May the Fourth - Star Wars: The Story in Music
Lead Season Sponsor
Monday, May 4, 2026, 7:30pm
BOSTON POPS
KEITH LOCKHART conducting
JEREMIAH KISSEL, narrator
All music by JOHN WILLIAMS
Introduction
Star Wars Main Title
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
The Flag Parade
Anakin’s Theme
Duel of the Fates
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Across the Stars
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
General Grievous
Enter Lord Vader
Episode IV: A New Hope
Princess Leia’s Theme
Binary Sunset
Cantina Band (arr. Ramin)
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Asteroid Field
Yoda’s Theme
The Imperial March
INTERMISSION
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Jabba the Hutt
Luke & Leia
Parade of the Ewoks
The Forest Battle
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
March of the Resistance
Rey’s Theme
Scherzo for X-Wings
The Jedi Steps
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Chrome Dome
The Rebellion is Reborn
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
The Speeder Chase
Farewell
The Rise of Skywalker/Throne Room Ending
When can I take photos and videos? You are welcome (and encouraged!) to take photos and videos before and after the concert, and at intermission. Symphony Hall makes for a beautiful backdrop! Photos, videos, and audio recordings are strictly prohibited during the performance. At that time, be a great neighbor to your fellow concertgoers, put your phone or camera away, and enjoy the moment!
Guests are expected to drink responsibly. Intoxication will not be tolerated. Intervention with an impaired guest will be handled in a prompt and safe manner, which may include ejection from the premises.
The Boston Pops welcomes Bow High School; Harvard Outings & Innings; Ms. Diana K. Hunt; MIT Activities Committee; MIT Graduate Student Council; Sunrise Tours
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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 2,100 Boston Pops concerts and annual Boston Pops appearances at Tanglewood, as well as 45 national tours and 5 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. For more on Keith Lockhart, visit www.bso.org/keith-lockhart or bostonpops.org.
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![Jeremiah Kissel headshot]()
Jeremiah Kissel
Jeremiah Kissel is thrilled to be back onstage with the Boston Pops, where previous performances include The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, Casey at the Bat, The Composer Is Dead, Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, From the Earth to the Moon and Beyond, A Christmas Carol, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Polar Express, and Star Wars: The Story in Music. With other orchestras he has performed The Carnival of the Animals, Ellis Island: The Dream of America, Peter and the Wolf, The Wizard of Menlo Park, A Kennedy Portrait, and L’Histoire du Soldat. With the BSO he has performed The Defiant Requiem, Porgy and Bess, and Bluebeard’s Castle. A forty-year veteran of Boston’s professional stages, Kissel has played leading roles for the Huntington, American Repertory, New Repertory, and Merrimack Repertory theaters, as well as the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, the Lyric Stage, Shear Madness, and various out-of-town companies passing through Boston. Most recent roles include Bernie Madoff, Cyrano, Tevye, Scrooge, and Richard Nixon. Screen credits include The Town, The Fighter, Joy, Stronger, Castle Rock, Body of Proof, and HBO's Julia. Kissel is the winner of several Norton awards, several IRNEs, an Arts Impulse, and a Helen Hayes Award, and in 2003 he received Boston’s highest onstage recognition, the Norton Prize for sustained excellence.
