New Pacific Symphony Music Director Announced; More Arts News

November 14, 2024

Alexander Shelley Announced as New

Pacific Symphony Music Director

Alexander Shelley was introduced to Orange County on Wednesday, November 13 as Pacific Symphony's next music director after a lengthy search that included several auditioning finalists. The 45-year-old Shelley was born and raised in London as the son of well-known pianists Howard Shelley and Hilary Macnamara. He is passionately devoted to developing new audiences through music education, outdoor concerts and community initiatives. He loves to push boundaries and expand preconceived notions of classical music and its place in modern life. Shelley is currently music director of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, where he’s in his 10th season.

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Lyric Opera of Orange County to Make Carnegie Hall Debut with New Work

Lyric Opera of Orange County will make their Carnegie Hall debut in January 2025 with the new opera “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The original opera was composed by Brooke DeRosa and written by Diana Farrell, the company’s President, Artistic Director and Founder. The piece is based on the haunting 1876 novella by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The production will premiere in Orange County next fall. Farrell sat down with Culture OC for a recent interview in which she highlighted the group’s championing of contemporary work and reimagined classics. The company was recognized by ArtsOC with its Emerging Arts Organization award at the 2022 Orange County Arts Awards.

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Orange County School of the Arts CEO

Wins National Recognition

Orange County School of the Arts President & CEO Teren Shaffer was recognized with the prestigious Jeffrey Lawrence Award from Arts Schools Network at its annual conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The award is the highest accolade presented by ASN in the arts education field. It is bestowed upon the leader of an arts school who exemplifies an unwavering commitment to excellence in arts education and training.

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Interview with Co-Artistic Director

Sydney Raquel Fitzgerald on

Closing of Wayward Artist

Corey Linh (left) and Ryan Christopher Lee (right) in the Wayward Artist production of David Henry Hwang’s “Yellowface”

While it may have come as a surprise to the Orange County theatre world, the recent Wayward Artist announcement of its pending closure was by no means a sudden decision according to Co-Artistic Director Sydney Raquel. The downtown Santa Ana theatre company has faced several challenges over its eight year run in spite of achieving critical acclaim.

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In Memoriam

Accounting firm Haskell & White announced that co-founder David R. White II passed away on November 7. White was among the earliest board members of Arts Orange County. As the Firm began in 1988, its primary service focus was helping large real estate owners and developers with their tax consulting, planning and compliance. White was instrumental in expanding services to include audit, shaping the Firm’s future growth in this area. Together with co-founder Steve Haskell, White developed the Firm’s Core Values (Ethical Behavior, Excellence, Valuing People, Constant Learning and Success), to which they still ascribe today. White was also a proponent of community service, noting the importance of contributing time, talent and treasures to the communities in which Firm employees live and earn a living. Over his career, White served on many nonprofit boards, and influenced others in the Firm to do the same.

Monica Edwards, plein air painter and former Orange County Register staff artist, died October 31 at her Silverado Canyon home. As a child she won many art contests, which led her to a degree in biological illustration at California State University, Long Beach in 1989. Edwards joined the Register in 1993 as a graphic artist, later leaving to pursue other lines of work including Irvine Ranch tour guide, park ranger, animal caretaker at Disneyland, animal handler at the Orange County Zoo, flight attendant and Alaskan-glacier tour guide. But it wasn’t until she took art lessons from John Cosby, a pioneering artist who co-founded the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, that she found her professional calling as a painter.

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