The lights in Symphony Hall flashed, signaling five minutes before the start of the concert. The first-chair violinist stands, faces the symphony before them, and plays a long A. The rest of the orchestra play their respective notes in tune to the first chair’s. The lights dim, and the audience looks towards the back right door. They open, and a familiar face to the Boston Pops and Symphony Hall for the past 30 years appears: Maestro Keith Lockhart. The audience erupts and he bows before the crowd. He turns to face his orchestra, glances at his music, raises his arms, and the magic of music begins, taking over the entire Hall.
“I believe music is one of the best ways for us to set aside our differences and embrace our commonalities,” Maestro Lockhart said in our interview, “Music doesn’t just bring us together—it also educates us and makes us more open-minded.”
114 years before Maestro Lockhart would claim the Boston Pops as his own, a Civil War veteran had an idea. In 1881, Henry Lee Higginson founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1885, Higginson suggested that the Orchestra should play lighter pieces of music during the summer, complementing the summer ambiance while giving the musicians full-time jobs. These summer concerts were known as the “Promenade Concerts”, then called the “Popular Concerts” and were shortened the “Pops”, which became the official name of the summer concerts in 1900. 140 years after the creation of the summer concerts, Keith Lockhart would walk across the stage of Symphony Hall, where he would call his “home” for the next 30 years.
Lockhart started playing piano at the age of seven in his hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York. He “fell in love with conducting” after being given the opportunity to conduct a high school theater production. Conducting allowed him to “focus on making music with the people in front of [him], which remains at the heart of what [he does] today.” From there, Lockhart attended Carnegie Mellon University, graduating with a Master’s in Orchestral Conducting. From there, his career only blossomed.
In 1990, Maestro Lockhart conducted at Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra where he held the title of Associate Conductor until 1995. From 1992 to 1999, he served at the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra as Music Director. In 1995, Maestro Lockhart took the legendary John Williams’ position as Boston Pops Conductor after Williams conducted 14 seasons. With the Pops, Lockhart has conducted over 2,250 performances (with many more to come), “45 national tours to more than 150 cities, and five international tours”, according to the BSO website. He has played all throughout the world, in countries like Australia, Austria, Czechia, England (including a performance at Royal Albert Hall), Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, and The Netherlands. When Maestro Lockhart and the Pops tour internationally, he is “always struck by how deeply the music of American composers has been embraced by audiences around the world.” After 30 years on the podium, Maestro Lockhart has played the works of Williams, Stephen Sondheim, Glenn Miller, and some more of the world’s most admired conductors. However, Lockhart’s favorite piece to conduct is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”, often played at the “Boston Pops Firework Spectacular” every July 4th. Tchaikovsky wrote this famed piece in 1880, incorporating real cannons into the music, making it one of a kind. Maestro Lockhart says he’s “conducted it too many times to count, and every time, it just exudes this sense of unbridled, triumphant energy.” The piece is riveting, especially when it is played with as much power as the Boston Pops. Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAjN9WkTwA8.
Over the past 30 years, the Boston Pops have soared to incredible new heights, releasing 13 albums and having two of them being nominated for a Grammy, “The Celtic Album” in 1998 and “The Latin Album” in 2000. Locally, Maestro Lockhart and the Boston Pops played at Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 (New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams), performing “America the Beautiful” with Mary J. Blige and Marc Anthony, Red Sox World Series in 2018, and many more events.
The Pops’ Spring Season will start on Thursday, May 8 at 7:30PM with Cynthia Erivo. Erivo will make her BSO debut, showcasing her powerhouse voice for all viewers to see and hear. On the 9th and 10th, Maestro Lockhart will be conducting the score of Jaws while the movie plays on a projector screen above. BSO’s own John Williams composed the score of Jaws, so it is only right to play the score live with the Pops. For a full list of the events in celebration of Maestro Lockhart’s 30th season, use this link: https://www.bso.org/pops. History has been made in Maestro Lockhart’s time with the Pops, and the best has yet to come.
In an interview with Maestro Lockhart ten years ago when he was celebrating his 20th season, he said that he has “the greatest job in the world.” And today, he still believes that. He believes that “audiences and their expectations have evolved” but this allows him to create “the type of programs that motivate audiences to gather and experience something together.”
Maestro Lockhart knows that “music and the arts are integral to society and to everyone’s emotional life. Ahead of his 30th season, he wants “just get a couple more people to fall in love with music. That’s just the best thing… I want to keep inviting in new audiences and pushing the boundaries of what the Pops can do.”
Thank you, Rena Cohen, for organizing everything and thank you, Maestro Lockhart, for answering my questions – it was an incredible honor to interview you.
