Macon Pops to take on ‘Vintage Vegas!’

This isn’t your grandparent’s orchestra.

When Macon Pops returns this summer for a fourth season, it will continue with a formula that breaks down stereotypes about highbrow music.

“Picture a high caliber 40-piece orchestra in sort of a high-end night-club setting,” said Steve Moretti, a Grammy Award-nominated percussionist who co-founded the Macon Pops. “We try to keep the environment relaxed and fun so people of all ages can enjoy our performances.”

The Macon Pops experience expands on the usual contemporary music of a pops concert to include special lighting, live images and video screens.

“And of course the dance floor, which is always packed,” said Moretti, who also serves as president and CEO of Macon Pops. “So I think that's something that people are latching onto — you can come and dance to this music. I think musically we are able to cover any style and we cover anything from big band music to R&B and hip-hop and everything in between."

Friday night, Macon Pops Jazz Orchestra will perform at the Cox Capitol Theatre as a fundraiser for the upcoming season. The “Vintage Vegas!” show will feature the pops’ smaller 14-piece jazz band and six extra strings players.

“It's highlighting kind of that iconic era of Vegas. So everybody from Louis Prima, Keely Smith and of course the Rat Pack … to Wayne Newton, Tom Jones, Celine Dion,” Moretti said. “It's vintage Vegas meets a little bit of new Vegas.”

The Macon Pops shows typically run about two hours with an intermission, but “Vintage Vegas!” will be 90 minutes with no break.

Moretti hopes the fundraiser will give Macon Pops a boost as they head into a season with more shows and new venues.

“The fundraiser is important for us because it's a really great way to cap off our fiscal year and carry us into the next season,” he said.

The five-show season will kick off in August with an outdoor show themed “Songs of the Summer” at Middle Georgia State University. The past seasons have always been four shows at the City Auditorium.

“We're moving around in the community, which is kind of neat,” Moretti said. “So we can tap into other areas of the community and still perform.”

In its second show, Macon Pops will bring back a third incarnation of “Dancing Through the Decades” — a popular performance that Macon Pops has been asked to perform in other cities.

“The great thing about that is there are hundreds of songs from each of these decades to choose from,” Moretti said. “We take you from the big band era all the way to Bruno Mars today and everything in between.”

Three shows this season will be in Mercer University’s Hawkins Arena including a March 17 show featuring television and movie stars Gloria Reuben and Erich Bergen.

“We're designing a show around them — hit songs from TV and movies,” said Moretti, who played live in the film “Jersey Boys,” which featured Bergen.

Moretti and Macon Pops co-founder Matt Catingub plan each season and show from scratch.

“Most orchestras will buy a packaged show — that's typical — but we're very lucky to have a Grammy Award-winning arranger as our artistic director and conductor,” Moretti said of Catingub. “He’s the man that makes the music happen."

As in past seasons, Moretti expects some of the shows will features local singers.

“It's been my MO since I moved to Macon to try and bring it back to a music town,” he said. “We've got a great music history but I think it's important to focus on a new chapter in our history book and hopefully we can be a conduit in getting the local talent the voice that they need to be heard.”

The shows usually draw about 1,000 people but the last two of the season had 1,500 in attendance.

“We see young kids out there to grandmas and grandpas, which is great. You can come as you want. If you want to wear shorts and flip-flops, that's fine. If you want to get dressed up in a ball gown and a tuxedo, that's great, too,” Moretti said. “We try to stay cutting edge contemporary but still making it accessible and fun and appealing to as broad of an audience as we can.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Macon Pops to take on ‘Vintage Vegas!’."