Holiday Pops Preview Honoring the Military Community & Their Families
Lead Season Sponsor
Program
KEITH LOCKHART conducting
with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor
Thursday, November 30, 7:30pm
HOLIDAY POPS PREVIEW HONORING THE MILITARY COMMUNITY & THEIR FAMILIES
Lead Event Sponsor: Highland Street Foundation
Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
Trad.—arr. Bass
Carol of the Drum
Davis—arr. Wright
Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Vaughan Williams
ANDREW GARLAND, baritone
Tomorrow Is My Dancing Day
Trad.—arr. Hollenbeck
Mary’s Little Boy Child
Hairston—arr. Hollenbeck
Film by Susan Dangel and Dick Bartlett
The Good News Voyage
arr. Coleman/Elliott
Film by Susan Dangel and Dick Bartlett | Artwork by Ashley Bryan
- Go Tell It on the Mountain—
- Mary Had a Baby Boy—
- Rise, Shine, for Your Light Is Coming
A Christmas Tale: Suite from The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky
Film by Susan Dangel and Dick Bartlett | Artwork by Jan Brett
INTERMISSION
Sleigh Ride
Anderson
Tikkun Olam (Heal the World)
Richman
Frosty All the Way!
arr. Sebesky
The Twelve Days of Christmas
arr. Chase
A Visit from St. Nicholas (’Twas the Night before Christmas)
Reisman
Text by Clement C. Moore | Artwork by Jan Brett
COMMANDER JOHN BENDA, narrator
A Merry Little Sing Along
arr. Reisman
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
- The Christmas Song
- Winter Wonderland
- Jingle Bells
Cell phone photo and video of these performances are allowed for personal use only, including posting on social media; we may ask you to limit taking photos or videos if it interferes with the performance or other attendees’ enjoyment of it. Please note that use of flash is prohibited.
The Boston Pops would like to thank the following government and elected officials for joining us:
- Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll
- Secretary Jon Santiago, Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans’ Services
- Commissioner Robert Santiago, Boston Office of Veterans’ Services
- Ena Lima, Executive Director, US Department of Veterans Affairs
- John Vincent “Vinny” Sabella, State Director, Veterans Employment & Training Services
- Ed Flynn, Boston City Council President
Artists
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Keith Lockhart
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 thirteen-year tenure from 1980 to 1993; Mr. Williams succeeded the legendary Arthur Fiedler, who was at the helm of the orchestra for nearly fifty 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 five 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 eight-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 eleven 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.
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![James Burton headshot]()
James Burton
James Burton is the BSO Choral Director and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, holding the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Chair, endowed in perpetuity. Since his appointment in 2017, Burton has conducted performances at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir, which he founded in 2018. Born in London, Burton has conducted UK orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Hallé, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, and Manchester Camerata. Between 2016 and 2020 he was a frequent guest of the Orquesta Sinfònica Nacional in Mexico City, and he gave his debut with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in October 2022. Since 2017 he has been a frequent guest conductor of the Boston Pops, notably for the orchestra’s Holiday Pops concerts. James Burton has conducted professional choirs including the Gabrieli Consort, Choir of the Enlightenment, Wrocław Philharmonic Choir, the BBC Singers, and Tenebrae, which he conducted on its recent U.S. tour. From 2002 to 2009 he was Choral Director at the Hallé Orchestra, where he was music director of the Hallé Choir and founding conductor of the Hallé Youth Choir, winning the Gramophone Choral Award in 2009. Burton has conducted performances at English National Opera, English Touring Opera, and Garsington Opera, and has served as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and Opéra national de Paris. James Burton is well known for his inspirational work with young musicians. In 2020 he was appointed Director of Orchestral Activities and Master Lecturer at Boston University’s School of Music, where he leads the school’s orchestral performances and serves as principal studio teacher for the doctoral program in orchestral conducting. James Burton’s composition portfolio includes works performed by leading choral groups including The Sixteen and the BBC Singers. The King’s Singers featured a work of his on their 2021 Christmas album. His 35-minute The Lost Words was commissioned by the BSO and performed at Tanglewood in 2019. His works are published by Edition Peters. James Burton studied at St John’s College at Cambridge University and holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Frederik Prausnitz and Gustav Meier.
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![Tanglewood Festival Chorus Performing at Symphony Hall in Boston]()
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
The Tanglewood Festival Chorus is made up of volunteer singers who share their time and talents performing alongside the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops. Considered one of the world’s leading symphonic choruses, the ensemble performs year-round with the BSO and the Pops and in its own concerts at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. Since 2017, the chorus has been led by James Burton, who that year was named conductor of the TFC and was to the newly created position of BSO Choral Director.
Highlights of the 2023-24 season include the American premiere in March 2024 of Elena Langer’s The Dong with the Luminous Nose, commissioned for the TFC by the BSO; Grieg’s Peer Gynt, also in March; Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in January at Symphony Hall and February at Carnegie Hall; Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire in April, and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette Symphony to close the season under Andris Nelsons in May. The chorus also participates annually and joyfully in Holiday Pops programs.
The TFC records frequently with the BSO and the Boston Pops. Its most recent BSO recordings are Shostakovich’s symphonies 2, 3, and 13 conducted by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, released along with Symphony No. 12 in October 2023 as part of the orchestra’s ongoing series of Shostakovich recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. The chorus has recorded with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Leonard Bernstein, Colin Davis, Keith Lockhart, and John Williams. It can also be heard on several movie soundtracks, including Saving Private Ryan. The TFC had the honor of singing at Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral in 2009.
