Film Night: Williams on Williams
Lead Season Sponsor
Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 7:30pm
Thursday, May 21, 7:30pm
BOSTON POPS
KEITH LOCKHART conducting
Overture to Captain Blood
Korngold
Mvt. I (Moderato Nobile) from Concerto for Violin, Opus 35
Korngold
ALEXANDER VELINZON, violin
Theme from Gone with the Wind
Steiner—arr. Morley
Clock, Showdown, and Finale from High Noon
Tiomkin
Selections from Sunset Boulevard
Waxman
Masque, from Four Dances for Love’s Labour’s Lost
Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Prelude to Ben Hur
Rozsa
INTERMISSION
Superman March
Williams
Theme from Jaws
Williams
Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Williams
Devil’s Dance, from The Witches of Eastwick
Williams
Harry’s Wondrous World, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Williams
Main Title from Star Wars
Williams
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:
May 20: Brain Aneurysm Foundation; Harvard Outings & Innings; The Independence School; Winchester High School
May 21: Dover High School Music Department; Harvard Outings & Innings; Hemisphere Educational Travel; Masconomet Regional High School; MIT Activities Committee; Sharon Men's Club; Voyages A Plus
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.
Steinway & Sons Pianos, selected exclusively for Symphony Hall.
Special thanks to Fidelity Investments, Lead Season Sponsor, and Fairmont Copley Plaza, Official Hotel of the Boston Pops.
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 2025-26 season is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc.
Board of Trustees | Board of Advisors | Staff and Administration
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Boston Pops
Led by conductor Keith Lockhart, the Boston Pops, known affectionately as “America’s Orchestra,” performs an exciting and eclectic mix of orchestral arrangements from a wide range of traditions including Broadway and the great American songbook, film music, classical, jazz, pop, country, folk, and, of course, holiday classics. The Pops was created in 1885 as the “light classical” summer season venture of the Boston Symphony. The Boston Pops Orchestra reached its current iconic status during the 50-year tenure of the legendary Arthur Fiedler, who was succeeded in 1980 by the equally renowned film composer John Williams. Keith Lockhart took the helm in 1995. It was Fiedler who started the tradition of Pops performances on the Charles River Esplanade, including the annual Fourth of July celebration, brought the Pops to television with Evening at Pops (1970-2004), and initiated Holiday Pops, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2023. Fiedler welcomed to our stages dynamic, world-class guest artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Julia Child, and Bob Hope. That tradition continues today with Keith Lockhart working with such stars as Brian Stokes Mitchell, The B-52s, Chaka Khan, Nick Jonas, and Rhiannon Giddens. With the Pops, Keith has made 81 television shows, led 45 national and 5 overseas tours, led the Pops at several high-profile sporting events including the Super Bowl, and recorded fourteen albums. Through it all the orchestra has remained of the most recorded, familiar, and beloved ensembles in the world today.
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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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Alexander Velinzon
Concertmaster -A native of St. Petersburg, violinist Alexander Velinzon joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in January 2000. He became assistant concertmaster in 2005, became associate concertmaster in 2015, and at the start of the 2024-25 season was promoted to first associate concertmaster. He has served as concertmaster under Andris Nelsons, Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, and other leading conductors. In addition, he has been invited to play as concertmaster with such orchestras as the London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra, and NDR Radio Philharmonic, among others. An avid chamber musician, Velinzon has been heard in Europe, Japan, and the United States. He made his critically acclaimed debut in London’s Wigmore Hall with Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010. Velinzon appears frequently with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and has joined the ensemble for several European tours. He has performed with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and has been a member of the LiveARTS String Quartet since 2009.
Alexander Velinzon began playing the violin at the age of 6 and graduated from the Leningrad School for Gifted Children. After coming to the United States, he continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School working with the renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay. He made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the Artist International Young Artists Auditions. A prizewinner in the Heida Hermann International Competition in the United States and finalist of the Tibor Varga International Competition in Switzerland, he has performed as soloist with the National Symphony of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela. He made his New York soloist debut with the Jupiter Symphony playing Paganini’s Concerto No. 1 and served as soloist and concertmaster for the Paul Taylor Dance Company at New York’s City Center. Velinzon’s other solo engagements in the United States have included appearances with the Seattle Symphony, Cascade Symphony Orchestra, Rondo Chamber Orchestra, Absolute Ensemble, Chappaqua Symphony, and Metamorphoses Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the Longy School of Music of Bard College and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Boston Pops Major Corporate Sponsors, 2025-26 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.