Jessica Pearlman

Orange County Register

“[Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin] unwound in subtle gradations of soft pastels yet never lost the sense of the Baroque dance upon which the music is based. Working without a baton, [maestro Giancarlo Guerrero] coaxed muted colors and feathery expressiveness from the strings, brought the woodwind ensemble well to the fore…The orchestra’s new principal oboist, Jessica Pearlman, rose nicely to the challenge of her intricate solo work.”

-Timothy Mangan, music critic, December 11th, 2009, The Orange County Register

Orange County Register

“St.Clair's Brahms [Symphony no.1] was more standard issue, but good and satisfying standard issue…The strings were particularly rich and soaring and confident, the woodwinds golden and singing. The ensemble's new principal oboist, Jessica Pearlman, made a strong impression in her solos, limning creamy curves.”

-Timothy Mangan, music critic, September 24th, 2009, The Orange County Register

Local Musicians Benefit Their Own:
Oboist organizes classical recital

By Stacy Trevenon
June 18th, 2008

Jessica Pearlman wasn’t quite 10 years old when her violin teacher, Claudine Schwartz-Mintun, got her and her violinist mother, Anne, into the Coastside Community Orchestra. Little Jessica, who took up violin at 7, found herself tucked in with the orchestra’s second violinists.

“I loved being in the orchestra with musicians all around me,” said Pearlman, who would later switch to oboe and study music in school.

Now a sophisticated and sparkling 24, Pearlman sits in the living room of her family’s El Granada highlands home, petting her bouncy Chihuahua mix and discussing how her musical journey has come full circle...(read more)

Giving Back: An Oboist Aids Her Hometown Orchestra

By Jessica Pearlman
October, 2008

Nearly every musician has a childhood memory about how they fell in love with music. It was the sound of their mother playing piano, or a distinct afternoon in kindergarten listening to Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6. Mine is of my first performance with my tiny hometown’s community orchestra (at the age of 13, and having played oboe for just a bit more than a year), which included Schubert’s “Great” Symphony in C Major and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Often, there is a direct path of cause-and-effect that has led one to be in a particular place. That concert was the point at which my musical path began...(read more)

“The extraordinary oboist Jessica Pearlman, a Bay Area native…dazzled through the overlapping melodies and 32nd-note runs of a bravura show-off piece by Antonio Pasculli based on tunes from Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani. The barrage of acclamation that followed her tour de force made her blush, which only enhanced her winsome charms.”

-Scott MacClelland, music critic, January 17th, 2007, Metroactive.com