Honolulu Symphony Pops conductor Matt Catingub is recording a first CD with his new 39-piece namesake orchestra in sessions all this week at the Hawai'i Theatre, with a series of notable local guest vocalists who began filing in to the historic hall yesterday.

The CD is the first project for the Matt Catingub Orchestra of Hawaii, which assembled for its first full rehearsal Sunday. But it's just the start for an orchestra that partners Catingub with his producer on Grammy- and Academy Award-nominated musical projects from recent years, and allows Catingub to capitalize on the industry juice he's generated.

The CD, due out Oct. 20, features "jazz standards, Elvis songs, local songs, original songs" and more, Catingub said, with vocals by Keali'i Reichel, Raiatea Helm, Na Leo, Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom, Jimmy Borges and The Brothers Cazimero. The theme: romance. A handful of notable Mainland artists will add vocals in future out-of-state sessions.

Catingub says the orchestra complements his work fronting the Pops. Many Catingub Orchestra members also work with the Pops, which does seven concerts each year, and Catingub said there's room for more music. "There were definitely a lot of folks saying, 'You know, we could stand seeing more of this,' " he said.

The orchestra's live debut is planned at a "Return to Romance" music festival in March, featuring local and national musicians.

"It's going to be a large citywide music festival the likes of which, I don't think, has ever been done at this magnitude," Catingub said, lasting more than a week and featuring the orchestra in "full capacity, sometimes smaller capacity, and sometimes in small jazz groups."

Catingub recruited musicians for his new orchestra from the Honolulu Symphony and the Royal Hawaiian Band, and he found other working musicians around town.

The CD will be produced by Catingub's business partner on the orchestra venture, Allen Sviridoff, who handled production on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated 2005 film "Good Night, and Good Luck." Catingub arranged music, performed on and co-wrote an original song for that soundtrack, which won singer Dianne Reeves a Grammy for best jazz vocal album in February.

Sviridoff also produced the conductor's Grammy-nominated work with Rosemary Clooney and the Honolulu Symphony Pops on "Last Concert," recorded live at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Clooney's final performance for an audience was nominated for best traditional pop vocal album in 2003. The "Last Concert" CD opened doors when impressed "Good Night, and Good Luck" director George Clooney, Rosemary Clooney's nephew, tapped Catingub to work on the movie soundtrack.

No surprise, then, that in addition to hooking up his new orchestra with Mainland musicians looking to play shows here, Catingub also will seek film-score and studio-recording work.

"I think the possibilities are limitless. There's a lot of things that we can do with this type of thing," said Catingub. "We're going to be operating under a whole different set of guidelines and rules as opposed to the Honolulu Symphony. ... So it is going to allow us to stretch a little bit."

Catingub says the independent orchestra is a project he's been anxious to do for some time. It takes advantage of the conductor's name recognition for projects such as "Good Night, and Good Luck" and markets him as a brand.

"That's definitely a part of it," he said. "I love the Pops. I'm there as long as they want me. And the Honolulu Pops is still my baby, as I've called it for many years. ... But within the limitations of a symphony orchestra — and I'm not just talking about the Honolulu Symphony, (but) all symphonies and orchestras across the world — a lot of times your ideas may not come to fruition because of one reason or another.

"Putting an orchestra together where I actually put my name on it and brand it will most definitely allow me to do some things that I may not even have thought of yet. There's some interesting ideas that I'm sure are going to come down the pipe."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.