There is an old Chinese proverb, "An army of a thousand is easy to find, but ah, how difficult to find a general." Keith Lockhart has proven himself an influential leader in his 15 years as conductor of the Boston Pops, one of America's most treasured musical institutions. In a city rooted deeply in history, Lockhart has led effectively by not only cultivating tradition, but also encouraging continued creativity to expand the Pops genre into the 21st century.
Lockhart and the Boston Pops
Keith Lockhart became the twentieth conductor of the Boston Pops in February 1995. In an establishment founded in 1885, he is only the third person to hold this post since 1930. He has added his artistic vision to the Pops tradition established by his predecessors John Williams and Arthur Fiedler, and during his tenure has conducted the Boston Pops in more than 1,200 concerts and introduced the innovative JazzFest and EdgeFest series, which feature the Pops performing with some of today's most prominent jazz and indie artists including Chick Corea, Dianne Reeves, Guster, My Morning Jacket, and Natalie Merchant.
Reflecting a passionate commitment to music of the Broadway stage, Keith has led the Boston Pops in collaboration with the Tanglewood Music Center in concert performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel and Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, as well as musical reviews of the works of Sondheim and Bernstein, performed both at Symphony Hall in Boston and at Tanglewood.
He has also spearheaded collaborations with students from the Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, and visits music programs in the Boston Public Schools whenever his schedule allows.
Keith has been the driving force behind the success of PopSearch and the Boston Pops High School Sing-Off, performing competitions that have offered talented singers throughout Massachusetts and the United States an opportunity to perform with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall and the July 4 concert on Boston's Charles River Esplanade.
Under Keith's leadership, the Boston Pops has commissioned several new works and dozens of new arrangements. He has worked with a wide array of artists from virtually every corner of the entertainment world. From Hollywood and Broadway stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Nathan Lane, Martin Short, Mandy Patinkin, and Jason Alexander to popular singers k.d. Lang, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Elvis Costello, and Patti LaBelle, to jazz and American songbook legends Barbara Cook, Terence Blanchard, Natalie Cole, and Mel Tormé, to classical favorites Dawn Upshaw, Yo-yo Ma and Gil Shaham, He has brought many of the great musicians and entertainers of our day to the Pops stage. He is loved by audiences far and wide for his inimitable style, expressed not only through his consummate music making, but also by his unique ability to speak directly to the audience about the music to which he feels so passionately committed.
Keith and the Boston Pops have released four self-produced recordings, including Sleigh Ride (November, 2004), America (June, 2005), Oscar & Tony (August, 2007), and, most recently, The Red Sox Album (April 2009), a collaboration with Major League Baseball. Keith and the Boston Pops Orchestra also recorded eight albums with RCA Victor: Runnin' Wild: The Boston Pops Play Glenn Miller (October, 1996), American Visions (June, 1997), the Grammy-nominated The Celtic Album (February, 1998), Holiday Pops (September, 1998), A Splash of Pops (June, 1999), Encore! (March, 2000), the Latin Grammy-nominated The Latin Album (September, 2000), and My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration (April, 2002).
Keith has made 66 television shows with the Boston Pops, most recently leading a concert featuring jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, and special guests Sting, John Mayer, and Steven Tyler, which was taped for national broadcast on PBS in March 2009; the concert was also recorded for future release on DVD and CD.
One of Keith's favorite events is the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, broadcast nationally on CBS Television and watched by approximately 10 million viewers each year. Other telecasts featuring Keith at the helm of the Boston Pops have included Holiday Pops telecasts on PBS, A&E, WCVB-TV (Boston), and WBZ-TV (Boston), as well as Evening at Pops, one of PBS's longest-running shows (1970-2004), for which he taped 38 new programs. Two PBS specials, "Broadway's Best at Pops" and "A Pops Holiday Party," featuring performance footage culled from more than 35 years of Evening at Pops programming, highlighted some of the most popular moments from past programs. The Evening at Pops program "Fiddlers Three," under his direction, won the 2002 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award.
The conductor was honored as an October 2006 recipient of the Bob Hope Patriot Award. This award is presented by the president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society to an individual who, through his or her work, encourages love of country, service to the people of the United States and support of America's Armed Forces.
