John Williams’ Playlist
Lead Season Sponsor
Thursday, May 29, 7:30pm
Saturday, May 31, 7:30pm
BOSTON POPS
KEITH LOCKHART conducting
Corporate support for Thursday evening’s concert is generously provided by BSO Business Partner Morgan Stanley.
All-John WILLIAMS Program
Flight to Neverland, from Hook
Out to Sea/Shark Cage Fugue, from Jaws
Hayr Mer (“Our Father”)
Yekmalian/Gregorian
(May 31 only, in celebration of the 72nd annual Armenian Night at Pops)
Theme from Seven Years in Tibet
ANI AZNAVOORIAN, cello
Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha
• Sayuri’s Theme
• Going to School
• Brush on Silk
ANI AZNAVOORIAN, cello
Flying Theme from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
INTERMISSION
Superman March
Celebrating Indiana Jones
• Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra
• Helena’s Theme — LUCIA LIN, violin
• Raiders March
Dear Basketball
Three Selections from Star Wars
• The Adventures of Han
• Princess Leia’s Theme
• Throne Room and Finale
The Boston Pops welcomes
- 5/29: Belmont High School Band; Carnegie Mellon University Alumni; Conant High School; Destinations Unlimited, Inc.; Sharon A. Diamond; Karen Funkenstein; Harvard Outings & Innings; KSP Financial; Lee University; McCarthy Middle School; Melrose-Wakefield AAUW; Sharon Men’s Club; Temple Beth Shalom of Needham; Woodbury Middle School
- 5/31: Coe-Brown Northwood Academy; Friends of Armenian Culture Society; Harvard Outings & Innings; Harvard University Retirees Association; Linda Tatten; UNH Alumni
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.
Photos, videos, and audio recordings are prohibited during the performance. You are welcome (and encouraged!) take photos and videos before and after the concert, and at intermission.
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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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Ani Aznavoorian
Cellist Ani Aznavoorian is in demand as a soloist and she has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Tokyo, Helsinki, and Belgrade philharmonics, Finnish Radio Symphony, International Sejong Soloists, Juilliard Orchestra, and Chicago and Edmonton symphony orchestras. The 2024-25 season marks her 15th year as principal cellist with Camerata Pacifica.
Aznavoorian received the prestigious Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award for her outstanding cello playing and artistry. Some of her other awards include first prizes in the Illinois Young Performers Competition (televised live on PBS with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Chicago Cello Society National Competition, Julius Stulberg Competition, and American String Teachers Association Competition. She was a top prizewinner in the 1996 International Paulo Cello Competition. As a recipient of the Level I Award in the National Foundation for the Arts Recognition and Talent Search, Aznavoorian was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and performed as soloist at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. where she met former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
As a first-year student at Juilliard, Aznavoorian won first prize in the institution’s concerto competition — the youngest cellist in the history of the school’s cello competitions to do so — and performed with the Juilliard Orchestra in concert with conductor Gerard Schwarz at Avery Fisher Hall. With only 12 hours notice, Aznavoorian stepped in to replace Natalia Gutman in three performances of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with the San Jose Symphony. Other notable appearances include concerts at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Ravinia’s Bennett Hall, Aspen’s Harris Hall, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, and NPR’s Performance Today. Aznavoorian received both her Bachelor and Master of Music from Juilliard where she studied with Aldo Parisot.
Aznavoorian has been a member of the distinguished music faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and in the summers has served on the faculty of the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea. She has given the world premieres of many important pieces in the cello repertoire, including Ezra Laderman’s Concerto No. 2 with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic under the baton of Lawrence Leighton Smith; Lera Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for Cello and Piano on stage at the Hamburg Staatsoper; and Auerbach’s Dreammusik for Cello and Chamber Orchestra, which was written for her and commissioned by Camerata Pacifica. Aznavoorian records for Cedille Records, and she proudly performs on a cello made by her father Peter Aznavoorian.
Boston Pops Major Corporate Sponsors, 2024-25 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.
