Music of the Cosmos
Lead Season Sponsor
Friday, May 23, 7:30pm
Saturday, May 24, 7:30pm
BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA
KEITH LOCKHART conducting
George Takei, narrator
Astronaut Sunita Williams, special guest
Corporate support for Friday evening’s concert is generously provided by BSO Business Partner ESAI Energy.
2001 Fanfare (opening to Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Strauss
Sunrise, from Daphnis et Chloé
Ravel
Flight and Technology, from American Journey
John Williams
End Credits from The Right Stuff
Bill Conti
Fly Like Iron Man, from The Martian
Harry Gregson-Williams
Active Galactic Nuclei
Rory Bricca
World premiere; composed for the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Yale Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Pops
Program note and video credits below
Jupiter, from The Planets
Holst
INTERMISSION
A Star Trek Primer
Theme to Star Trek: The Original Series
Courage
The Klingon Battle, from Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Goldsmith
Spock (Dies)/Amazing Grace, from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Horner
Stealing the Enterprise, from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Horner
Theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation
Goldsmith
Theme from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Dennis McCarthy
Main Theme from Star Trek: Voyager
Goldsmith
End Credits Suite from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Cliff Eidelman
Star Trek Into Darkness
Michael Giacchino
Developed in partnership with the Museum of Science and its Center for Space Sciences.
Stay after the concert for a meet and greet with Sunita Williams and George Takei in the O’Block-Kay Room.
The Boston Pops welcomes
- 5/23: Dover High School Music Department; Harvard Outings & Innings; Joseph Warren-Soley Lodge F. & A.M.; Lebanon High School; Tour Resource Consultants; Turners Falls High School
- 5/24: Harvard Outings & Innings; SpeakEasy Stage Company
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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![George Takei headshot]()
George Takei
George Takei is a civil rights leader, social media superstar, Grammy- nominated recording artist, New York Times bestselling author, and pioneering actor. He has appeared in more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles, most famously as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek.
With an uncanny eloquence and signature wit, Takei shares the story of his family's forced internment as Japanese Americans during WWII — a seemingly forgotten part of American history. He also takes audiences through his rise to celebrity as a Sci-fi icon, his remarkable journey as social media mega-power, and his passionate fight for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality in America empowering others to beat the odds and make a difference.
George Takei is known around the world for his role in the acclaimed original TV series Star Trek, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the starship Enterprise. But Takei's story, which includes an acting career that spans eight decades, goes where few have gone before. From a childhood spent with his family wrongfully imprisoned in Japanese American internment camps during World War II to becoming one of the country's leading figures in the fight for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights and marriage equality, Takei remains a powerful voice on issues ranging from politics to pop culture.
Takei hosts the AARP-produced YouTube series Takei's Take, exploring the world of technology, trends, current events and pop culture, and is the subject of the documentary To Be Takei. On his own YouTube channel, Takei and his husband Brad Takei bring viewers into their personal lives in the "heightened reality" web series It Takeis Two. He was a series regular in the second season of Ridley Scott's anthology drama The Terror: Infamy, which premiered on AMC in August 2019.
His rich baritone has provided narration for the PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea , the Peabody Award- winning radio documentary Crossing East , and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , which garnered Takei a Grammy Award nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. He has also done voiceover work for hundreds of video games, commercials, films and TV series such as Fox’s The Simpsons and Futurama ; Disney’s Kim Possible, Mulan and Mulan 2 ; Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Takei’s acting credits include co- starring in five Star Trek movies and appearances on such TV series as Fresh Off the Boat , Supah Ninjas , Hawaii Five-0, The New Normal, The Big Bang Theory, Heroes, Psych, Will & Grace , Miami Vice , MacGyver , The Six Million Dollar Man , Mission: Impossible and The Twilight Zone, among numerous others.
In 2015, Takei made his Broadway debut in the musical Allegiance , which was inspired by his true- life experiences during World War II. In 2017, he starred in a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures in New York City.
Takei is the author of four books, including his autobiography To the Stars. His fifth book, the New York Times bestselling graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy, was released in July 2019.
Takei has served as the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign’s Coming Out Project and was Cultural Affairs Chairman of the Japanese American Citizens League. He is also chairman emeritus and a trustee of the Japanese American National Museum. He was appointed to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission by former President Clinton and the government of Japan awarded Takei the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his contribution to U.S.-Japanese relations.
Takei received both bachelor and master of arts degrees from UCLA (’60, ’64). In June 2019, Takei received the Distinguished Alumni Award in Theater from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT).
Mashable.com named Takei the #1 most-influential person on Facebook. He currently boasts more than 10 million Facebook likes and 3 Million Twitter followers – and he uses these platforms to share humor, news, and his take on current events.
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![Sunita Williams headshot]()
Sunita Williams
Sunita (Suni) L. Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of three space missions, Expeditions 14/15, 32/33 and 71/72. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024, for its first crewed flight, arriving at the International Space Station on June 6. Following the agency’s decision to return Starliner uncrewed, the duo became Expedition 71/72 crewmembers and returned home in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Williams has completed 62 hours and 6 minutes of total spacewalk time over the course of her career, the most of any female astronaut, and fourth on NASA’s all-time list. Williams has logged 608 days in space over her three flights.
Williams was born on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio to Dr. Deepak and Bonnie Pandya. She considers Needham, Massachusetts to be her hometown. She and her husband enjoy hanging out with their dogs, working out, working on houses, working on cars, working on airplanes, hiking, and camping.
Program Note
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.
