Arts OC Hosts 10th Annual Arts Awards

Each year, Arts Orange County recognizes artists, arts organizations and arts philanthropists for extraordinary contributions to our arts community during the past year. This year, it has selected the following to receive its 2009 Annual Achievement Awards, who will be honored at it 10th Annual Orange County Arts Awards on September 23 in the Samueli Theatre at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Outstanding Artist: Robert Becker, Principal Viola, Pacific Symphony

For more than 25 years, Robert Becker has provided the Pacific Symphony with exemplary musicianship and steady leadership. Trained at the Juilliard School of Music, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he developed a prestigious career as a viola performer and instructor. This season, Becker was featured as soloist and chamber performer in the PSO’s Café Ludwig series, performing some of the repertoire’s most difficult works to discerning audiences.

Outstanding Arts Organization: The Chance Theater

In 2009, The Chance Theater completed its 10th season as Orange County’s only award-winning, nonprofit, professional midsized theater company. It was a year in which The Chance Theater fulfilled much of its early promise as a producer of significant plays and musicals, often in their first viewings in the region, and with a quality of ensemble performance reflective of its high aesthetic aspirations.

Outstanding Arts Patron: The Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom Family

Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom met in the music department at USC, and made music support a keystone of their Foundation’s activities. Music has always played a central role in their family’s activities, and their children continue the legacy of their late parents’ giving through their deep engagement with and support for the Pacific Symphony and other organizations.

Outstanding Business Arts Patron: South Coast Plaza

Inspired by the philanthropic spirit of their ownership and management, South Coast Plaza continues to play a leading role in supporting the arts in Orange County. South Coast Plaza consistently partners with the Orange County Performing Arts Center, its resident companies and South Coast Repertory, in fundraising and marketing efforts to benefit them.

The 2009 Orange County Arts Awards ceremonies will be preceded by an underwriters dinner in the Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

For information on underwriting opportunities, contact Jon Wagner at 714.556.5160 x11, or [email protected].