TV

Ray Chew the new musical maestro for ‘DWTS’

‘Dancing With the Stars” has hired a new music director days after dismissing its longtime band leader Harold Wheeler.

Composer Ray Chew will join the ABC reality competition show with its Season 18 premiere on Monday, March 17 at 8 p.m., the network and producer BBC Worldwide Productions announced Friday.

Though Wheeler’s firing drew criticism from the musicians union that “DWTS” was moving away from live music, the announcement said Chew’s band will feature a new lineup of live musicians and singers performing pop hits and classic standards.

“Live music is the lifeblood of ‘DWTS’ and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with Ray and his talented band,” said executive producer Conrad Green in a statement.

Chew was most recently music director of the 2013 Emmy Awards and has been seen on “American Idol” and “It’s Showtime at the Apollo.”

“It is important to me and to the producers to maintain the integrity of the music presentation for the dancers as well as for the viewers,” Chew said. “Towards that end, my approach will be to utilize first class live vocalists, arrangers, copyists and musicians of all instruments.”

ABC did not give a reason for the exit of Wheeler — who had been bandleader for the past 17 seasons — and the show’s 28-member group of musicians and singers in a statement confirming the departures earlier this week.

Though the next cast of “DWTS” won’t be announced for weeks, names rumored to be joining the next iteration include Kardashian patriarch Bruce Jenner, current “Bachelor” Juan Pablo Galavis and Australian pop star Cody Simpson.