In his 15th season as Music Director of Orange County's Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair has guided the Symphony to national prominence through acclaimed recording projects, commissions of new works, world premieres, live broadcasts, and innovative music education programs.

Under St.Clair's dynamic leadership, the Symphony has built a relationship with the Southern California community by understanding and responding to the community's cultural needs through such programs as Classical Connections, an informal concert and discussion format which serves as an introduction to the Pacific Symphony by eliminating barriers that often exist between an orchestra and its audience.

During his tenure with the Pacific Symphony, St.Clair has nourished audiences with an eclectic mix of respected classics and new works by modern composers. Under his guidance, the Pacific Symphony has commissioned and performed many world premieres, including works by former Composers-in- Residence Richard Danielpour and Frank Ticheli. Danielpour's Symphony-commissioned An American Requiem was premiered in the fall of 2001 and subsequently recorded and released on the Reference Recordings label in January of 2002.

A recording by St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony of two piano concerti by Lukas Foss was released on the harmonia mundi label in 2000 and nominated for a Grammy Award. St.Clair also led the Pacific Symphony in a dynamic Sony Classical recording of the music of Toru Takemitsu and the percussion ensemble Nexus, released in the spring of 1998.

St.Clair's concept of a large-scale, symphonic/ choral work reflecting on the human experience of the Vietnam War was brought to life when the Pacific Symphony commissioned Elliot Goldenthal to compose Fire Water Paper:A Vietnam Oratorio. The work was premiered and recorded by the Pacific Symphony and released to critical acclaim on the Sony Classical label in 1996, featuring the Pacific Chorale with Yo-Yo Ma as cello soloist.

Dividing his time between America and Europe, St.Clair is a guest conductor for orchestras throughout the world. In the United States, St.Clair has conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony. In Europe, St.Clair was the principal guest conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Sinfonie from 1998-2004, where he successfully completed an ambitious three-year recording project of the complete Villa-Lobos symphonies. St.Clair is also a frequent guest conductor for orchestras in Berlin, Bonn, Frankfurt, Hannover, Hamburg and Bamberg, and has guest conducted for orchestras in Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand and Mexico City and South America.

In 1990, St.Clair received the NEA/ Seaver Conductors Award - the most prestigious such prize in the nation.