Pops gala in full song for Melbourne NYE

Celebrating the new year at the Aussie Pops Orchestra gala concert at Hamer Hall is a long-held Melbourne tradition, musician John Foreman says.

"It's going to be a very emotional night for the orchestra and the audience because it's been a while since we've been able to do it on this level," he said at a rehearsal on Wednesday.

The concert will star soprano Marina Prior and tenor Mark Vincent with a 60-strong choir, and even can-can dancers.

"It's just going to be wonderful for the audience and for us, it's going to be a night full love and music," Prior said.

The program ranges from Broadway hits to popular classics with songs from Phantom of the Opera and La Traviata, and orchestral favourites such as The Blue Danube and the Radetzky March.

Prior said the Hamer stage, where she debuted as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance in 1983, still prompted some nerves even after 40 years in the industry.

"Every time I step on this stage, I feel like I'm 19 and nervous again," she said.

He co-star Mark Vincent has had a whirlwind year, with a burgeoning career and two children under two, but said he's thrilled to be sharing the stage with Prior, who Foreman described as Australia's leading lady.

"To think I started in a restaurant in front of 30 people," he said.

"What more could you ask for? Dreams do come true."

The Pops Orchestra only performs a handful of times each year, but it's made up of top musicians from Orchestra Victoria and the Melbourne Symphony, who love playing a wide variety of music from classical to jazz and opera.

John Foreman took over running the orchestra in 2019, a few months before the pandemic shut down live performances.

In 2020 they played to an empty theatre for a television-only show, and COVID-19 restricted audience numbers again the following year.

Over the past 40 years, the Aussie Pops Orchestra has performed with some of the world's top singers including Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Peter Allen, Andrea Bocelli and Dame Joan Sutherland.

In 2022, concertgoers are also invited to watch the fireworks from the Arts Centre balcony with some of the stars from the evening's performance, but extra tickets are required.

John Foreman's Aussie Pops Orchestra's New Year's Eve Gala Concert is on at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall at 2pm and 8pm on December 31.