Geoffrey Pope
Dr. Geoffrey Pope is the Director of Orchestral Studies and an Assistant Professor of Teaching at UCI. His dynamic professional career spans continents, genres, and musical disciplines. Recognized through numerous appointments, commissions, and awards as a conductor and composer, Pope seeks to present provocative, inclusive, and engaging performances that have a strong cultural impact.
Much of his conducting work builds upon the standard repertoire, exploring contemporary music, opera, and multimedia spheres, including art installations and film scores. Recent performances include the Los Angeles premiere of John Williams’ Prelude and Scherzo, a piano concerto written for Gloria Cheng and Lang Lang, with Ms. Cheng performing with the Santa Monica Symphony. Last fall welcomed releases of Pope’s recordings of several new works, including Noah Meites’ Counting, as well as Corey Field’s The Trial of Benjamin Britten, a monodrama in nine scenes, featuring tenor Todd Strange and hornist Dylan Hart. Recent performances include UC Irvine’s acclaimed production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, stage directed by Andreas Mitisek, formerly Artistic and General Director of Long Beach Opera, as well as the masterworks concerts with the Beach Cities Symphony, where he was Music Director and Conductor from 2020-2025. He continues to be a featured lecturer with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, giving numerous pre-concert Upbeat Live presentations.
Other recent performances include Puccini’s La bohème with Valley Opera and Performing Arts, and a live-to-film performance Kathryn Bostic’s new score to The Flying Ace (1927) at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Museum in a celebration of early Black cinema, the premiere of David Reyes’ Aztec opera El Circo Anahuac, the premiere of Jason Barabba’s Lettere da Triggiano oratorio with Synchromy and members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, a multimedia concert performance of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and Son of Chamber Symphony for the composer at the Inside the (G)Earbox: John Adams @ 70 symposium held at UCLA. Prior to this he conducted Benjamin Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia as part of the worldwide Benjamin Britten Centenary celebrations, with “energy and flair” (Boston Classical Review), leading a “warm and expressive rendering of Britten’s complicated score” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), and performances of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire throughout the Denver Metropolitan Area. Other concert music recordings appear on the Open Space, Orenda Records, and Perspectives on New Music labels.
Pope is also dedicated to musical performance on a global scale, and is a regular conductor of concert and media music in the recording studios of Hollywood and Budapest. Recent projects include conducting scores for Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and many independent studios worldwide. He was the music director and conductor of Music in Light, an immersive classical music multimedia installation that opened in April 2024 in Macau, and in August 2023, he was hired to conduct and record the orchestra and choir for the St. Stephen’s Day fireworks display along the Danube, a yearly televised event akin to America’s Independence Day celebrations. His conducting and/or orchestration work can also be heard on numerous motion pictures, television series, and videogames, including League of Legends, The Woman King, and the Emmy-winning score to Kung Fu Panda on Netflix. As a forensic musicologist, industry consultant, and researcher, Pope has worked nearly a decade on behalf of composers, studios, music supervisors, and attorneys. His company, Musical Problem-Solver LLC, maintains a formidable international clientele base.
Dr. Pope’s degrees in composition and conducting were completed at USC, UCLA, and the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. While a doctoral conducting student at UCLA, Pope presented symphonic programs including an exploration of connections between music of Richard Wagner and Bernard Herrmann. His scholarly interests include Viennese music of the early twentieth century, and the role of diegetic music in the evolution of sonic spatialization. His dissertation addressed the evolving role of instrumental music written to be performed onstage (Bühnenmusik, or banda) in German language opera, and the coordination issues involved in its execution and synchronization with the orchestra pit. Pope’s dissertation was used as a primary support document in the Vienna State Opera musicians’ petition to declare Bühnenmusik as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Prior to his his full-time appointment, Pope served as a lecturer at UCI from 2022-2025, where he conducted the orchestra and opera and taught orchestration and conducting. He joined the faculty of Chapman University as a guest lecturer for the fall 2024 term teaching private conducting students and a score analysis seminar, and has been a guest instructor at California State University, Long Beach and the University of Miami. He is currently President of the Western Region of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA).
