Feinstein Named Successor to Hamlisch at Pasadena Pops

August 20, 2012, 11:36 am

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Michael Feinstein will become the new lead conductor of the Pasadena Pops in Pasadena, Calif., The Los Angeles Times reported, inheriting the mantle from the composer Marvin Hamlisch, who died earlier this month.

Mr. Feinstein, who appeared with the Pasadena Pops in a July 21 concert conducted by Mr. Hamlisch, is to begin in his role as principal pops conductor in the orchestra's 2013 season. He will also be named to the Marvin Hamlisch Chair at the Pasadena Pops, a newly created title.

“It will take an enormous amount of work and study on my part to prepare,” Mr. Feinstein told The Los Angeles Times. “It's a delicious challenge and I'll certainly be learning along the way.”

Mr. Feinste in said last month that the Feinstein's supper club at the Loews Regency Hotel would close at the end of this year, though he said he was contemplating new locations for the performance space.

Mr. Hamlisch, the composer of the Broadway musical “A Chorus Line” and songs like “The Way We Were,” was the principal pops conductor for many prominent orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington.