The 2023-24 season marks Music Director Carl St.Clair’s 34th year leading Pacific Symphony. St.Clair is one of the longest-tenured conductors of the major American orchestras. St.Clair’s lengthy history solidifies the strong relationship he has forged with the musicians and community. His continuing role also lends stability to the organization and continuity to his vision for the Symphony’s future. Few orchestras can claim such rapid artistic development as Pacific Symphony—the largest-budgeted orchestra formed in the United States in the last 50 years, due in large part to St.Clair’s leadership.

In April 2018, St. Clair led Pacific Symphony in its sold-out Carnegie Hall debut as the finale to Carnegie's year-long celebration of pre-eminent composer Philip Glass's 80th birthday. He led Pacific Symphony on its first tour to China in May 2018 (the orchestra's first international tour since touring Europe in 2006) and made its national PBS debut in June 2018 on Great Performances with St. Clair conducting Peter Boyer's Ellis Island: The Dream of America.

Carl St. Clair’s commitment to the development and performance of new works by composers is evident in the wealth of commissions and recordings by the Symphony. Highlights include William Bolcom's Songs of Lorca and Prometheus, Elliot Goldenthal's Symphony in G-sharp Minor, Richard Danielpour's Toward a Season of Peace, Philip Glass's The Passion of Ramakrishna, John Wineglass’s Alone Together, and Michael Daugherty's Mount Rushmore and The Gospel According to Sister Aimee.

In addition to Pacific Symphony, St. Clair was Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica from 2014 to 2023. He has also led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver symphonies, among others. His international career includes having been music director of the Komische Oper in Berlin and chief conductor of the German National Theater in Weimar. He was the principal guest conductor of the WDR/Stuttgart from 1998-2004, where he completed a three-year recording project of the Villa-Lobos symphonies. He has also appeared with orchestras In Israel, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South America, China, Thailand, Malaysia, in addition to summer festivals worldwide.