Ethnic Concerts Will Be Hard to Find at Center

COSTA MESA —  Ethnic music and dance will have a lower profile at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in the coming season. But the executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, which books the hall, says it’s more a result of scheduling conflicts than a replay of last season’s philosophical conflicts with now-departed center management.

Of OCPS programs announced Wednesday for the center, only a performance Oct. 6 by Teatro de Danza Espanola can be said to fall outside the standard classical repertory. OCPS will be presenting ethnic programs at other venues.

But executive director Dean Corey said the ethnic programs were “not opposed by the center” this time. Rather, Corey said that because he took over his job in August, he got a late start on programming and found that performers and/or the center already were booked.

The upcoming season includes three ethnic concerts, one fewer than in OCPS’ current season. This year’s programs--the Chieftains, Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano, Les Ballets Africains from the Republic of Guinea and the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble--had been opposed as “non-classical” by now-departed center president Thomas R. Kendrick.

Kendrick ultimately was overruled by the center board, but the issue was left unresolved for future seasons.

Corey said Wednesday that some aspects of the ethnic programming matter still have to be discussed by OCPS and center officials but that they do not involve programming philosophy so much as “defining a line of demarcation” between what the two organizations offer, basically the question of who presents what.

Corey added that his relationship with the new center management has gone smoothly.

Of the groups performing this year, only Mariachi los Camperos de Nati Cano will return to Orange County under OCPS’ sponsorship next year--to perform at UC Irvine. OCPS will present Le Ballet National du Senegal, a West African troupe, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, and Teatro de Danza Espanola at the center.