Each year, Pacific Symphony explores a different facet of American music through the American Composers Festival (ACF). Since 2000, the festival has featured composers from Aaron Copland to Ana Lara to Michael Daugherty and artists from Yo-Yo Ma to Stephen Scott's Bowed Piano Ensemble. By examining this diverse musical heritage, the Symphony points a microscope at who we are as a culture, where we've been, and where we are going-some of the most important questions that music can raise. More information and a complete history of the American Composers Festival is available at  www.PacificSymphony.org/ACF.

Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair since 1990, has been the resident orchestra of Orange County's Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for over a decade. Founded in 1978, the Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the U.S. in the last 50 years and is not only a fixture of musical life in Southern California, but also is recognized as an outstanding ensemble making strides on both the national and international scenes. In April 2018, Pacific Symphony made its debut at Carnegie Hall, where it was invited to perform as part of a yearlong celebration of composer Philip Glass's 80th birthday. The Symphony will make its first-ever tour to China, with performances in five cities beginning with Shanghai on May 9. In Orange County, the orchestra presents more than 100 concerts and events each year and a rich array of education and community engagement programs, reaching more than 300,000 residents of all ages. The Symphony has been recognized with multiple ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and included among the country's five most innovative orchestras by the League of American Orchestras. The Symphony's education and community engagement activities have also been recognized by the League, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts.