Pops program for 2008-09 season

Seattle Symphony principal pops conductor Marvin Hamlisch has announced plans for five pops programs in the 2008-09 season, the Symphony's 10th in Benaroya Hall. Hamlisch, a triple-threat conductor, composer and pianist, begins his two-year appointment as principal pops conductor at the start of the season in September, and will lead the orchestra in three of the five pops programs next season.

Pops series subscriptions are now available for renewing subscribers as well as new subscribers. The entire 2008-09 Seattle Symphony season will be announced later this month.

Here's the pops program:

Sept. 18-21: Hamlisch opens the season with a swing-era program featuring vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater; 14-year-old Canadian singer Nikki Yanofsky; and the Jazz Ambassadors, a touring jazz orchestra of the United States Army.

Dec. 4-7: "A Marvin Hamlisch Christmas" will be a family program suitable for all ages.

Jan. 22-25, 2009: The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra comes to Benaroya Hall.

Feb. 26-March 1: The program marks the Benaroya return of trumpeter Doc Severinsen in a new show, "El Ritmo de la Vida" (Rhythm of Life).

May 14 — 17: Hamlisch closes the season with music of George Gershwin, including his "Rhapsody in Blue."

Hamlisch, who has conducted the Seattle Symphony numerous times over the years, will return next month, March 6-9, for five performances of Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin. Ticket information: 206-215-4747 or www.seattlesymphony.org.

Boeing chief joins ArtsFund board

Scott E. Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes and executive vice president of The Boeing Company, is one of four executives named to the ArtsFund board of trustees. Joining Carson on the board are Michael A. Booth (senior vice president, UBS Financial Services), Jeffrey S. Lyon (chairman and CEO, GVA Kidder Mathews) and Melissa Nelson (senior vice president, managing director, TM Advertising).

ArtsFund, created in 1969 as an annual fund for corporate giving to the arts, made grants last year of almost $3 million to support 69 diverse arts groups in King and Pierce counties. Boeing has been ArtsFund's biggest annual supporter since its founding.

"Mr. Carson's membership on our board of trustees underscores Boeing's confidence in the leadership and support that ArtsFund provides regionally as a grant maker and as advocate for our diverse arts community," said ArtsFund chair David Buck of the law firm Riddell Williams P.S., in a prepared statement.

Woodinville girl receives music honor

Violinist Marié Rossano, a 14-year-old Woodinville resident, has been selected as the 2008 winner of the David Tonkonogui Memorial Award. The award is presented annually by Music of Remembrance, a Seattle organization devoted to musical witness of the Holocaust.

Rossano wins a cash award of $500 to support her musical studies, and will perform Ernest Bloch's "Nigun" at MOR's spring concert on May 12. The award is named in honor of the late Seattle Symphony cellist who inspired colleagues, students and audiences.

Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times music critic