‘Pop’ goes the American Songbook, in Pasadena, under Feinstein baton 1

Film · Music
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS organization practiced what the Chinese call “double happiness” this week, announcing, in one fell swoop, the re-upping of conductor Michael Feinstein’s contract with the POPS (where he started in 2013) and the roll-out of a rich summer menu of American Songbook concerts at their bandshell digs in the Los Angeles ...

Only Marvin Hamlisch was missing. Pasadena Pops honors conductor.

Music · Reviews
A concert that culminates with the great lyricist Alan Bergman crooning in aching nostalgia The Way We Were, a song that he, his writing partner and wife Marilyn, and composer Marvin Hamlisch co-wrote for Barbra Streisand, is an event I’m interested in attending. Bergman is so special, a poet, really.  The Pasadena Symphony’s high-quality tribute ...

Marvelous Marvin Hamlisch picks up Pasadena Pops baton 2

Music
“I love Pasadena,” proclaimed the new conductor of the Pasadena Pops, Marvin Hamlisch. The award-winning film and Broadway composer is  perfectly suited for the family-oriented position because, for one thing, he’s no shrinking violet. With a portfolio studded with mega-hits for Broadway (“A Chorus Line”) and Hollywood movies (“The Way We Were,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “The ...