WSO Director Christopher Dragon adds Philadelphia pops ensemble to growing list of gigs

CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming Symphony Orchestra’s outgoing music director, Christopher Dragon, can add yet another line on his growing résumé.

This week, Dragon was named music director of a reformed pops orchestra in Philadelphia currently called No Name Pops. The name is a temporary legal stopgap before officially becoming known as Philly Pops, which is owned by the late conductor, pianist and recording artist Peter Nero’s family. The orchestra was reassembled by members of the old Philly Pops, which dissolved under financial pressure.

Naming the busy Dragon as its music director is part of the reformed ensemble’s effort to reinvent the pops orchestra experience, according to a story from Public Radio’s WHYY in Philadelphia.

“In my opinion, orchestral pops around the country isn’t meeting the modern-day audience expectation. I think a modern-day pops orchestra can be much more versatile,” Dragon told the station. “We’re going to be able to push the boundaries of what people expect an orchestra to be doing.”

“Chris has this ‘do whatever’ attitude,” the orchestra’s executive director, Matthew Koveal, told WHYY. “He’s totally down to try new things and to realize that the Pop’s idiom needs to progress in order to be successful.” Koveal and Dragon worked together at the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, where Dragon now holds the title of resident conductor after working as associate director for a number of years.

Dragon, an Australian native, was hired as music director of the WSO in 2019 after a long search. The orchestra announced that he would step down after the current 2024–25 season after he was hired as music director for the Greensboro Symphony. Dragon is also an in-demand guest conductor for orchestras around the country and in Australia.

Dragon’s tenure with the WSO included navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and commissioning the orchestra’s first-ever original work, the “Suffragette Symphony” by composer Stephanie Ann Boyd. He also commissioned University of Wyoming student Monica Medoza’s original work “Flight of the Golden Bird,” which made its world premiere last season, and another work by Wyoming composer Anne Guzzo, set to premier during the upcoming March 5 performance.

Dragon’s first concert with the No Name Pops is on March 30. His final WSO performance is in May. The WSO will start a two-year process of hiring its new music director starting next season.