Duke Ellington Reimagined

Keith Lockhart is the second longest-tenured conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra since its founding in 1885. He took over as conductor in 1995, following John Williams’s 13-year tenure from 1980 to 1993; Mr. Williams succeeded the legendary Arthur Fiedler, who was at the helm of the orchestra for nearly 50 years. Keith Lockhart, who occupies the Julian and Eunice Cohen Boston Pops Conductor chair, has conducted more than 2,000 Boston Pops concerts and annual Boston Pops appearances at Tanglewood, as well as 45 national tours and 4 international tours to Japan and Korea. The annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular conducted by Mr. Lockhart draws a live audience of over half a million to the Charles River Esplanade and millions more who view it on television or live webcast. He has led eight albums on RCA Victor/BMG Classics; recent releases on Boston Pops Recordings include A Boston Pops Christmas–Live from Symphony Hall, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, and Lights, Camera…Music! Six Decades of John Williams. The list of nearly 300 guest artists with whom Keith Lockhart has collaborated represents performers from virtually every corner of the entertainment world. Having recently completed an 8-year tenure as principal conductor, he is now chief guest conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in London; he is also artistic director of the Brevard Music Center summer institute and festival in North Carolina. Prior to his BBC appointment, he spent 11 years as music director of the Utah Symphony. He has appeared as a guest conductor with virtually every major symphonic ensemble in North America and many in Asia and Europe. Before coming to Boston, he was the associate conductor of both the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops orchestras, as well as music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.

Read Keith Lockhart’s full biography

View the Boston Pops roster and musician bios

For more than 135 years, the Boston Pops has entertained audiences in Boston and beyond, with Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart leading the orchestra since 1995. It all began in 1885, thanks to the vision of Civil War veteran Henry Lee Higginson. Four years earlier, in 1881, he founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra, calling its establishment "the dream of my life." From the start he intended to present, in the warmer months, concerts of light classics and the popular music of the day. From a practical perspective, Higginson realized that these "lighter" performances would provide year-round employment for his musicians. The "Promenade Concerts," as they were originally called, were soon informally known as "Popular Concerts," which eventually became shortened to "Pops," the name officially adopted in 1900. The following year the orchestra performed for the first time in its new home, Symphony Hall. Not only is this performance space acoustically outstanding, it was also designed, at Higginson's insistence, so that the rows of seats for Boston Symphony concerts could be replaced by tables and chairs for Pops concerts. To this day, patrons sitting at the cabaret-style tables can enjoy food and drink along with the kind of musical entertainment only the Boston Pops can provide.

There were 17 Pops conductors, beginning with the German Adolf Neuendorff, that preceded Arthur Fiedler, the first American-born musician to lead the orchestra. In Fiedler’s nearly 50-year tenure as Pops Conductor (1930-1979), he established the Boston Pops as a national icon. When John Williams (1980-1993) succeeded Arthur Fiedler, he was the most highly acclaimed composer in Hollywood, and today, with 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the most-nominated living person in Academy history. Mr. Williams continued the Boston Pops Orchestra's prolific recording tradition with a series of best-selling recordings for the Philips and Sony Classical labels, broadened and updated the Pops repertoire, and entertained audiences with live orchestral accompaniment to clips of memorable movie scenes, many featuring iconic music from his own film scores.

Having led over 2,000 Boston Pops concerts in his tenure to date, Keith Lockhart (1995-present) has created programs that reach out to a broader and younger audience by presenting artists—both established performers and rising stars—from virtually every corner of the entertainment world, all the while maintaining the Pops' core appeal. He has made 83 television shows, led 45 national and four overseas tours with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, led the Pops at several high-profile sports events, and recorded 14 albums. Mr. Lockhart's tenure has been marked by a dramatic increase in touring, the orchestra's first Grammy nominations, the first major network national broadcast of the July 4 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular from the Esplanade, and the release of the Boston Pops' first self-produced and self-distributed recordings.

James (Jim) Norman Gwin, drummer of the Boston Pops Orchestra, died peacefully on Tuesday, December 28, 2021, at 64 years old.

Statement from Keith Lockhart

At the Boston Pops, we pride ourselves on playing all sorts of music…classical, of course, but also jazz, rock, pop, world music, and beyond. For much of that repertoire, the steady heartbeat that allows an orchestra to play with spectacular clarity and tight ensemble is provided, not by the conductor on the podium, but by the drummer.

Playing the drumset for a large symphony orchestra is an extraordinarily difficult task. Knowledge of styles of play…being able to sound like Ringo Starr, or Gene Krupa, or Charlie Watts…is a must. So is an ability to read a conductor’s intentions, to hear how the orchestra is responding, and to justify those two things into a rock-solid, but flexible, foundation.

