Thursday, June 4, 2026

Altadena-Raised Grammy Winner Joins Pasadena POPS for Summer Arboretum Series

Larry Blank and Morgan James [photo credit: Pasadena Symphony and POPS]

Jazz vocalist Carmen Bradford headlines the July 25 Rat Pack concert as the POPS opens a five-show season under a new conductor

The Pasadena POPS opens its 2026 Rusnak Summer Concert Series on June 20 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, launching five outdoor evenings of orchestral music under Resident Pops Conductor Larry Blank — the organization’s first season without Michael Feinstein leading the POPS after a tenure the Pasadena Symphony Association describes as spanning more than a decade.

Among this summer’s performers is Carmen Bradford, who grew up in Altadena and won a Grammy Award in 2024 as a featured vocalist on “Basie Swings the Blues” with the Count Basie Orchestra. Bradford performs July 25 in “A Toast to the Rat Pack,” alongside jazz vocalists Steve Lippia and Todd Murray in a program of songs associated with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Blank, a Broadway composer, conductor, and orchestrator who has been nominated three times each for the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award, takes over from Feinstein, who led the POPS before assuming the title of Principal Pops Conductor Emeritus in September 2025, according to the Pasadena Symphony Association. Blank’s credentials include conducting the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the organization said in a press release.

The five-concert series runs through August 29 at the Arboretum, located at 301 N. Baldwin Ave. in Arcadia. The season opens June 20 with “Star-Spangled Salute to the Movies,” featuring Broadway vocalist Morgan James, a Juilliard-trained singer who has appeared in five original Broadway casts performing music by John Williams and the late Marvin Hamlisch. Programs include the July 11 Motown tribute “Dancing in the Street,” featuring Terron Brooks, Chester Gregory, and Shayna Steele; the August 15 Elton John experience with Craig A. Meyer; and the August 29 Andrew Lloyd Webber season finale with Hugh Panaro, Valerie Perri, and Scarlett Strallen.

Bradford’s appearance carries particular resonance for local audiences. The daughter of jazz cornetist Bobby Bradford and jazz vocalist Melba Joyce, she was discovered by Count Basie at age 22 and went on to spend nine years as the featured vocalist with his orchestra, according to her biography in the press release. Her 2024 Grammy win one of five career nominations came for “Basie Swings the Blues” on Candid Records.

Hugh Panaro, performing in the August 29 finale, played the Phantom in Broadway’s “The Phantom of the Opera” more than 2,000 times, including the 25th Anniversary production, according to the press release. Valerie Perri made her Broadway debut as Eva Perón in the national touring company of “Evita” in 1979, directed by Harold Prince, and has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for picnicking before each concert; performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Concertgoers may bring their own food or pre-order from onsite vendors. Parking at Santa Anita Park, across Baldwin Avenue, includes complimentary shuttle service to the Arboretum for $20. Tickets start at $38 and are available at (626) 793-7172, at pasadenasymphony-pops.org/tickets, or at the Arboretum on concert days.

“Knowing my purpose to inspire keeps me going,” said Terron Brooks, a soloist in the July 11 Motown concert, in a statement provided by the Pasadena Symphony Association. “I want people to feel like somebody sees and hears them. We are all connected in this life.”

The Pasadena Symphony Association, founded in 1928, performs its winter classical series at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, according to the organization.