There are very few orchestras in the United States that are strictly pops orchestras. That’s mostly because the majority of symphonic ensembles get their bread and butter by performing hits from across the Western tradition of classical music, from Beethoven to Debussy. But this is not so for a pops orchestra.
Founded under the model of the Boston Pops, the Lompoc Pops Orchestra has performed several concerts a year comprised strictly of music relevant to most Americans. Last year at the beginning of the current season, the orchestra welcomed a new music director and conductor to continue this tradition.
Brian Asher Alhadeff, OperaSLO artistic director and now maestro for the Lompoc Pops, explained the “pops” moniker to the Sun while chatting about the orchestra’s upcoming April 18 concert.
“It’s a shortened term for popular, which indicates that each piece the audience hears will be familiar,” Alhadeff said. “What we usually play is full orchestra symphonic arrangements of popular tunes like Disney, Hollywood music, musical theater, and even up to pop music like Elvis, Michael Jackson, or Gloria Estefan.”
Alhadeff was welcomed as a guest conductor for one concert during the previous season, essentially competing against other local conductors who were asked to lead the ensemble.
Once vetted, the Lompoc Pops Orchestra chose Alhadeff, who was the natural fit.
“It probably has to do with my networking skills,” he said. “Of all the candidates, I was the only professional full-time orchestra conductor, so I think that probably set me aside.”
Alhadeff also mentioned that the Lompoc Pops Orchestra pays its players higher than any orchestra on the Central Coast, which enticed him because, as he explained, this meant every position in the orchestra was competitively attained and thus the musicians were of the highest caliber.
Alhadeff is involved with more than just OperaSLO mind you. He’s also involved with State Street Ballet and Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo, serving as principal conductor for both. But the Lompoc Pops Orchestra satisfies an itch he can’t scratch with those other ensembles.
“What the pops orchestra represents to me is this Americana family style of music that I grew up with that I heard in high school,” he said. “Pops is really America’s voice in classical music. And I’m an American born and raised in California, and as an American earning a living as a classical musician, I’m always playing music from foreign countries. Only through the genre of pops am I able to have a real, home-grown, ethnically rooted experience.”
The first concert Alhadeff performed with the Lompoc Pops Orchestra was in September, and the ensemble has been very easy to work with, he said.
Focusing primarily on popular American music isn’t just exciting for him as a conductor, Alhadeff explained, it’s fun for the members of the orchestra as well.
“It’s really a super cool orchestra,” he said. “It’s a wonderful experience for our American Lompoc Pops Orchestra, playing the music of John Philip Souza, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Leroy Anderson, Gershwin—you can see there’s a language barrier we don’t have to face in rehearsal because it’s so familiar to us as Americans.”
Displaying his networking skills, Alhadeff has welcomed two talented vocalists to join in the show and give voice to familiar tunes like songs from Disney’s Frozen, songs by Elvis, a disco medley, and selections from Broadway.
Soprano April Amante and Nigerian-American baritone Babatunde Akinboboye will lend their voices to the program on April 18. Alhadeff has collaborated with the two before through OperaSLO, and welcomed them to join the Lompoc Pops after working with them. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available at the door. There’s usually some space in the crowd for newcomers, he said.
“Who ever heard of Monday night concerts?” he said. “It’s a 400-seat church there, but we do really well and always sell more than three fourths of the house.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne has heard of concerts on every night of the week. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 14-21, 2016.