Christopher Dragon conducts Philadelphia’s No Name Pops in November 2024 at the Kimmel Center. Photo by Bachrach Photography/Courtesy of No Name Pops.
In Wednesday’s (3/5) WHYY, Peter Crimmins reports, “The No Name Pops orchestra, soon to be known as the latter-day Philly Pops, has named its first music director: Christopher Dragon, who currently holds conductor positions with the Wyoming Symphony, Colorado Symphony and Greensboro Symphony in North Carolina. He begins his role in Philadelphia in July. A native of Perth, Australia, Dragon has conducted orchestras around the world with credits ranging from standard classical repertoire, soundtrack music live-to-picture and new music. He has worked with violinist Joshua Bell, Broadway and film singer Cynthia Erivo (‘Wicked’), and RZA of the seminal hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Dragon, 34, came to the United States in 2015 to take a job at the Colorado Symphony in Denver … He has performed once in Philadelphia, last November as guest conductor with the No Name Pops. Dragon said he wants to bring a contemporary energy to pops music…. The No Name Pops formed two years ago by musicians who had left the Philly Pops as its parent organization, Encore Series, Inc., began to collapse … Recently No Name acquired the copyrighted name ‘Philly Pops’ … but it has not yet begun to use that name.”