I have never worked with a better orchestral drummer than Jim Gwin. He was a superb drummer, but even more a superb musician. He was also one of the nicest…self-effacing, generous, and very funny…people I have ever shared a stage with. When he was suddenly taken ill in December this year, he wrote me an apologetic note, in which he reminded me that these concerts were the first he had missed since he became the regular Pops drummer in 2004. That means I must have done at least 1500 concerts with him. Every one of them was better because he was backing the band.

I will miss Jim as a friend and as a colleague, and as someone who just made every musical situation, and the players around him, better. My recurring image of him, which I have been unable to get out of my mind since hearing of his passing, is of running into him in the halls under the Symphony Hall stage. He has his head bent to the side, because he was extremely tall and the basement ceilings extremely low, and he was one of those tall folk who always looked like they were trying to be shorter. And he passes, with a grin, and says “Hey, Chief!”

The great thing about being in the performing arts is getting to know really talented, extraordinary people extremely well. The awful thing is having to say goodbye.

Steve Colby, Sound Designer | Pamela Smith, Lighting Designer

The Boston Pops Orchestra may be heard on Boston Pops Recordings, RCA Victor, Sony Classical, and Philips Records.

Concertmaster Tamara Smirnova performs on a 1754 J.B. Guadagnini violin, the “ex-Zazofsky,” and James Cooke performs on a 1778 Nicolò Gagliano violin, both generously donated to the orchestra by Michael L. Nieland, M.D., in loving memory of Mischa Nieland, a member of the cello section from 1943 to 1988.

Steinway & Sons Pianos, selected exclusively for Symphony Hall.

The BSO’s Steinway & Sons pianos were purchased through a generous gift from Gabriella and Leo Beranek.

Special thanks to American Airlines and Fairmont Copley Plaza.

New arrangements and works for the Boston Pops are generously supported by the Cecile Higginson Murphy Pops Programming Fund.

Broadcasts of the Boston Pops are heard on 99.5 WCRB.

Programs and artists subject to change.

The BSO’s 2021-22 season is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc.
Board of Trustees | Board of Advisors | Staff and Administration

BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA
Keith Lockhart conducting

SEASON SPONSORED BY FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

ESAI Energy is proud to support the Boston Pops as a BSO Business Partner

THE ARTHUR FIEDLER CONCERT

Caravan
Ellington-Colón
BALLA KOUYATÉ, balafon
Barriles de Bomba ensemble
EDMAR COLÓN, Cuá
JERIEL J. SANJURJO RODRÍGUEZ, Primo I
JORGE SANTIAGO ARCE, Primo II
GABRIEL SANTIAGO MARCELINO, Buleador
RICHARD FLANAGAN, maracas

Take the “A” Train
Strayhorn-Goodwin

Lush Life
Strayhorn/Firth
BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL, vocals, and LARA DOWNES, piano

Peanut Brittle Brigade, from The Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky/Ellington/Strayhorn

Lotus Blossom
Strayhorn/Hersh
LARA DOWNES, piano

A Lovesome Thing: Billy Strayhorn Suite (world premiere; Boston Pops co-commission)
Strayhorn/Ellington-Walden
LARA DOWNES, piano

INTERMISSION

Northeastern University Alma Mater
Bertolami/Spear
Music by Louis J. Bertolami, E'60, MBA'67

Harlem
Ellington-Henderson/Mauceri

Presenting BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL
Tedd Firth, piano
Selections to be announced from the stage

Yamaha CFX concert grand piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services New York, in cooperation with Falcetti Pianos in Natick, MA

The Boston Pops welcomes Kennebunk High School, North Hill, Northeastern University, Salem High School, and Temple Beth Shalom of Needham.

BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA
Keith Lockhart conducting

SEASON SPONSORED BY FIDELITY INVESTMENTS

Caravan
Ellington-Colón
BALLA KOUYATÉ, balafon
Barriles de Bomba ensemble
EDMAR COLÓN, Cuá
JERIEL J. SANJURJO RODRÍGUEZ, Primo I
JORGE SANTIAGO ARCE, Primo II
GABRIEL SANTIAGO MARCELINO, Buleador
RICHARD FLANAGAN, maracas

Take the “A” Train
Strayhorn-Goodwin

Lush Life
Strayhorn/Firth
BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL, vocals, and LARA DOWNES, piano

Peanut Brittle Brigade, from The Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky/Ellington/Strayhorn

Lotus Blossom
Strayhorn/Hersh
LARA DOWNES, piano

A Lovesome Thing: Billy Strayhorn Suite (world premiere; Boston Pops co-commission)
Strayhorn/Ellington-Walden
LARA DOWNES, piano

INTERMISSION

Harlem
Ellington-Henderson/Mauceri

Presenting BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL
Tedd Firth, piano
Selections to be announced from the stage

Yamaha CFX concert grand piano provided by Yamaha Artist Services New York, in cooperation with Falcetti Pianos in Natick, MA

The Boston Pops welcomes 1000 Southern Artery Senior Citizens Center, Harvard Outings & Innings, and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Pianist Lara Downes is known as an iconoclast and trailblazer. Her dynamic work as a sought-after performer, a Billboard chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, activist, and arts advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. Ms. Downes’ musical roadmap seeks inspiration from the legacies of history, family, and collective memory, excavating the broad landscape of American music to create a series of acclaimed performance and recording projects that serve as gathering spaces for her listeners to find common ground and shared experience.

