Two more guest conductors will be at the podium for the Tucson Pops Orchestraβs milestone 65th anniversary season that kicks off Sunday, Sept. 8, at Reid Parkβs DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center.
That will bring to eight the number of Tucson conductors vying to eventually replace longtime conductor LΓ‘szlΓ³ Veres.
Veres said he expects the orchestraβs search committee could narrow the pool to no more than three candidates this fall. The finalists will then return in the spring to lead the Pops Orchestra in its βMusic Under the Starsβ series with their own programs.
Veres, who took over the Pops Orchestra in 1997 after four years as the assistant conductor, said he will work alongside the winning conductor a couple of seasons before turning over the baton completely.
Conductor Andy Wade is the first up on Sunday in a program that includes works by George Gershwin, βMission Impossibleβ and βThe Marriage of Figaro.β Veres returns in the second half with the score from βLion Kingβ and a medley of Broadway show tunes.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. at DeMeester, East 22nd Street and South Country Club Road. Admission is free, although donations are accepted.
βMusic Under the Starsβ events begin at 7 p.m. and all are at DeMeester. Details: tucsonpops.org
- Sept. 15, guest conductor Khris Dodge will lead a program with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus including βRider in the Sky,β βAinβt Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.β
- Sept. 22, violinist Michael Fan pairs with violinist Joseph Pagan on Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola. Also on the program: A sampler of great opera arias including Prelude to Act I and βCoro de Mattadori Spagnuoliβ from Verdiβs βLa Traviataβ and βNessun Dormaβ from Pucciniβs βTurandot.β
- Sept. 29, All about Broadway and a solo turns from Tucson Pops cellist Anne Gratz on βThe Swanβ from βCarnival of the Animalsβ by Saint-Saens and bassoonist Jessica Campbell on βThe Old Grumbly Bearβ by J. FucΓk.
Veresβs other ensemble, Arizona Symphonic Winds, is in its 30th year of performing its βMusic in the Parkβ series.
Concerts are held Saturdays at 7 p.m. at Udall Parkβs LΓ‘szlΓ³ Veres Amphitheater, 7600 E. Tanque Verde Road. Admission is free and donations are accepted. Details: facebook.com/ArizonaSymphonicWinds
- Sept. 7: βBeautiful Sound of the Bassoonβ with Marissa Olegario, bassoon professor at the University of Arizona Fox School of Music, performing Weberβs virtuosic βAndante and Hungarian Rondo.β
- Sept. 14: βGlowing Tone of the Violinβ featuring Michelle Abraham Kantor, the Tucson Symphony Orchestraβs associate concertmaster, performing Beethovenβs masterpiece βViolin Concerto.β
- Sept. 21: βStars of the Windsβ shines the spotlight on several Winds musicians.
- Sept. 28: Singer Elena Galbraith returns to sing music of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and others in an βEvening With Elena.β