Searching for someone with a voice somewhere between Brunnhilde and Beyonce, the Boston Pops is following the lead of "American Idol" and holding a contest to pick an unknown singer for its annual Fourth of July concert.
"If we have a rapper, it probably wouldn't work," conductor Keith Lockhart said in a telephone interview.
Singers must be U.S. residents 18 or older, and may not have agents or recording contracts.
Open auditions will be held June 3-4 at Boston's Symphony Hall, and Lockhart will help narrow the field to nine semifinalists June 9 during outdoor auditions on Copley Square Plaza.
"There'll be celebrity judges, myself and the orchestra," he said. "The repertoire will factor into the decision."
The Pops, part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will play behind the semifinalists on June 15, 19 and 24, with three finalists competing on June 29, when the winner will be picked.
The rest of Lockhart's year is a little different. He is music director of the Utah Symphony and guest-conducts many of the top U.S. orchestras. But when the weather turns warm, he puts aside the Mahler and the Mozart and picks up the Jagger and Joel.
The start of Lockhart's 10th season as Boston Pops conductor Tuesday night featured Art Garfunkel. Among the pieces scheduled this season: "A Billy Joel Triptych" and a Spy Night medley with music from James Bond movies, "The Pink Panther" and "Get Smart."
"The Boston Pops have been doing this for a long time, long before the term crossover was invented," Lockhart said. "The great thing about the Pops is it's the orchestra for all sorts of people who don't know they like orchestras.
"I really think we're the great populist weapon in the classical music industry. In a field that is often viewed as elitist and somewhat limited in the scope it attracts, here's an orchestra that goes out and plays for the masses."
Born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the 44-year-old Lockhart was assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops when he was hired by Boston in 1995 to succeed John Williams, who followed the 50-year tenure of Arthur Fiedler that began in 1930.
While many in the classical music world look down at popular music, the Boston Pops celebrates it — performing, for example, "Satisfaction" and "Proud Mary" during a recent season.
"It was something that probably would have made Arthur turn over in his grave," Lockhart said. "Or maybe not. It might have gotten a smile out of him."
He likens the switch from classical to popular music to the difference "between being executive chef in a fancy restaurant and a being a short-order cook." With classical programs, there are more intensive rehearsals.
"This is more exhausting," he said. "It's kind of nice to have a week to focus on repertoire and go a little deeper."
In Utah, he also has administrative responsibilities and is working on the symphony's merger with the Utah Opera. He makes his opera debut next season with Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and hopes to conduct Berg's "Wozzeck."
While those plans take years to put together, the shifting schedules of popular artists means the Pops concerts often are programmed just months ahead.
But when the weather turns cold, it's back to the serious stuff — for both Lockhart and the orchestra. James Levine opens his first season as music director of the BSO on Oct. 22 with a slightly heavier work: Mahler's Eighth.
On the Net: www.bso.org