Ms. Downes is equally at home on major stages including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, the Ravinia Festival, Tanglewood, and Washington Performing Arts, and in clubs and intimate venues including Joe’s Pub, National Sawdust, Yoshi’s, and Le Poisson Rouge.

Her forays into the broad landscape of American music have created a series of acclaimed recordings, including Florence Price: Piano Discoveries, a collection of world-premiere recordings of recently discovered piano works by the groundbreaking African American composer, and Some of These Days, comprising freedom songs and spirituals that reflect on social justice, progress, and equality. Her Sony Masterworks recording Holes in the Sky, a celebration of the contributions of phenomenal women to the past, present, and future of American music, was released in March 2019, debuting at the top of the Billboard charts. Her recording For Love of You marks her concerto recording debut and celebrates the 200th birthday of the great pianist and composer Clara Schumann. Her Sony Classical debut release, For Lenny, debuted in the Billboard Top 20 and was awarded the 2017 Classical Recording Foundation Award, and America Again was selected by NPR as one of “10 Albums that Saved 2016” and received praise from the Boston Globe among other outlets.

She is also the creator and curator of the Rising Sun Music, a recording series that sheds light on the music and stories of Black composers over the past 200 years, featuring a wide range of leading instrumentalists and vocalists (including Ms. Downes). To date, two full albums have been released including Reflections: Scott Joplin Reconsidered and New Day Begun, as well as seven digital EPs, three of which formed a mini-series dedicated to the Great Migration.

Ms. Downes enjoys creative collaborations with a range of leading artists, including folk icon Judy Collins, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, multi-instrumentalist/composer/singer Rhiannon Giddens, writer Adam Gopnik, baritone Thomas Hampson, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Her close partnerships with prominent composers span genres and generations, with premieres and commissions coming from Michael Abels, Clarice Assad, John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon, Paola Prestini, Stephen Schwartz, and many others.

She is host of AMPLIFY with Lara Downes, a video series, now in its second season, for NPR Music that engages visionary Black musicians and artists in important topics confronting them today; and an evening host and resident artist at KDFC. She serves as the inaugural artist citizen in residence for the Manhattan School of Music, as well as a fellow of the Loghaven Artist Residency. Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sphinx Organization, the Classical Recording Foundation Award, the University of California Innovator of the Year Award, and the Center for Cultural Innovation, among others.

Her fierce commitment to activism and advocacy has her working with organizations including the ACLU, Feeding America, the Lower Eastside Girls Club, the Sphinx Organization, and Watts Learning Center. She is an artist ambassador for Headcount, a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy.

Learn more at LaraDownes.com.

Two-time Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell has enjoyed a career that spans Broadway, television, film, and concert appearances with the country’s finest conductors and orchestras.

He received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards for his star turn in Kiss Me, Kate. He also gave Tony-nominated performances in Man of La Mancha, August Wilson’s King Hedley II, and Ragtime. Other notable Broadway shows include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Jelly’s Last Jam, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Shuffle Along. In 2016 he was awarded his second Tony Award, the prestigious Isabelle Stevenson Tony for his charitable work with the Actors Fund.  That same year Stokes was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. 

An extremely versatile and in-demand singer, Stokes has performed at venues spanning jazz, opera, pops, country, and musical theater worlds. He has worked with John Williams, Marvin Hamlisch, Gustavo Dudamel, Keith Lockhart, Michael Tilson Thomas, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Big Band, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Muppets. Stokes has made multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall, beginning with his debut with the San Francisco Symphony through his televised performance in South Pacific opposite Reba McEntire to his sold-out solo concert, which he continues to perform throughout the U.S. He has been invited twice to perform at the White House (both times aired on PBS’s Great Performances) and has performed multiple times for Presidents Clinton and Obama.

Stokes has delved deeply into various music disciplines. In addition to singing he began piano studies at age 6. A self-professed autodidact, his musical curiosity led him to teach himself composing, arranging, and orchestration starting in his teens. He later studied film scoring, orchestration, and conducting both privately and through UCLA and subsequently scored and conducted a number of Trapper John, MD episodes, a series on which he was also a regular cast member. His musical talent has extended to the present day as producer, arranger, and orchestrator on his three solo albums, including Simply Broadway and his latest recording Plays With Music.  Stokes has appeared on more than 20 albums.

