Philly Pops replaces CEO and other top leaders, while its concerts remain uncertain
The group, which had previously announced a move to the Met Philadelphia, hopes to finish the season at the Kimmel Center.
As it reels from financial pressures and eviction from its longtime home, the Philly Pops is taking steps that aim to stabilize operations and refocus its artistic direction.
Pops president Frank Giordano has resigned, the Pops announced Tuesday. He has been replaced by Karen Corbin, previously the Pops’s chief operating officer, who is now president and CEO.
David Charles Abell will not renew his contract as music director and principal conductor after it expires in June, suggesting a shift in the artists and repertoire the group will present in the future.
And board chair Joseph Del Raso has stepped aside. Rollo Dilworth, the Philadelphia choral conductor and Temple University professor and vice dean, will become the new chair.
Still unknown: Where the full Pops ensemble will perform next, and when its first downtown concert since December might be.
“We absolutely will present all of the remaining programs,” Corbin said, adding that the group plans to announce a new schedule for the rest of the season shortly.
Discussions of a partnership with stewards of the the Uptown Theater on North Broad Street will continue, she said.
Giordano and Del Raso will remain on the board. The appointment of Dilworth “reflects an intention by the Pops to shift focus in favor of its education and community engagement initiatives while simultaneously reworking its subscription series performances,” the group said in an announcement of the changes.
The Pops was to have performed two concerts at the Met Philadelphia in February, but postponed them at the last minute without explanation. The full ensemble has not performed in Center City since before Christmas (it did perform a January concert in Lansdale).
Officials from the local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians, the union that represents the Pops musicians, did not immediately respond to calls and texts.
The leadership changes at the Pops follow a dramatic series of developments that began in mid-November with the announcement by Giordano that the Pops would shut down at the end of this season after 44 years, and then the reversal of the decision by the board just six weeks later.
Ticket sales were soft for the Pops’ fall run of concerts, and Giordano said he had concluded that the group — which was more dependent on ticket sales, and less on philanthropy than many nonprofits — was no longer viable.
“We are not planning to file any kind of chapter,” said Giordano in mid-November, referring to bankruptcy, “but will deal with our obligations and then just close it down.”
Other Pops leaders felt differently, and the group soon launched a save-the-Pops fundraising campaign.
But in mid-January, the group’s landlord, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center Inc. (POKC), evicted the Pops, one of its own resident companies, in a dispute over back rent and a payment plan.
That left the Pops without a hall for its February show. It soon booked the concerts at the Met Philadelphia, but — just two weeks later — announced the postponements.
This week the new Pops leadership says it is attempting to reach a deal with POKC to finish out the season as it originally planned, in Verizon Hall.
“We will immediately turn our attention to the Save-the-Pops campaign and continue efforts to find a resolution to our disagreements with POKC,” said Corbin, a former television executive who was vice president of programs, marketing and business development at the Franklin Institute, and chief operating officer of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Kimmel, for its part, is “open to discussing the Pops’ return to perform at Verizon Hall,” said POKC president and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky, “provided there is a credible and committed plan to pay back the $1 million debt that is due to our organization to cover stage crew, ushers, box office, and rental costs for past Philly Pops performances.”
Corbin disputes the $1 million figure. “One of the first parts of the discussion would need to be an agreement on what amount is due,” she said.
Abell took over the artistic leadership of the Pops in 2020 after its split with conductor Todd Ellison about six months after he started the job. Since then, the Pops has appointed Terell Stafford as artistic director for jazz and Byron Stripling principal guest conductor.
The Pops won’t immediately begin a search for a new music director, said Corbin.
“We’re really proud of the artistic direction over the past few years. We feel it is very important that the artistic director live in Philadelphia, and that’s a goal we have going forward.”
An earlier version of this story mistakenly reported that the Pops’s last concert was in December. The group also performed in Lansdale in January.