The TFC has sung with the Boston Pops for Boston Celtics and Boston Red Sox games, including a performance of the National Anthem at Fenway Park in October 2021 prior to an American League Championship Series game against the Houston Astros.
Originally formed under the joint sponsorship of Boston University and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the all-volunteer Tanglewood Festival Chorus was established in 1970 by its founding conductor, the late John Oliver, who led the chorus for 45 seasons. Though first established for performances at the BSO’s summer home, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus was soon playing a major role in the BSO’s subscription season as well as in BSO concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
The chorus welcomes new singers who are passionate about choral music. Find out about upcoming auditioning on our website: bso.org/tfc-auditions.
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![Andrew Garland headshot]()
Andrew Garland
Baritone Andrew Garland has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall, New York Festival of Song, Ravinia Festival, Vocal Arts DC, Marilyn Horne Foundation, Bard Festival, Cleveland Art Song Festival, Camerata Pacifica, Andre-Turp Society Montreal, Voce at Pace, Huntsville Chamber Music Guild, Fanfare in Hammond (Louisiana), Cincinnati Matinee Musicale, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Tuesday Morning Music Club, American Pianists Awards, the Phillips Collection, college campuses around North America, and venues in Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. He has premiered works by Jake Heggie, William Bolcom, Stephen Paulus, Steven Mark Kohn, Eric Nathan, Edie Hill, and Gerald Cohen, and had works written for him by Lee Hoiby, Tom Cipullo, Thomas Pasatieri, and Gabriela Lena Frank.
He has performed in concert with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn, Boston Youth Symphony, National Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Washington Master Chorale at the Kennedy Center, National Chorale at Lincoln Center, Colorado Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Houston Symphony, UMS Ann Arbor, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Emmanuel Music, Boston Pro Musica, the UMass Amherst Bach Festival, and the Takács, Dover, Amernet, and Deadalus string quartets. He has performed leading opera roles at Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Cincinnati Opera, Minnesota Opera, Arizona Opera, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, Opera Colorado, Boston Lyric, Dayton, Fort Worth Opera, the Bard Festival, and Opera Saratoga, but most importantly, he has sung the national anthem four times at Fenway Park, which is his favorite place to sing.
Garland is a member of the voice faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder and is a mentor with Bel Canto Boot Camp.
Andrew (Andy) is a graduate of Silver Lake Regional High School and UMass Amherst and has ridden the Pan Mass Challenge 31 times.
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Commander John Benda
Commander Benda was raised in Dedham, MA, and graduated from Dedham High School in 1997. He attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation in 2001, he was commissioned as an Ensign through the College of the Holy Cross NROTC program.
His initial sea assignment was onboard USS ASHLAND (LSD 48) as Comms Officer. ASHLAND deployed with ATF East in January 2003 in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. On this deployment CDR Benda earned his Officer of the Deck and SWO qualifications. His next assignment was to Amphibious Squadron Seven as Assistant Ops Officer embarked on USS BONHOMME RICHARD (LHD 6), which participated in Unified Assistance, a humanitarian effort delivering vital relief supplies in the wake of a tsunami that struck Southeast Asia. During this deployment his other duties were as primary liaison between the Kuwaiti Navy and ESG Five while ashore at Camp Patriot, Kuwait Naval Base.
CDR Benda’s first shore tour was to Afloat Training Group Pacific as a Training Liaison Officer. After taking several ships through the Unit Level Training Cycle, he was chosen as an individual augment to Joint Task Force 515 Forward as Operations Officer onboard USNS FRED W. STOCKHAM in support of OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. After returning, CDR Benda was afforded the opportunity to achieve a master’s degree in Global Leadership from the University of San Diego.
CDR Benda served his first department head tour aboard USS GARY (FFG 51) from April 2009 until June 2010 where he deployed to the SOUTHCOM AOR and conducted counter narcotics operations. He was recognized for his efforts by being selected as the Commander Naval Surface Forces Leadership Award recipient. From July 2010 until December 2011, he served as Operations Officer for Amphibious Squadron One, deploying again to the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility embarked on USS BOXER (LHD 4) in support of theater security operations and national tasking.
He is a February 2013 graduate of the Naval War College and completed a two-year shore tour as instructor and module lead for Expeditionary Warfare at Surface Warfare Officer School in Newport, RI. His last sea tour was onboard USS ESSEX (LHD 2) where he served as Damage Control Assistant. Commander Benda successfully completed his tour as the 76th Commanding Officer of USS CONSTITUTION in January 2022. His current assignment is as facilitator for the Intermediate and Senior Leadership courses at the Naval Leadership & Ethics Center in Newport, RI.
His personal awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (five awards), and various other campaign and service awards.
CDR Benda is married to Susan Rose and has three children, Cynthia, 18, Sadie Jane, 6, and Teddy, 3.
Program Notes
Boston Pops Major Corporate Sponsors, 2023-24 Season
The Boston Pops and Symphony Hall major corporate sponsorships reflect the increasing importance of alliance between business and the arts. The Boston Pops is honored to be associated with the following companies and gratefully acknowledges their partnership. For information regarding BSO, Boston Pops, and/or Tanglewood sponsorship opportunities, contact Joan Jolley, Director of Corporate Partnerships, at (617) 638-9279 or jjolley@bso.org.
