The Chattanooga Symphony and Opera’s Maestro Bob Bernhardt travels across the country this holiday season to conduct two of the nation’s top pops orchestras. His engagements include the New Year's Eve performance of the Boston Pops, as well as the seven-concert Holiday Pops series with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

“It is a gratifying delight to be invited back to both Boston and Pittsburgh," Maestro Bernhardt said, “and I look forward to seeing my friends and colleagues in both cities. The orchestras are extraordinary, the concert halls incredible, and the opportunity exciting and invigorating."

The Boston Pops Orchestra was founded in 1885 as a subsection of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), founded four years earlier. The 2006 Boston Pops Holiday Series begins on Monday, Dec. 11, and the holiday tradition will continue through the Boston Pops' annual New Year's Eve celebration, which Maestro Bernhardt will conduct. This will mark Maestro Bernhardt's return to the Pops after a series of engagements in the mid-90s.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has been a part of Pittsburgh’s heritage for more than 100 years. With its history of conductors and musicians and its commitment to artistic quality and excellence, audiences around the world have claimed the Pittsburgh Symphony as their orchestra of choice. Maestro Bernhardt has a long-standing relationship with this company as well.

Maestro Bernhardt is the second Music Director in the history of the combined Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and is currently in his 13th season with the company. Along with the extraordinary growth and rejuvenation of our city, he has likewise led the CSO into its most exciting and hopeful period with dedication, enthusiasm, sense of humor and commitment to excellence. He is a lover of all genres of music, and is equally at home in symphonic, operatic, pops and educational performances.

Concurrent with his CSO tenure, Maestro Bernhardt holds the additional title of Principal Pops Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra where he is celebrating his 25th anniversary this year. He began his professional career there in 1981 as Assistant Conductor, and has worked with the
orchestra every year since. Formerly, he was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic, Artistic Director of the Sewanee Music Festival in 1999, Music Director and Conductor of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of Kentucky Opera, Artistic Director of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta and Music Director of the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra. His vast symphonic repertoire covers most of the standard canon and his commitment to the music of our time is significant.