The Cleveland Pops with Carl Topilow presents the highest quality symphonic pops music to entertain and enrich a wide and diverse audience; and provides educational programs to develop an enduring appreciation of music. Carl Topilow and the 65-member Cleveland POPS Orchestra have been entertaining audiences since 1996 with their exciting and innovative blend of popular music, standards, Broadway s
how tunes, movie scores, Swing, Big Band and Jazz performances. The POPS plays to large audiences at Severance Hall and PlayhouseSquare Center, as well as numerous other
venues throughout Northeast Ohio. The orchestra debuted on NBC national television on Christmas Day with a 2-hour ice skating spectacular also featuring singer Peter Cetera and a host of world champion ice skaters. He is a director of the orchestral program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he serves not only as conductor of the CIM orchestra, but also as the primary instructor for the Master’s Degree Program in Orchestral Conducting. In addition, he is also a music director of the National Repertory Orchestra, a summer festival based in Breckenridge, CO. Recently, Maestro Topilow was named music director of the Firelands Symphony located in Sandusky, OH. He has served as Principal Pops Conductor of the Toledo and Southwest, FL Symphonies. He received his Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and began his career as Exxon/Arts Endowment conductor with the Denver Symphony Orchestra. He was first-place winner of the Baltimore Young Conductor’s Competition in 1976. A frequent guest conductor, he appeared last year with the Akron, Chattanooga, Spokane, Syracuse, Toledo, Winnipeg and Winston-Salem Symphonies and the Buffalo and Fresno Philharmonics. Topilow has conducted orchestras in 30 states and 10 countries. His newest CD, Music of America features him as clarinetist with his brother, pianist Arthur Topilow. The Pops is a non-profit 501c3 and was founded in 1993 to bring the best of symphonic pops music to Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, while working to expand that audience through youth education and public concerts. The 65 piece orchestra performs five subscription concerts each year in world-renowned Severance Hall, an annual holiday performance and a New Years Eve concert and dance. For the past eleven years, the orchestra has also performed an annual "Salute to Our Armed Forces" concert prior to the Memorial Day Holiday. The Cleveland Pops has also performed a variety of concerts throughout Ohio, from outdoor performances and inaugural concerts to nationally televised specials. Actual Music, the orchestra’s principle education program, conducts in-school courses for children from pre-K to second grade, introducing underprivileged students to music rudiments, dance, vocal and instrument music performance. The program, now in its fourth year, serves over 400 underprivileged students in the region, and is growing rapidly each year. Cleveland Pops serves over 29,354 people though its concerts and outreach annually. More still are reached through broadcasts and web views. Learn more: www.clevelandpops.com
