Raymond Kobler

The Pacific Symphony has named Raymond Kobler its new concertmaster, effective today. He succeeds Kevin Connolly, who resigned in October after only one season. Kobler, 53, has served as guest concertmaster for most of the Pacific's concerts since February. He was concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony from 1980 to 1998 and associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1974 to '80. Since 1991, Kobler has been concertmaster of the Sun Valley Symphony in Idaho.

In his local recital debut Wednesday, the Pacific Symphony's concertmaster distinguished himself with a smart and muscular performance of works challenging not only for the violin but for the Irvine Barclay Theatre audience as well. Raymond Kobler, who joined the orchestra last season after 18 years in the same post with the San Francisco Symphony, tore through a mountain of great music before a nearly full house.

If not for the timely arrival of a key musical mentor almost 40 years ago, Raymond Kobler probably wouldn't be on stage tonight as the Pacific Symphony's new concertmaster. Though he started violin lessons at 7, Kobler, like many others his age, lost interest for a while in his teens and gave up the instrument. "I was more interested in playing sports and stuff," Kobler, 54, said by phone this week from his home in San Francisco. But after his family moved from New York to Orange, N.J.

If not for the timely arrival of a key musical mentor almost 40 years ago, Raymond Kobler probably wouldn't be on stage tonight as the Pacific Symphony's new concertmaster. Though he started violin lessons at 7, Kobler, like many others his age, lost interest for a while in his teens and gave up the instrument. "I was more interested in playing sports and stuff," Kobler, 54, said by phone this week from his home in San Francisco. But after his family moved from New York to Orange, N.J.

In his local recital debut Wednesday, the Pacific Symphony's concertmaster distinguished himself with a smart and muscular performance of works challenging not only for the violin but for the Irvine Barclay Theatre audience as well. Raymond Kobler, who joined the orchestra last season after 18 years in the same post with the San Francisco Symphony, tore through a mountain of great music before a nearly full house.

Guest conductor and violin soloist Jean-Jacques Kantorow will not perform Wednesday and Thursday in the Pacific Symphony's "Mostly Mozart" Classic Series. Instead, guest conductor Michael Stern will lead the orchestra through a program that includes works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Concertmaster Raymond Kobler will perform the violin solos. Information: (714) 755-5788.

Raymond Kobler, concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony, will give a recital with pianist Jon Nakamatsu at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Together, the musicians will be heard in the Partita by Witold Lutoslawski, Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata and the Sonata No. 1 by Saint-Saens. Alone, Kobler will play the Solo Sonata No. 3 ("Ballade") by Eugene Ysaye. Information: (714) 755-5799.

Carl St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony paid appropriate homage to Tchaikovsky on the occasion of the composer's 163rd birthday Wednesday with a raucous performance of a suite from "Swan Lake" to close this week's program. It may have lacked complete transparency, and reached over-the-top heights, but it rang authoritatively through Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. St.

Though neither wrote conventionally sentimental religious music and both composed in vastly different styles, Stravinsky and Faure each wrote masterworks that address human needs at times of religious and personal crisis. They might, however, be surprised to find themselves on the same program, as they were Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center when Carl St.

Roberto Minczuk's tight control over the Pacific Symphony on Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center could have been a prescription for tedium for the audience and frustration for the musicians--except for two things. The 34-year-old Brazilian conductor had so many ideas that the music unfolded in consistently vivid and interesting ways.

The Pacific Symphony has named Raymond Kobler its new concertmaster, effective today. He succeeds Kevin Connolly, who resigned in October after only one season. Kobler, 53, has served as guest concertmaster for most of the Pacific's concerts since February. He was concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony from 1980 to 1998 and associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1974 to '80. Since 1991, Kobler has been concertmaster of the Sun Valley Symphony in Idaho.

Long before appearing in public, musicians spend thousands of hours taking lessons and practicing alone to perfect their art. Even when they become professionals, they continue this isolated but necessary work. More hours go into group rehearsals, when the instrumentalists finally come together to prepare for an audience, as members of the Pacific Symphony did this week for two programs at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

Yes, Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote wonderful film scores. No, Korngold's Violin Concerto is not merely warmed-over movie music. Soloist Raymond Kobler proved that when he played an expansive, melancholic but otherwise unsentimental performance of the piece on a four-part program by the Pacific Symphony led by Carl St.Clair on Wednesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.