Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz perform during an Independence Day concert on July 4, 2022 in upstate New York.
In last Friday’s (7/7) Post-Journal, (Jamestown, NY), Michael Zabrodsky writes, “Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz will lead the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra to accompany Natalie Merchant Saturday, July 8, at The Amphitheater. Merchant is performing in support of her new release ‘Keep Your Courage.’ Chafetz said more acts are using an orchestra during live performances. ‘It’s common now. With (The Chautauqua Symphony) Orchestra Pops, we are pretty much used to having headlining acts,’ Chafetz said…. ‘What’s great about it is that the Chautauqua Symphony is a diverse group of players where they go from Beethoven one day to Natalie Merchant the next day… Having played timpani for 25 years with the symphony, I know everybody intimately, in the sense that I know where the orchestra is. They (the musicians) can play anything….’ Chafetz has served for more than a decade in a guest pops conductor capacity for the ensemble. Chafetz also serves as principal pops conductor of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and is the principal pops conductor of the Marin Symphony…. Merchant began her career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs.”
