The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Under the leadership of dynamic Music Director Steven Reineke, The New York Pops continues to re-imagine orchestral pops music. The orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall and a summer series at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York. The New York Pops is dedicated to lifelong learning, and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, children's hospitals, and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun.

Steven Reineke

Steven Reineke is the music director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, principal pops conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, principal pops conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and principal pops conductor designate of the Houston Symphony.

Mr. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been on the podium with the Boston Pops, The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. His extensive North American conducting appearances include performances with the orchestras of San Francisco, Seattle, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Detroit, Milwaukee, and Calgary.

As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke's work has been performed worldwide.

One of the leading champions of the Great American Songbook, Ann Hampton Callaway has made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, television host, and producer. She won the Theatre World Award and received a Tony Award nomination for her starring role in the Broadway musical Swing! Ann made her Hollywood screen debut in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd. She was also featured on the soundtrack of Queen Latifah's Last Holiday. She has written more than 250 songs, including platinum award-winning hits for Barbra Streisand and the theme for the hit television series The Nanny.

Ann performs the critically acclaimed acts Sibling Revelry and Boom! with her sister, Broadway star Liz Callaway. Recently, Ann has taken the symphony world by storm with her tribute to her legendary mentor in The Streisand Songbook, which she premiered with the Boston Pops and has since performed with more than 70 orchestras. Her 2014 CD, From Sassy to Divine: The Sarah Vaughan Project, was released to rave reviews and went a long way in establishing Ann as one of the premier jazz voices in the world. Mixed by Grammy Award-winning engineer Todd Whitelock, it is Ann's first live solo CD, recorded at the height of her vocal and interpretive powers.

DownBeat gave Ann's latest CD, The Hope of Christmas, four stars. Visit annhamptoncallaway.com for more information.

Tony nominee and Emmy winner Liz Callaway made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. She has also starred in Baby, Miss Saigon, The Look of Love, and The Three Musketeers; in addition, she appeared for five years as Grizabella in Cats. Off-Broadway appearances include The Spitfire Grill (Drama Desk Award nomination), No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, and Brownstone.

Liz sang the Academy Award-nominated song "Journey to the Past" in the animated feature Anastasia. Other film work includes Jasmine in the two Aladdin sequels, The Swan Princess, and The Rewrite with Hugh Grant.

She received an Emmy Award for hosting Ready to Go, a daily, live children's program on CBS in Boston. Other television credits include In Performance at the White House, Inside the Actors Studio: Stephen Sondheim, Late Show with David Letterman, and Senior Trip (a CBS Movie of the Week).

Her extensive concert and symphony career has included appearances in London, Paris, Iceland, Vietnam, Australia, China, and nearly every major city in the US. She performs regularly with her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, as well as with composer Stephen Schwartz, and has had the great pleasure of singing with Jimmy Webb, Paul Williams, and the legendary Johnny Mathis.

Liz has made six solo recordings: The Essential Liz Callaway, Passage of Time, The Beat Goes On, The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway On & Off-Broadway, Anywhere I Wander: Liz Callaway Sings Frank Loesser, and a Christmas album, Merry and Bright. Visit lizcallaway.com for more information.

Entertainers, recording artists, funnymen, and advocates of arts in education, Will and Anthony Nunziata are the Brooklyn-born, classically trained, singing-and-comedy-brothers duo hailed by The Huffington Post as "a nearly impossible pairing of talent, stage presence, and charisma."

The brothers have brought their distinct take on classic and contemporary songs to performing arts centers and theaters, as well as symphony concerts with orchestras that have included The Cleveland Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, and the Detroit, Lancaster, Annapolis, Cape Cod, Toledo, and Edmonton symphony orchestras, to name a few.

Featured on Good Morning America and the Rachael Ray Show, Will and Anthony are extremely proud to have created their arts in education outreach program, Arts Matter!, in which they visit schools and conduct master classes with students, providing education and inspiration in supporting the arts as a significant component of young people's lives.

Separately, Will is an acclaimed stage director and is the concert director for many of Broadway's leading ladies, including Tony Award winner Lillias White. Anthony is an emerging songwriter whose songs are featured on the brothers' Christmas EP, The Gift Is You, which is available for purchase after tonight's concert.

Get social with Will and Anthony on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@willandanthony). Visit willandanthony.com for more information.

                                               
Judith Clurman's Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) is one of New York's preeminent choral ensembles. It performs at many of the city's iconic venues and events, records and premieres works by America's finest composers and lyricists, and regularly appears with The New York Pops on its Carnegie Hall subscription series. It performed on NBC's televised broadcast of the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular in 2014, and at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting in 2011 and 2012. The ensemble comprises a talented roster of seasoned professionals and auditioned volunteers, dynamically fitted to the unique needs of each project. Among other national highlights, EVUSA participated in the 2013 Presidential Inaugural activities, and held a monthlong residency at National Public Radio. The impressive cohort of musicians who have worked with EVUSA run the gamut from young opera sensation Jamie Barton, to Broadway star Idina Menzel, to musical theater luminaries Stephen Schwartz and Sheldon Harnick, to composers Milton Babbitt and Jennifer Higdon. EVUSA currently produces The Composer Speaks, a series of musical performances complemented by panel discussions with composers and lyricists at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. EVUSA Youth Workshop provides selected high school students with the opportunity to participate with the main ensemble in the heart of New York City's music scene. It has recorded works by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Shore. EVUSA has recorded several CDs for Sono Luminus, and its latest release, Season of Light: Songs of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, New Year, was released in November 2016.