Santa Rosa Symphony’s Pops series opens with conductor Michael Berkowitz’s favorites

Keeping the beat and leading an orchestra come naturally to Michael Berkowitz, the Santa Rosa Symphony’s principal pops conductor. After all, he started out playing the drums for such Hollywood legends as composer Henry Mancini, singer Liza Minelli and arranger Nelson Riddle.

But along the way, Berkowitz has also morphed into a music revivalist, searching out and preserving rare arrangements of tunes from artists such as Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, with the help of well-known American singer Michael Feinstein.

“We spend a lot of time musical spelunking,” Berkowitz said an a phone interview from his home in New York’s Hudson Valley. “I’m usually in a cave - a garage - doing research. Somebody dies, and there’s no record of where the music is, and you try to find their family.”

As a consequence, Berkowitz’s own garage has become a treasure trove of music, a veritable mountain of more than 100 boxes of sheet music ranging from the Big Band era of the early 1930s and movie soundtracks of the ’40s and ’50 through rock’n’roll ballads and current-day tributes.

For the opening concert of the Santa Rosa Symphony Pops season this Sunday, Berkowitz has dug through his priceless collection of music to present some of the greatest hits we’ve never heard, at least here.

“There is so much music that I’ve never played in Santa Rosa before,” he said. “I thought it would be fun to go to the library and pick out some of my favorites.”

Berkowitz put together the program in a way that would sound like a classic Boston Pops concert, if its famed, white-haired maestro Arthur Fiedler were still alive and conducting.

The program begins with “Strings on Fire” by Henry Mancini and “Blue Tango” by Leroy Anderson, then segues into the whimsical “What’s Up with the Symphony?,” a series of cartoon themes from Bugs Bunny.

“It’s my theory that most people’s earliest knowledge of classical music comes from watching cartoons,” Berkowitz said. “If you call my house, you hear Wagner’s ‘Flight of the Valkyries,’ but I think of it as ‘Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!’?”

The first half continues with some “Rat Pack” favorites by Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., plus Stephen Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle,” sung by San Francisco crooner Jonathan Poretz. It concludes with the soundtrack from the 1960 Western film, “The Magnificent Seven.”

“The original score by Elmer Bernstein was thought to be one of the greatest movie themes of all time,” Berkowitz said.

The second half will open with a lush ballad, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “All I Ask of You” from the wildly popular Broadway show, “Phantom of the Opera.”

“I’m a sucker for lush ballads,” Berkowitz said.

The fun continues with “Roller Coaster,” a showpiece for the lustrous string section. It may be familiar to those of a certain age as the closing theme from the TV game show, “What’s My Line?”?Along that same line, the boob tube will be celebrated with “Anything on TV?”, a medley of television theme songs ranging from “I Love Lucy” to “Sex and the City.”

The concert will conclude with Leonard Bernstein’s beloved “West Side Story Suite,” featuring a drum solo that was written for drummer Buddy Rich.

“I got a letter from the Leonard Bernstein family, and they asked that I perform some of his music in honor of his 100th anniversary in 2018,” Berkowitz said. “I’ll play the drums on ‘West Side.’?”

The rest of the four-concert series offers a little something for everyone, from a jazzy Christmas program to a country music tribute.

On Dec. 11, pianist Jim Martinez and his Quartet will be featured in “A Charlie Brown Christmas Concert,” featuring the music written or arranged by Vince Guaraldi for the 1965 classic, “Peanuts” animated special.

“It’s lovely music, and he’s a marvelous player,” Berkowitz said. “Come on, it’s Charlie Brown in Santa Rosa. That’s a natural.”

Jazz singer Ann Hampton Callaway will sing from “The Great American Songbook” during the Feb. 19 concert. She’s also a pianist and composer who has sung everywhere from the White House to Broadway and on practically every symphony stage in the U.S.

“She wrote the theme song for the TV show, ‘The Nanny,’ and sang it,” Berkowitz said. “I’m really looking forward to that concert.”

Finally, on April 27, the series concludes with “Country Legends,” featuring rising Nashville crooners Patrick Thomas (“The Voice” Season 1 finalist) and Rachel Potter ““X-Factor” finalist) performing songs of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, Hank Williams and Carrie Underwood, to name a few.

“We haven’t done a country show so far,” Berkowitz said. “It’s a little different.”

Staff writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56.