductor of the .Yendry Miranda (2013-08-13)
"Carl St.Clair es el nuevo director de la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional"
''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Nac ...

''. Retrieved 2013-08-13.

Personal life

St.Clair and his wife Susan live in

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and a ...

, California, with their three children.

References

External links

Komische Oper Berlin English-language biography

Pacific Symphony biography

Staatskapelle Weimar German-language biography

Profile
Schmidt Artists International {{DEFAULTSORT:St.Clair, Carl American male conductors (music) 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts alumni University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni Southern Illinois University faculty USC Thornton School of Music faculty 1952 births Living people People from DeWitt County, Texas People from Laguna Beach, California Classical musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians