by Mike Telin

“Music and Fun for Everyone!” For seventeen years the Cleveland Pops Orchestra has been presenting concerts that feature the music of Hollywood and Broadway along with light classics and jazz. “It’s music you can hum along with or tap your toes to and that you can just enjoy,” says Cleveland Pops founder and conductor Carl Topilow. On Friday, May 3^rd beginning at 8:00 pm in Severance Hall, Topilow and his orchestra will present an evening of New Orleans Jazz featuring trumpeter Byron Stripling. We spoke to the multi-faceted Carl Topilow by telephone and began by asking him about the evening’s program.

Carl Topilow: In keeping with the New Orleans theme, the concert features Hershy Kay’s arrangement of Louis Gottschalk’s Cakewalk Suite, a medley from Showboat and Mardi Gras from Ferde Grofé’s Mississippi Suite. Byron will join the orchestra in tunes like Bourbon Street Parade, St. James Infirmary, Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone and Sweet Georgia Brown. I’ll also join in with my clarinet, that’s always something very special for me. [Read more…]