Keith has led the Boston Pops on 33 national tours, as well as performances at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, and brought the music of America's Orchestra overseas in four tours of Japan and Korea. He has led the Boston Pops in the national anthem for numerous major sports events, including game two of the NBA Finals in June 2008. In September 2004, he and the Boston Pops performed with Sir Elton John during the live national telecast of the NFL Season Kickoff special. In February 2002, he led the Boston Pops in the pre-game show of Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, the first time an orchestra was featured in a Super Bowl.
VISIT: www.bostonpops.org
Lockhart and the Utah Symphony
Lockhart was appointed Music Director of the Utah Symphony in January 1998, a position that he added while maintaining his role with the Boston Pops. With the Utah Symphony, he has conducted three "Salute to the Symphony" television specials broadcast regionally on 4Utah/ ABC, one of which received an Emmy Award.
In December 2001, Lockhart conducted the Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a national PBS broadcast featuring the Vaughan Williams Christmas oratorio, "Hodie."
Lockhart also had the privilege of leading the Symphony in performances during the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, and in two additional programs for the 2002 Olympic Arts Festival, one featuring British stage star Elaine Paige and the other an American music concert with soprano Audra McDonald.
After the Olympic Arts Festival, Lockhart led the Orchestra on tour to Southern California in both classical and pops programs. In April, 2005 the Symphony conducted its first European tour in 19 years. That was followed by the release of the Symphony's first recording in over 20 years, Symphonic Dances, in April, 2006.
Lockhart concluded his tenure as Music Director in Utah with the 2008-2009 season, his eleventh, and is spending the next two seasons as Conductor Laureate, conducting several programs a year.
VISIT: www.utahsymphony.org
Lockhart and the Brevard Music Center
In June 2006, Lockhart was named Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Brevard Music Center. In October 2007, Lockhart succeeded David Effron, who retired after an eleven-year tenure as artistic director and principal conductor. The Brevard Music Center (BMC) has established itself as one of this nation's leading summer institutes and festivals. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, BMC welcomes to its 140-acre campus each year 400 students from around the United States and the globe. Sixty-five distinguished faculty artists drawn from the most prestigious conservatories, universities and orchestras in America, join these talented young people. In addition, the festival invites an array of celebrated guest artists who perform and present seminars and master classes. Lockhart spends a minimum of two weeks at Brevard Music Center each summer, leading as many as four concerts.
Lockhart's appointment solidifies an already special relationship with the Brevard Music Center. Having attended as a teenager for two summers (1974, 1975), first as a pianist and then as a student of bass clarinet on a teacher's aide scholarship, he has remained connected and committed to the organization throughout the rise of an impressive career. Lockhart was first featured as guest conductor in 1996 and has since returned numerous times. He was appointed chair of a national board of advisors in 1997 and received the Music Center's distinguished alumni award the following year. In 2000, Lockhart joined the board of trustees.
Prior to his appointment, he appeared frequently at the Center as a guest conductor, chamber musician and teacher.
VISIT: www.brevardmusic.org
Lockhart's Additional Work
Prior to his arrival in Boston, Lockhart served as music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra for seven years, completing his tenure in 1999. He also served as associate conductor of both the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras from 1990 to 1995.
As a guest conductor, Lockhart has worked with the major symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus (Ohio), Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis and Toronto. In addition he has performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the St. Paul, (Minn.) Chamber Orchestra and the New York Chamber Symphony.
Internationally, he worked with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester of Berlin on New Year's Eve in December 2002 and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in June 2003. He has also appeared with the symphony orchestras of Edmonton, Montreal, Singapore, Toronto, Vancouver, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London.
Operatic credits include Puccini's Tosca with the Boston Lyric Opera in 2004, The Ballad of Baby Doe with the Washington (D.C.) Opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream and La Rondine for the Utah Symphony & Opera, Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann with the Boston Lyric in 2008 and Mark Blitzstein's Regina in Utah in January of 2009.
Personal
Born on November 7, 1959, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Lockhart began his musical studies at age seven when he took piano lessons. He earned two degrees from Furman University in Greenville, SC in 1981, -- B.Mus. in Piano Performance (Summa Cum Laude) and B.A. in German (Summa Cum Laude). He holds an M.F.A. in Orchestral Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA which he completed in 1983. He also holds honorary doctorates from Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Centre College in Danville, KY, Furman University, Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, and Northeastern University.
![[Keith Lockhart]](/images/_images/_musicians/KeithLockhartx95.jpg)
