Ben Folds to perform with DSO on PNC Pops Series in Orchestra Hall, May 23–24

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About Enrico Lopez-Yañez

Enrico Lopez-Yañez is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Detroit, Nashville, and Pacific symphonies as well as the Principal Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Presents and Principal Guest Conductor for Pops of the Indianapolis Symphony. Lopez-Yañez has quickly established himself as one of the nation’s leading conductors of popular music and become known for his unique style of audience engagement. Also an active composer/arranger, he has been commissioned by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Omaha Symphony, and has had his works performed by orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, among others.

Lopez-Yañez has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists including Nas, Patti LaBelle, Itzhak Perlman, Trisha Yearwood, Kenny Loggins, Stewart Copeland, Kelsea Ballerini, Leslie Odom Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Portugal The Man, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Hanson, The Beach Boys, Kenny G, and more. Each year, Lopez-Yañez conducts the annual Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th fireworks show, which is televised annually on CMT, reaching millions of viewers across the nation.

This season Lopez-Yañez will collaborate with artists including Dolly Parton, Bernadette Peters, Lyle Lovett, War & Treaty, Ben Folds, Indigo Girls, Joss Stone, Girl Named Tom, Lettuce, and Tower of Power. He will appear with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, and Toronto Symphony, as well as make return appearances with the Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Utah Symphony, and more. Previously, Lopez-Yañez has appeared with orchestras throughout North America including the Cincinnati Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony, among others.

Lopez-Yañez was the recipient of the 2023 “Mexicanos Distinguidos” Award by the Mexican government, an award granted to Mexican citizens living abroad for outstanding career accomplishments in their field. As an advocate for Latin music, he has arranged and produced shows for Latin Fire, Mariachi Los Camperos, and The Three Mexican Tenors, and collaborated with artists including Aida Cuevas, Arturo Sandoval, and Lila Downs.

As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. Symphonica’s show offerings range from Pops shows to Family and Education productions which have been described as “incredibly special—and something that needs to become the new norm” (Lima Symphony). Symphonica’s productions have been performed by major orchestras across North America including the Baltimore Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and many more.

As a producer, composer, and arranger, Lopez-Yañez’s work can be heard on numerous albums including the UNESCO benefit album Action Moves People United and children’s music albums including The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard, winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Hollywood Music and Media Awards, Family Choice Awards and Kokowanda Bay, winner of a Global Media Award as well as a Parents’ Choice Award, where Lopez-Yañez was lauded for his “catchy arrangements” (Parents’ Choice Foundation).

About Ben Folds

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation.

The Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter-composer has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records.

His latest pop solo album What Matters Most was released in 2023 to rave reviews and sold-out performances. He recently released his first Christmas album Sleigher in time for the 2024 holiday season and recently record a LIVE album with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in D.C. slated for release in 2025.

He currently tours as a pop artist, while also performing with some of the world's greatest symphony orchestras and serving in his 8th year as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the NSO. In his role as Artistic Advisor, Folds curates an ongoing concert series called "Declassified: Ben Folds Presents," which pairs contemporary artists from all genres of music with the NSO.

A New York Times Best Selling author and former podcast host, Ben is also working on new compositions for film, tv and theatre. He also frequently guest stars in films and TV.

In 2022, Ben launched a music education charitable initiative in his native state of North Carolina entitled "Keys for Kids," which provides funds and keyboards to existing nonprofits that offer free or affordable piano lessons to school-age children from economically disadvantaged households. And he continually advocates for improving public policies for the arts and arts education on the national level as a member of Americans For The Arts and the Arts Action Fund.

About the DSO

The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a robust performance schedule that features classical, pops, jazz, and family concerts, plus community performances. Enrico Lopez-Yañez was named Principal Pops Conductor in 2023, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard serves as the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, and Tabita Berglund began her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor in the 2024–25 season. A dedication to broadcast innovation and technology began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.

The DSO’s distinguished history of recordings—many led by its renowned music directors—spans nearly a century, beginning with the orchestra’s first 78 rpm singles with Ossip Gabrilowitsch released on the Victrola label in 1928. A steady recording output has continued since then, with highlights including more than 20 releases with Paul Paray for Mercury’s Living Presence series, and 27 under the baton of Neeme Järvi, mostly on the Chandos label. In the 1970s, the DSO took part in the historic Black Composers Series for Columbia Records led by its then-Associate Conductor Paul Freeman and later made several acclaimed recordings with Antal Doráti for the Decca label. More recently, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the DSO recorded music by Rachmaninoff, Copland, and John Williams for the Naxos label, earning its first GRAMMY® nomination in 2017 for Copland’s Third Symphony / Three Latin American Sketches. The first recording with Jader Bignamini, of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony, was released in March 2025 on the Pentatone label.

Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.