Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Pops orchestra
Founded	1977 (1977)
Location	Cincinnati, Ohio
Concert hall	Music Hall, Cincinnati
Principal conductor	John Morris Russell

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same administration. Erich Kunzel, the Pops' founding conductor, continued to lead the Pops until his death in 2009.

In 1965, maestro Max Rudolf invited Erich Kunzel, a young conductor on the faculty of Brown University, to join the Cincinnati Symphony. That October, Kunzel, a Dartmouth graduate and assistant to French conductor Pierre Monteux, conducted his first "8 O'Clock" Pops concert. Over the next four decades, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra regularly performed for packed houses in Cincinnati's Music Hall and established worldwide recognition through tours and critically acclaimed, best-selling recordings on the Telarc label.

An estimated 30 million people have viewed eight national telecasts of the Cincinnati Pops on PBS, and the Orchestra has more than 100 available recordings, 56 of which have appeared on the Billboard charts, a record unmatched by any other orchestra, and sales of over 10 million units. The Pops’ Copland: Music of America won a 1998 Grammy Award, and four other Pops recordings have been nominated for Grammy Awards.

In May 2008, the Pops received an invitation to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the only American orchestra to play the opening weekend.

After Kunzel's death on September 1, 2009, John Morris Russell was named in December 2010 as the new director of the Pops, effective September 1, 2011.

Selected discography

• Peaches and Cream, album of dances and marches by John Philip Sousa, Erich Kunzel Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 1984

Membership

Beginning with The Great Fantasy Adventure Album in 1994, the members of the orchestra began receiving credit on Telarc recordings. On this album, it was listed as follows:

First Violins: Phillip Ruder (concertmaster), Rebecca Culnan, Sylvia Samis, Conny Kiradjieff, Larrie Howard, Michelle Edgar Dugan, Gayna Madelbaum Bassin, Darla Da Deppo Bertolone, James Braid, Joseph Fafard, Oscar Rubens Fernandez, Donald Gibson, Ronald Konieczka, Rebecca Kruger, Sylvia Mitchell

Sceond Violins: Bing Wang (principal), Catherine Lange, Scott Mozlin, Hye-Sun Park, David Moore, Borivoje Angelich, Drake C. Ash, Harold Byers, Chiun-Teng Cheng, DeAnne Cleghorn, Denise Doolan, Paul Patterson, Stephen Schaefer, Serge Shababian, Stacey Woolley

Violas: Marna Street (principal), Paul Frankenfeld, Julian Wilkison, Mark Cleghorn, Robert Howes, Allen Martin, Judith Martin, Mary Olson, Steven Rosen, Joseph Somogyi, Raymond Stilwell, Sari Eringer-Thoman

Cellos: Eric Kim (principal), Daniel Culnan, Dana Rusinak, Norman Johns, Matthew Lad, Laura McLellan, Susan Marshall-Petersen, Charles Snavely, Geraldine Sutyak, Carlos Zavala

Basses: Barry Green (principal), James Lambert, Matthew Zory, Jr.; Wayne Anderson, Ronald Bozicevich, Frank Proto, Charles Van Ornum, Rick Vizachero

Flutes Randolph Bowman (principal), Rochelle Doepka, Kyril Magg

Piccolo Joan Voorhees

Oboes: Richard Johnson (principal), Michael Kenyon, Lon Bussell

English Horn: William Harrod

Clarinets: Richard Waller (principal), Carmine Campione, Richard Porotsky

Bass Clarinet: Richard Aufmann

Bassoons: William Winstead (principal), Hugh Michie, Martin James

Contrabassoon: Frank Heintz

French Horns: Robin Graham (principal), Thomas Sherwood, Duane Dugger, Robert Schauer, Milton Blalack, Charles Bell

Trumpets: Philip Collins (principal), Steven Pride, Douglas Lindsay, Marie Speziale

Trombones: Tony Chipurn (principal), James Eastman

Bass Trombone: Peter Norton

Tuba: Michael Thornton (principal)

Timpani: Eugene Espino (principal)

Percussion: William Platt (principal), Richard Jensen, David Fishlock

Keyboards: Julie Spangler

On 1995's The Magical Music of Disney, Phillip Ruder and Bing Wang had left, with Rebecca Culnan the acting concertmaster, and Gerald Itzkoff and Lois Reid Johnson had joined the first violin section, Harpist Juliet Stratton was added, and Richard Hawley (initially credited as Richard Hawey) replaced Richard Waller as principal clarinetist. Puttin' on the Ritz, released later that year, added Eliot Chapo added as acting concertmaster with Culnan returned to the second chair. Added to the membership list with this album were Librarians Mary Judge and Sandra Pearson, Personnel Manager Rosemary Waller, and Musical Assistant and Principal Arranger Steven Reineke. All three albums listed additional musicians for each recording not included here.

External links

• The Cincinnati Symphony & Pops Orchestras
• Pops 2016 Annual Report