In Saturday’s (12/8) North County Times (San Diego, California), James Chute writes, “Film composer and pops conductor Bill Conti isn’t afraid to say no. ‘Just to go someplace to do a concert? I’m kind of beyond that,’ said Conti, whose name may draw a blank but whose tunes, including the theme to ‘Rocky,’ are likely embossed on your brain. … But Conti quickly said yes to the San Diego Symphony, which he conducted in 2010 in an ‘A Night at the Academy Awards’ pops program. (That program was especially appropriate, as Conti has conducted the Oscar telecast 19 times and was awarded multiple Emmys for his efforts.) Conti is the San Diego Symphony’s new principal pops conductor, succeeding the late Marvin Hamlisch. He recently agreed to a three-year contract in which each season he’ll conduct the opening concert of the orchestra’s Summer Pops and two concerts in its City Lights series at Copley Symphony Hall. … Conti has enough of his own music to fill dozens of concerts, but he expects to program a mix of pieces, although he is still in discussions with symphony management regarding repertoire. ‘It’s key, I think, to talk to the people who actually know the orchestra and the market better than I,’ Conti said. ‘But I can tell you, number one, we have to entertain.’ ”
Posted December 10, 2012