His extensive screen credits began with a guest starring role on Roots: The next Generations, followed by a 7-year stint on Trapper John, MD and have continued with memorable appearances on everything from PBS’s Great Performances to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Frasier, Glee, Jumping the Broom, and his most recent recurring roles on Madam Secretary, Mr. Robot, The Path, Billions, and The Good Fight.  Other recent television appearances include The Blacklist, Elementary, and Bull. As a voice-over artist he has played dozens of characters on animated TV episodes including performing “Through Heaven’s Eyes” in  Dreamworks’ The Prince of Egypt.

As a writer Stokes has contributed to the book Hirschfeld’s Harlem, wrote the preface to At This Theatre, and co-authored the children’s book Lights on Broadway.

For fun he has been known to fly planes and jump out of them (usually not at the same time), and he can ride a bicycle on a high wire.

Stokes has enjoyed working with numerous charitable organizations from the March of Dimes to the USO.  He is on the board of Americans for the Arts and is serving his 14th term as chairman of the board of the Actors Fund.

You can see more credits and information at IMDB, Broadway Database, BroadwayWorld, and Wikipedia.

Balla Kouyaté’s lineage goes back more than 800 years to Balla Faséké, the first of an unbroken line of djelis in the Kouyaté clan. The word “djeli” derives from the Mandinka language, meaning the oral historians, musicians, and performers who keep alive and celebrate the history of the Mandé people of Mali, Guinea, and other West African countries. Kouyaté explains, “It means blood and speaks to the central role we play in our society.” Kouyaté’s dedication to carrying on his family’s hereditary role as a djeli, his musical virtuosity on the balafon (the West African antecedent of the xylophone), and his humble nature and humility set him apart from others.

Oral tradition holds that when the emperor Sundiata overthrew Soumaora Kante, he appointed the Kouyaté family to protect the balafon. Today, Balla Kouyaté is a virtuoso player of this instrument. Played with mallets, the balafon is made up of wooden slats and rows of calabash gourds, which serve as natural amplifiers. The original musical instrument, known as the “Sosso-Bala,” survives in Kouyaté’s father’s home village of Niagassola, on the Mali-Guinea border. In 2001, the Sosso-Bala was declared an item of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO and is brought out once a year for ceremonial playing.

The Kouyaté family is regarded as the original praise-singers of the Malinké people, one of the ethnic groups found across much of West Africa. Balla Kouyaté learned to play the balafon as a child and was soon playing alongside his mother, motivating agricultural laborers during harvest season. As a young adult, he emigrated to the U.S. in 2000 to pursue music as a profession, settling in Massachusetts in 2001.

Today, he is ever present performing at weddings, baptisms, naming ceremonies, and other domestic ceremonies within the West African immigrant communities of Boston, New York City, and beyond. He is equally motivated to share his music with the larger world through his work as a soloist, arranger, and bandleader. Often billed as fusion, his music explores jazz and other outside influences, while remaining consciously rooted in the Mandé tradition.

Kouyaté is featured on more than 25 albums, including Yo-Yo Ma’s Songs of Joy and Peace and Sing Me Home. He also regularly plays with world-renowned West African musicians touring the U.S. In 2004, Kouyaté joined NEA National Heritage Fellow Sidiki Conde for a month-long residency at Carnegie Hall. Recent awards include a 2010 Mass Cultural Council Fellowship in the Traditional Arts, a 2014 Mass Cultural Council Traditional Arts Apprenticeship awarded to Kouyaté and his son Sekou, and a 2015 Brother Thomas Fellowship awarded by the Boston Foundation. He is a frequent visiting lecturer and performer at colleges and museums throughout the U.S. He is on the faculty at the New England Conservatory.

Derick K. Grant has a famed dance career that spans over three decades. Under the direction of legendary director George C. Wolfe, Mr. Grant was an original company member and the dance captain for Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk at the Public Theater and on Broadway, and he also starred in the first national tour. He created the critically acclaimed show Imagine Tap! and was co-artistic director of Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm World Festival. Other notable choreography and performance credits include the Apollo Theater’s Get on the Good Foot and its national tour; the Kennedy Center’s African Odyssey; and his own production on the history of tap, A Night Out: Tap. He is the recipient of a Helen Hayes Award, Princess Grace Award, and two Los Angeles Ovation Awards. He has taught internationally, including in Japan, Russia, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France, and has also taught for Jacob’s Pillow, the American Tap Dance Foundation, and at Steps on Broadway in New York City for 18 years and joined the Boston Conservatory at Berklee teaching faculty in 2021. Mr. Grant is a native of Boston, MA, where he began his training at the Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts. He also studied the “hoofin” style from master tap dancer Dianne Walker.

Note from arranger/orchestrator Edmar Colón

This arrangement of the classic and everlasting “Caravan” features the balafon of Mali and West Africa and the barriles de bomba drums of Puerto Rico. As a native of Puerto Rico, I was immediately drawn to the idea of incorporating the sounds of the bomba drums into the orchestra and the balafon. In the tradition of bomba music (folkloric music of West African heritage in Puerto Rico), like in many other musical traditions stemming from West Africa, singing, dancing, and drumming are inseparable. More so, the particular interaction that happens between the dancer and the drum is paramount to the music. In this arrangement, the orchestra acts as the dancer and singer, the balafon acts as the singer and drummer, and the drums remain in their original role.

