Pops Orchestra

A pops orchestra is a symphony orchestra, or its lighter-configured offshoot, devoted to popular repertory: Broadway and film themes, jazz standards, light classics, novelty pieces and orchestral arrangements of current popular songs. The format was defined by the *Boston Pops*, founded in 1885 and shaped by *Arthur Fiedler*'s fifty-year tenure, which treated familiar melody, showmanship and audience accessibility as serious musical values. Pops concerts typically mix short items in variety-programme order, often with guest singers, and the format has been adopted by orchestras worldwide as a bridge between classical institutions and mass audiences.