Often called the “Boston Pops of Brass,” the 28-piece River City Brass Band returns to Orange Country this season for its second concert in the university’s PAIR Celebrity Series.

The ensemble’s program will include a mixed bill of familiar folk tunes, ballads, Broadway and Hollywood favorites, marches, classic overtures and Big Band favorites. Specific program will be announced shortly.

Founded in 1981 by Robert Bernat (the band’s conductor/music director for its first 14 seasons), the River City Brass Band is the first professional concert band to be established in the United States in over 25 years. The ensemble’s full-throated sound and audience-pleasing programming made it an immediate hit in its Pittsburgh hometown, where it currently presents a 47-concert subscription series. The River City Brass Band has been touring nationally and internationally since 1984. Now in its eighth season under the baton of music director Denis Colwell, it is the most active professional concert band in the U.S., presenting an average of 90 concerts a year.

A local Pittsburgh critic said: “the nicest thing about River City Brass Band ... is that the group puts the fun back into music. There’s no snobbishness in musicians or audience, no learned program notes, no extended ceremonial bows and credits. Just some good music that is sometimes nostalgic, sometimes quietly moving, and often rousing.”

NOTE: River City Brass Band also performs Jan. 17 at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Jan. 21 at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center.