The introduction has a solemn tone which simulates the beginning section of a traditional bomba performance where the dancer first appears before the drums and salutes them. Rapidly, the music becomes grand and majestic to speak of the power, beauty, and cultural significance that the drums and the balafon hold to their people. Suddenly, powerful orchestral outbursts appear, depicting a dramatic scene representing the turbulent journey of African enslaved people, who carried with them the tradition of these instruments. The evolution of these rhythms, songs, and dances transports us from these folkloric traditions into the transcendental work of Duke Ellington. Throughout the piece, you will hear the rhythms of the bomba tradition, such as sicá, holandés, and yubá, and the uniquely warm quality of the balafon, all within the grand sounds of the orchestra.

With this arrangement, I strived to achieve a sound that is homogenous and seamless; the influences of European classical music, jazz, and African and Afro-descendant musical traditions coming together into one unified sonority.

The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart are thrilled to collaborate with the trailblazing pianist Lara Downes on her latest project, A Lovesome Thing: Billy Strayhorn Suite, receiving its premiere performances this week. This powerful new work is built on three of Strayhorn’s most expressive songs—“A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” “Strange Feeling,” and “Something to Live For”—beautifully arranged by seven-time Grammy-nominated composer Chris Walden with the special permission of the Strayhorn estate. With it, Downes brings Strayhorn’s music to Symphony Hall, acknowledging the classical influences and inflections at the heart of his writing. A Lovesome Thing celebrates the jazz/classical hybrid style that Strayhorn so brilliantly synthesized, and which anticipated the genre-fluid musical landscape of the present day. It is in keeping with Downes’s creative vision, which embodies Strayhorn’s motto that “all music is beautiful.” The piece also celebrates Strayhorn’s decades-long collaboration with his mentor and colleague Duke Ellington, with whom he co-wrote many iconic songs, including “Strange Feeling” and “Something to Live For.”

A Lovesome Thing: Billy Strayhorn Suite is proudly co-commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Brevard Music Center, South Carolina Philharmonic, Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Berkley Symphony.

In the building of his new symphony for Boston, the BSO’s founder and first benefactor, Henry Lee Higginson, knew that ticket revenues could never fully cover the costs of running a great orchestra. From 1881 to 1918, Higginson covered the orchestra’s annual deficits with personal contributions that exceeded $1 million. The Boston Symphony Orchestra now honors each of the following generous donors whose cumulative giving to the BSO is $1 million or more with the designation of Great Benefactor. 

List reflects giving as of April 12, 2022 
‡ indicates a deceased donor 

TEN MILLION AND ABOVE
Julian Cohen ‡
Fidelity Investments
Barbara and Amos Hostetter
Linde Family Foundation
Maria and Ray Stata
Anonymous (3)

SEVEN AND ONE HALF MILLION
Bank of America
Mr. and Mrs. George D. Behrakis
Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser
John F. Cogan, Jr. ‡ and Mary L. Cornille
Cynthia and Oliver Curme / The Lost & Foundation, Inc.
EMC Corporation
The O'Block Family

FIVE MILLION
Eleanor L. ‡ and Levin H. Campbell
Alan J. ‡ and Suzanne W. Dworsky
Fairmont Copley Plaza
Germeshausen Foundation
Ted and Debbie Kelly
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Cecile Higginson Murphy ‡
William and Lia Poorvu
NEC Corporation
Carol ‡ and Joe Reich
UBS
Stephen and Dorothy Weber
Samantha and John Williams

TWO AND ONE HALF MILLION
Arbella Insurance Foundation and Arbella Insurance Group
American Airlines
Mary ‡ and J.P. Barger
Gabriella and Leo ‡ Beranek
Roberta and George Berry ‡
Bloomberg
Peter and Anne Brooke ‡
Chiles Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Congleton ‡
Mara E. Dole ‡
Eaton Vance Corporation
Thomas and Winifred Faust
Jane and Jack Fitzpatrick ‡
Nathan and Marilyn Hayward
Susan Morse Hilles ‡
Charlie and Dorothy Jenkins / The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation
Stephen B. Kay and Lisbeth L. Tarlow / The Aquidneck Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
Lizbeth and George Krupp
Liberty Mutual Foundation, Inc.
Nancy and Richard Lubin
Carmine A. and Beth V. Martignetti
Kate and Al Merck ‡
Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Montrone
National Endowment for the Arts
Mrs. Mischa Nieland ‡ and Dr. Michael L. Nieland
Plimpton-Shattuck Fund
Cynthia and John S. Reed
Kristin and Roger Servison
Miriam Shaw Fund
State Street Corporation and State Street Foundation
Thomas G. Stemberg ‡
Miriam and Sidney Stoneman ‡
Elizabeth B. Storer ‡
Caroline and James Taylor
Anonymous (3)

