Last month, family and friends of Dr. Jacques Voois, and the musicians of the Chester County Pops Orchestra, gathered to honor him upon his retirement as its founding music director. His service to the orchestra the past eight years was celebrated. The event took place at the Chester County Historical Society, and Voois shared photographs and stories of The Chesco Pops since its inception in 2005.

The board presented him with a framed picture of the orchestra, and he “passed the baton” to maestro Joseph Gehring, the new music director of  The Chesco Pops.

In October of 2004, Voois and Eugene Buglio, former owner of Taylor’s Music Store in West Chester, along with Dr. Irving Friedlander and Virginia Schawacker, met with Elinor Z. Taylor to solicit her support for a county-wide pops orchestra. In January of 2005, Voois began assembling the Chesco Pops board of directors.

The Chesco Pops performed its inaugural concert series in September 2005. Subsequent concert series in the summer of 2006 and the winter and summer of 2007 took The Chesco Pops to venues in Caln, Coatesville, Longwood, Oxford, Phoenixville, West Chester and West Goshen.

Maestro Gehring's inaugural concert series with the Chester County Pops Orchestra will be held on Jan. 26 at 3 p.m. at Phoenixville Middle School; Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at West Chester East High School; and Jan. 25 at 3 p.m. at Unionville High School.