Boston Pops' "Fiddlers Three," conducted by Keith Lockhart, at Symphony Hall, last night; repeats tonight.

With apologies to Old King Cole, conductor Keith Lockhart called not for his pipe, not for his bowl but for his fiddlers three at Symphony Hall.

The occasion was the first of two Boston Pops "Fiddlers Three" concerts starring violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Regina Carter and Eileen Ivers and featuring the world premiere of Chris Brubeck's lively "Interplay" for this trio and orchestra. And if the nursery-rhyme monarch himself had been there, I'm sure he would have made his soul merry indeed.

Before the Brubeck, each violinist demonstrated her prowess in her chosen specialty. For Salerno-Sonnenberg, that meant playing Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. For Carter and her jazz combo, that meant a George Gershwin and Milt Jackson set.

And for Ivers - well, if you've seen her in "Riverdance" you know both her trademark blue fiddle and her roof-raising way with Irish music. To that she added an equally effective bluegrass number. It wasn't exacty a surprise that Ivers seemed the clear audience favorite.

With his "Interplay", Brubeck seems on the verge of becoming to the Lockhart Pops what Leroy Anderson was in Fiedler's day: the orchestra's composer of choice for both enduring and occasional pieces. Last year, with his concerto for pops orchestra "Convergence," he showed that he can deliver music of substance that doesn't need five pages of program notes to "explain" to an audience. And with "Interplay" he proved his ability to come up with a party piece to exact specifications.

In this case, what was called for was a piece to showcase three great but very different talents, and that's what Brubeck delivered. Thus Salerno-Sonnenberg got the most detailed music, Ivers the most rhythmic and Carter the most voluptuous. And the best part came towards the end of the 10-minute work, when the three engaged in a real musical conversation, passing the same tune around in different ways.

"Interplay" won't have much of a life after tonights encore performance - aside from a spot on PBS' "Evening at Pops" this summer. After all, how often are classical, jazz and Irish violinists of this caliber going to come together? But for know it's exacly what Lockhart - and Old King Cole - called for.