ONE MILLION
Alli and Bill Achtmeyer
Helaine B. Allen ‡
Lois and Harlan Anderson ‡
The Harlan and Lois Anderson Family Foundation
Mariann Berg (Hundahl) Appley
Dorothy and David B. Arnold, Jr. ‡
AT&T
Liliana and Hillel Bachrach
Caroline Dwight Bain ‡
William I. Bernell ‡
Estate of Marion Bianchi
BNY Mellon
The Boston Foundation
Lorraine D. and Alan S. ‡ Bressler
Jan Brett and Joseph Hearne
Gregory E. Bulger Foundation / Gregory Bulger & Richard Dix
Ronald G. and Ronni J. ‡ Casty
Citizens Bank
James and Tina Collias ‡
Commonwealth Worldwide Executive Transportation
William F. Connell ‡ and Family
Dick and Ann Marie Connolly
Country Curtains
Diddy and John Cullinane
Edith L. and Lewis S. ‡ Dabney
Elisabeth K. and Stanton W. Davis ‡
Mary Deland R. de Beaumont ‡
Delta Air Lines
Bob and Happy Doran
Hermine Drezner and Jan ‡ Winkler
Alan and Lisa Dynner and Akiko ‡ Dynner
Deborah and Philip Edmundson
William ‡ and Deborah Elfers
Elizabeth B. Ely ‡
Nancy S. and John P. Eustis II ‡
Shirley and Richard ‡ Fennell
Anna E. Finnerty ‡
John and Cyndy Fish
Fromm Music Foundation
The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Marie L. Gillet ‡
Sophia and Bernard Gordon
Elizabeth and Phill Gross
Mrs. Francis W. Hatch
Mrs. Donald C. Heath ‡
The Nancy Foss Heath and Richard B. Heath Educational, Cultural and Environmental Foundation
Francis Lee Higginson ‡
John Hitchcock ‡
Edith C. Howie ‡
John Hancock Financial
Muriel E. and Richard L. Kaye ‡
Nancy D. and George H. ‡ Kidder
Kingsbury Road Charitable Foundation
Audrey Noreen Koller ‡
Farla and Harvey Chet Krentzman ‡
Barbara and Bill Leith ‡
Elizabeth W. and John M. Loder
Josh and Jessica Lutzker
Vera M. and John D. MacDonald ‡
Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation
Jane B. and Robert J. Mayer, M.D.
The McGrath Family
Joseph C. McNay, The New England Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Messinger Family
Henrietta N. Meyer ‡
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan R. Miller ‡
Richard P. and Claire W. Morse Foundation
William Inglis Morse Trust
Mary S. Newman ‡
Mr. ‡ and Mrs. Norio Ohga
P&G Gillette
Peter Palandjian and Eliza Dushku-Palandjian/ Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation
Perles Family Foundation
Polly and Dan ‡ Pierce
Claudio and Penny Pincus
The Pryor Family
Mary G. and Dwight P. Robinson, Jr. ‡
Susan and Dan Rothenberg ‡
Carole and Edward I. ‡ Rudman
Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation
Wilhelmina C. (Hannaford) Sandwen ‡
Hannah H. and Dr. Raymond Schneider ‡
Carl Schoenhof Family
The Schwedel Family
Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro ‡
Marian Skinner ‡
Solange Skinner
Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation/Richard A. and Susan F. Smith ‡
Carol and Irv Smokler
Sony Corporation of America
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Dr. Nathan B. and Anne P. Talbot ‡
Dorothy and John L. Thorndike ‡
Diana O. Tottenham
The Wallace Foundation
Edwin S. Webster Foundation
Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner
Drs. Christoph and Sylvia Westphal
The Helen F. Whitaker Fund
Robert ‡ and Roberta Winters
Helen and Josef Zimbler ‡
Brooks and Linda Zug
Anonymous (11)

The Boston Pops salutes its friends, old and new, for their generosity. Fiedler Society members generously contribute annual gifts that fund Pops performances, education and outreach programs, and free Pops concerts throughout the community.

The BSO gratefully acknowledges the following Pops Annual Fund donors who, as of May 4, 2022, are current members at the following levels. For more information about becoming a Fiedler Society member, please contact the Friends Office at 617-638-9276 or friendsofthepops@bso.org.

