Our Mission

To present to audiences of the City of Bloomington and surrounding areas excellent quality orchestral, solo, and/or ensemble vocal and instrumental performances in various styles of light classical and popular music that will entertain, educate, and enrich the lives of the listeners.

To provide performance opportunities for qualified musicians that will enhance their professional development.


Dr. John Clair Canfield, the founding father of The POPS said in 1992 that the organization was founded to meet in his words; "a perceived need by a wide, appreciative audience to hear America's songbook" in a community rich in classical, symphonic music.

Dr. Canfield previously was a founder and director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra in Ft. Lauderdale.  His teaching experience includes positions in public school, at Florida State University, Eastern Illinois University, the University of South Carolina, and National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.

Dr. Canfield was president of the Florida Orchestra Association and a member of the Florida Governor's Council on the Arts before moving to Bloomington in 1992.

From 1997 to 2003 Robert E. Stoll was the POPS Music Director and Conductor and is currently music director and chair of the Artistic Committee.  He is Professor Emeritus of Music in the IU School of Music, where he taught choral conducting, music education and musical theater production. He conducted more than 30 musicals for the IU School of Music and the IU Theatre Department and, for 32 years, he also was director of the IU Singing Hoosiers. During the latter years of his leadership, the ensemble made four recordings on the TELARC label with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati POPS Orchestra. Two of the recordings were nominated for Grammy awards.

Stoll is regularly a choral adjudicator, guest choral and musical theater clinician and guest conductor. He has prepared choruses for performances with Bob Hope, Duke Ellington, Petula Clark, Janie Frickie, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain and Hoagy Carmichael, and with many orchestras. 

 

Named Artistic Director of Bay View Music Festival in 2007, Chris Ludwa has proven himself to be an effective leader, both on stage and off. In addition to overseeing the intensive eight-week summer concert series and conservatory program in northern Michigan, he is Artistic Director of Encore Vocal Arts, a 36 member, professional caliber vocal ensemble in Indianapolis where he and his wife live. Currently conductor of the Bloomington Pops Orchestra, Ludwa enjoys joining his passion for great music with his love for teaching and collaboration in having served as a conductor for Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and several churches. He maintains an active freelance schedule while continuing his work as a consultant on various arts-in-education initiatives. He is pursuing doctoral studies at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in conducting, music education, and group dynamics.

Since receiving his Master's Degree in Conducting from Indiana University, the Cincinnati native worked for Indianapolis Opera as Apprentice Conductor/Outreach Administrator and served as guest conductor for many different organizations including Webster University, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Indiana Repertory Theatre, and various others. In February 2004, he organized a massive clean-up with over 80 volunteers to re-open a 700-seat auditorium in downtown Indianapolis to rave reviews after having been dormant for 40 years. The hall is in use today by several Indianapolis arts organizations and continues to work toward a full renovation.

Ludwa is becoming well-known for innovative, stimulating programming in his work with various musical organizations and hopes to continue to be a visionary force in ways of helping the general public to appreciate an ever-increasing array of musical styles.

After witnessing the power of the arts to motivate and create community, Ludwa is convinced that the wave of the future is to integrate aesthetic process into education, business, government, and daily life. He has gained experience in this area through the educational world as a partner artist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, a consultant/trainer for the Leonard Bernstein-inspired Artful Learning School Reform Model, and at the International School of Indiana as Director of Arts. He has participated in the Thought Leader Forum at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, a leading institution in the application of aesthetic process to leadership and has since begun writing a book exploring the same topics.

As a devotee of the learning process, Ludwa has taught at the Bay View Association, Butler University, and Indiana University, and is a recipient of the Lilly Endowment-funded Creative Renewal Fellowship Grant, which he used to explore drumming, communication, and values in Ghana, West Africa.

An avid pilot, Ludwa is married to his best friend, Melissa, who is a constant source of inspiration, fun, and intellectual conversation. She is a counselor for Zionsville High School and provides a wealth of perspective on psychological and social dynamics in play within the human mind. Chris and Melissa are new parents as of December, 2008, when they were joined by Alexandre.