Symphony Plans Debut of New Work : Concerts: The Orange County Performing Arts Center season will open with a program commemorating Carl St. Clair’s appointment as music director.

IRVINE —  A newly commissioned work to commemorate the appointment of Carl St. Clair as music director of the Pacific Symphony will begin the orchestra’s 1990-91 season at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

The new piece by Los Angeles composer William Kraft, as yet untitled, will open concerts on Oct. 9 and 10. Kraft also composed “Of Ceremonies, Pageants and Celebrations,” a fanfare commissioned for the opening of the Center in 1986.

St. Clair will conduct six of the nine pairs of subscriptions concerts. The other three will be led by guests, including BBC Scottish Symphony music director Christopher Seaman, one of the candidates last season for the music director’s position. Seaman will conduct on March 6 and 7, 1991.

Other guest conductors are Zdenek Macal, Dec. 12 and 13, 1990, and Swiss conductor Peter Maag, Jan. 22 and 23, 1991. Macal was scheduled to conduct the Pacific last season but withdrew so that Australian Symphony music director Stuart Challender could have a chance to audition in the music director’s sweepstakes. Maag will conduct the Pacific for the first time.

Guest artists will include 24-year-old Italian pianist Andrea Lucchesini, mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick (heard locally as Amneris in Verdi’s “Aida” for Opera Pacific in 1988), pianist Bella Davidovich and Chinese-American violinist Cho-Liang Lin, among others.

“What I was trying to do with the first program was to establish a lot of things to come,” St. Clair said Wednesday in a phone interview from Boston where he is an assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony.

“After almost two seasons of guest conductors, a lot of the very large chestnut repertory has been used . . . so we are trying to choose works that balance that. This year, you won’t see any Mahler, but you will next year. You haven’t seen and won’t see any Sibelius, but you will next season. There was no Prokofiev symphony, so we’re doing the Prokofiev Fifth. We’re trying to reach a balance.”

St. Clair said that he chose the repertory but that guest artists and conductors had been hired by the orchestra’s administration--in consultation with music adviser Kazimierz Kord--before his appointment. “You need to book those kinds of things early,” he said. “However, all the soloists and guest conductors are certainly people I would have hired myself.”

Most of the repertory is standard, with only one choral work--Orff’s “Carmina Burana”--on the schedule.

In addition to the nine classical concerts, there will be seven pairs of pops concerts, a special “Messiah” presentation and a 1990 New Year’s Eve gala dinner and concert. A Saturday morning children’s concert series will be announced. The orchestra’s 1991 summer pops series at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre will be announced later.

Subscription prices will range from $72 to $270 for the Classics Series; $84 to $273 for the Pops Series; $30 for children and $42 for adults for the children’s series.

For information, call (714) 474-4233.

Concerts on the orchestra’s 1990-91 Classical series will be held at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. The schedule:

* Oct. 9 and 10: Carl St. Clair, conductor; Bella Davidovich, piano: William Kraft’s new work; Ravel’s “Alborada del Gracioso”s; Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

* Nov. 7 and 8: St. Clair, conductor; Donald McInnes, viola: Overture to Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg,” Bartok’s Viola Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

* Dec. 12 and 13: Zdenek Macal, conductor: Overture to Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride,” Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, Janacek’s Sinfonietta.

* Jan. 22 and 23, 1991: Peter Maag, conductor; mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick: Overture to Verdi’s “Nabucco,” “Dove sei” and “Confusa si miri l’infida consorte” from Handel’s “Rodelinda”; “Mon coeur s’ourvre a ta voix” and “Amour, viens aider ma faiblesse” from Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila”; Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony.

* March 6 and 7: Christopher Seaman, conductor; Andrea Lucchesini, piano: Overture to Barber’s “The School for Scandal,” Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, Vaughan Williams’ “London” Symphony.

* March 27 and 28: St. Clair, conductor; Cho-Liang Lin, violin: Mozart’s Symphony No. 34, Suite from Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier,” Brahms’ Violin Concerto.

* April 10 and 11: St. Clair, conductor; Benjamin Pasternak, piano: Haydn’s Symphony No. 49, Karel Husa’s “Music for Prague,” Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and “La Valse.”

* May 8 and 9: St. Clair, conductor; soprano Beverly Hoch, tenor Frank Kelly, baritone Haijing Fu; duo-pianists Ariana Goldina and Remy Loumbrozo, Pacific Chorale: Ives’ “Central Park in the Dark,” Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos in E-flat, K. 365; Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”

* May 22 and 23: St. Clair, conductor; Miriam Fried, violin: Overture to Glinka’s “Russlan and Ludmilla,” Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.

The 1990-91 Pops Series, 8 p.m. at the Center:

* Nov. 9 and 10, 1990: Peter Nero.

* Dec. 14 and 15: John Davidson.

* Jan. 25 and 27, 1991: The King’s Singers.

* March 29 and 30: Vikki Carr.

* April 20 and 21: Bernadette Peters.

* May 10 and 11: Jack Jones.

* June 14 and 16: Broadway show tunes.

Two special events:

* John Alexander will conduct the Pacific Symphony and the Pacific Chorale in Handel’s “Messiah” at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, 1990, at the Center. Soloists will be announced. Tickets: $10 to $30.

* Theodore Plute, music director of the Wichita Falls (Tex.) Symphony, will conduct a 1990 New Year’s Eve concert at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa. Soprano Evelyn de la Rosa will be the soloist. The program, to include dinner, dancing and a concert of Viennese and Broadway music, will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets: $150 each.