‡ symbol denotes a deceased donor

FIEDLER ENCORE $25,000 AND ABOVE
Barbara and Amos Hostetter
Cecile Higginson Murphy Charitable Foundation
The O'Block Family
Mitch J. Pomerance
Mr. Nicholas Vantzelfde and Ms. Lauren Erb

FIEDLER CONDUCTOR $10,000 - $24,999
Boston Seed Capital, LLC, Nicole Maria Stata
Richard and Nancy Heath
The High Pointe Foundation
Kathleen and Ronald Jackson
Mr. Mark Legan
Dr. and Mrs. Frederick H. Lovejoy, Jr.
The McDonald Family in honor of Patricia McDonald
Joseph C. McNay, The New England Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Peter C. McKay
Stuart Miller, in memory of Rocco DiIorio
Paul & Joyce Mucci Family Foundation
Richard and Jolene O'Brien
Bob and Laura Reynolds
Katherine Chapman Stemberg
Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Sullivan
Richard and Bonnie Sullivan
Jean C. Tempel
Scott and Catherine Webster
Sidney and Deanna Wolk

FIEDLER BACKSTAGE $5,000 - $9,999
Mr. Daniel Brownell and Ms. Kelley Laurel
James Bunt
Camille Carlstrom
The Cavanagh Family
Yumin and Amy Choi
Jim and Shirley Curvey
Mr. and Mrs. James Davis
Mary Dunbrack
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas W. Emond
John W. Henry Family Foundation
Lisa Hillenbrand
Thomas F. Knight
Peter and Connie Lacaillade
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Linton
Mr. Patrick MeLampy and Rev. Priscilla Lawrence
Carmichael Roberts and Sandra Park
Carol Searle and Andrew Ley ‡
Peter and Barbara Sidel
Maggie and Jack Skenyon
Sandra A. Urie and Frank F. Herron
Tony and Martha Vorlicek
Howard and Karen Wilcox
Ed and Judi Zuker
Anonymous (2)

FIEDLER SOCIETY $3,000 - $4,999
Mr. and Mrs. Eugene F. Barnes III
Mr. and Mrs. Eliot Beal
Edward S. W. Boesel
John and Trish Brennan
Franklyn Caine
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cella
Mr. David S. Coffey
Mr. Mark Condon and Ms. Jean Hynes
Charles L. and Nancy T. Donahue
Catherine and Richard L. Evans
Loretta H. and Gregory J. Gailius
Dr. and Mrs. Richard Gillis
Kim and Jim Goldinger
Jonathan and Ruth Goode
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel A. Grady
Margaret Lytle Griner
Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Guarracino
Mr. and Mrs. Blair E. Hendrix
Mary Hines
Miss Isabel B. Hooker
Peter Hornstra
Alan and Wendy Issokson
John and Nancy Kendall
John A. Lechner IV and Mary F. Higgins
Thomas Lewis and Ailene Robinson
Betty W. Locke
Keith and Emiley Lockhart
James F. Lynch
Emily and Malcolm MacNaught
Erin and Craig Majernik
Bernhard Metzger, in memory of Karen Zander
Jeffrey Moore
Jennifer and Brad Moyer
Slocumb H. and E. Lee Perry
Doug and Karen Pettingell
Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Poler
Frederick J. and Bonnie M.‡ Rich
Margaret and Fred Richardson
Mr. Kevin Rollins
Dr. William D. and Laura Shea
Mr. and Mrs. William G. Walker
Susan Sprague Walters and Richard Walters
Dr. Mary Witkowski
Dr. Xuqiong Wu

The operating support from the following generous donors enables the Boston Symphony Orchestra to maintain an unparalleled level of artistic excellence, to keep ticket prices at accessible levels, and to support extensive education and community engagement programs throughout the greater Boston area and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The BSO gratefully acknowledges these contributors for their philanthropic support during fiscal year 2021 through major corporate sponsorships and events, BSO and Tanglewood Business Partners, and foundation and government grants.

$500,000 AND ABOVE
American Rescue Act - Shuttered Venue Operators Grant
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Eaton Vance
Fidelity Investments
Anonymous

$250,000 - $499,999
Arbella Insurance Foundation
Bank of America
Massachusetts Cultural Council

$100,000 - $249,999
Miriam Shaw Fund
The Nancy Foss Heath and Richard B. Heath Educational, Cultural and Environmental Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

$50,000 - $99,999
American Airlines
Bayberry Financial Services
Brightcove Inc.
Fairmont Copley Plaza
Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton
Kingsbury Road Charitable Foundation
Sagner Family Foundation
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation
WuXi AppTec

$25,000 - $49,999
The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Berkshire Bank
Berkshire Medical Center, Inc.
Charina Endowment Fund
Edwin S. Webster Foundation
Eisai Inc.
Elizabeth Taylor Fessenden Foundation
EMD Serono Inc.
Farley White Interests
Fromm Music Foundation
The Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation
Goodwin
Grew Family Charitable Foundation
Gurnet Point Capital
Hemenway & Barnes LLP
Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation
LEK Consulting
Mill Town Capital
New Balance Foundation
Putnam Investments
The Richard and Ann J. Prouty Foundation
Roger and Myrna Landay Charitable Foundation
Margery and Lewis Steinberg
UniFirst Corporation
Anonymous (2)

$15,000 - $24,999
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
The Alice Ward Fund of The Rhode Island Foundation
Arthur J. Hurley Company, Inc.
Biogen Idec Foundation
Boston Duck Tours
Boston Seed Capital, LLC, Nicole Maria Stata
Citizens Bank
Connell Limited Partnership
Dick and Ann Marie Connolly
Mr. and Mrs. J. Christopher Eagan
Steve and Betty Gannon
Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin
Barbara and Amos Hostetter
J.P. Marvel Investment Advisors
Darlene and Jerry Jordan
The Keel Foundation
The Kraft Group/New England Patriots Charitable Foundation
Liberty Mutual Insurance
The McGrath Family
Joseph C. McNay, The New England Foundation
Medical Information Technology, Inc.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Needham Bank
People's United Bank
Andrew and Suzanne Plump
Ruane Family Foundation
Saquish Foundation
Waters Corporation
Wave Life Sciences

$10,000 - $14,999
5AM Venture Management, LLC
Abrams Capital
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Anne Wojcicki Foundation
Billy Rose Foundation
CLA Accounting
Cabot Corporation
Cambridge Trust Company
Canyon Ranch in Lenox
Consigli
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Elliott Management Corporation
Eversource Energy
Goldman Sachs
Ironshore
John Hancock Financial
Locke Lord LLP
Lucia B. Morrill Charitable Foundation
Wilmington Trust, part of M&T Bank Family
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Mr. and Mrs. Donald H. McCree
The Miss Wallace M. Leonard Foundation
Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation
The Red Lion Inn
Maria and Ray Stata
The TJX Companies, Inc.
Wheatleigh Hotel & Restaurant

$5,000 - $9,999
Abbot and Dorothy H. Stevens Foundation
Accenture
Ms. Nancy Adams
Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C.
Allegrone Companies
Amgen
The Amphion Foundation, Inc.
Amuleto Mexican Table
Apple Tree Inn
Aqueduct Technologies, Inc.
Barrington Associates Realty Trust
Berkshire Eagle
Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, a Guardian Company
Blantyre
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Mr. and Mrs. Steven Browne
Canna Provisions, Inc.
CIBC Private Wealth Management
Cohen Kinne Valicenti & Cook LLP
Commonwealth Worldwide Executive Transportation
Diddy and John Cullinane
Demoulas Foundation
Dresser-Hull Company
Edward A. Taft Trust
Foresite Capital Management, LLC
The Fuller Foundation
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.,
Gaston Dufresne Foundation
GBH
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
Dr. and Mrs. Leon Harris
Susan and Raymond Held
History of Toys Gallery
Holland & Knight LLP
Iredale Mineral Cosmetics, Ltd.
Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation
Jack Madden Ford
Michael Renzi Painting Co.
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Myriad Productions
Prince Lobel Tye LLP
PwC
Riemer & Braunstein LLP
Roam: A Xtina Parks Gallery
Rubin & Ulrich, LLC
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Sacks
Mr. Bill Sibold
Stetson Whitcher Fund
The Summer Fund
Jodi and Paul Tartell
Thomas A. and Georgina T. Russo Family Fund
Vacovec, Mayotte & Singer LLC
Walsh Brothers, Inc.
WB Wood
WilmerHale
Wing Press Incorporated
Wyndhurst Manor & Club
Anonymous

$2,500 - $4,999
Alex. Brown, a Division of Raymond James
Alice Willard Dorr Foundation
Berkshire Hathaway Barnbrook Realty, Inc.
Berkshire Partners LLC
Bicon
Biener Audi
Big Y Supermarkets
Blue Spark Financial
Brookline Youth Concerts Fund
Burack Investments
Cambridge Community Foundation
Chubb
Clarke Living
Mrs. Mimi Cohen
Corvus Insurance Holdings
Ms. Catherine Curtin
Leslie and Richard Daspin
Elizabeth Grant Fund
Elizabeth Grant Trust
Fiduciary Trust Company
Fire Equipment, Inc.
Garden Gables Inn
Gateways Inn & Restaurant
Greylock Federal Credit Union
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Haber
Health Professional Coaching
J. Mark Albertson, D.M.D., P.A.
J.H. Maxymillian, Inc.
Katharine L.W. and Winthrop M. Crane, 3D Charitable Foundation
Mr. John L. Klinck, Jr.
Linda Leffert J.D. ret.
Navigator Management
Norbella, Inc.
Old Town Trolley Tours of Boston
Oxford Fund
Peter D. Whitehead Builder, LLC
Pignatelli Electric
PureTech Health
Republic Services
Rockland Trust
Dr. Robert and Esther Rosenthal
Sametz Blackstone Associates
Security Self Storage
Stifel
Mr. and Mrs. Brian Thompson
True Tickets
Verrill
Welch & Forbes, LLC
Anonymous