Boston Pops
The Boston Pops is an American orchestra based in Boston, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's music director is Keith Lockhart.
Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops primarily consists of musicians from the BSO, although generally not all of the first-chair players. The orchestra performs a spring season of popular music and a holiday program in December. For the Pops, the seating on the floor of Symphony Hall is reconfigured from auditorium seating to banquet and cafe seating. The Pops also plays an annual concert at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade every Fourth of July. Their performances of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" and Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" are famous for howitzer cannons firing and fireworks exploding during the former and the unfurling of the American flag that occurs near the end of the latter. Identified with its longtime director Arthur Fiedler, the orchestra has recorded extensively, made frequent tours, and appeared often on television.
History
In 1881, Henry Lee Higginson, the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, wrote of his wish to present in Boston "concerts of a lighter kind of music". The Boston Pops Orchestra was founded to present this kind of music to the public, with the first concert performed on July 11, 1885, under the leadership of Adolf Neuendorff. Called the "Promenade Concerts" until 1900, these performances combined light classical music, tunes from the current hits of the musical theater, and an occasional novelty number. Allowing for some changes of taste over the course of a century, the early programs were remarkably similar to the Boston Pops programs of today.The Boston Pops had seventeen conductors before 1930, when Arthur Fiedler began a fifty-year tenure as the first American-born conductor to lead the orchestra. Under Fiedler's direction, the orchestra's popularity spread far beyond Boston through recordings, radio and television. Unhappy with the reputation of classical music as being solely for affluent concertgoers, Fiedler made efforts to bring classical music to a wider audience. He instituted a series of free concerts at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade, a public park beside the Charles River. Fiedler insisted that the Pops Orchestra play popular music as well as well-known classical pieces, opening up a new niche of popular symphonic music. Of the many musical pieces created for the orchestra, the Pops' most identifiable works were the colorful novelty numbers composed by Fiedler's close friend Leroy Anderson, including "Sleigh Ride", "The Typewriter", "The Syncopated Clock" and several others. Fiedler also initiated the annual Holiday Pops concerts in December.
Under Fiedler's direction, the Boston Pops has sold more commercial recordings than any other orchestra in the world, with total sales of albums, singles, tapes, and cassettes exceeding $50 million. The orchestra's first recordings were made in July 1935 for RCA Victor, including the first complete recording of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The Pops made their first high-fidelity recording on June 20, 1947, of Gaîté Parisienne, and recorded the same music seven years later in stereophonic sound, their first venture in multitrack recording.
Fiedler is also credited with having begun the annual tradition of the Fourth of July Pops concert and fireworks display on the Esplanade, one of the best-attended Independence Day celebrations in the country with estimated crowds of 200,000–500,000 people. Also during Fiedler's tenure, the Pops and local public television station WGBH developed a series of weekly televised broadcasts, Evening at Pops, recorded during the Pops' regular season in Symphony Hall.
Some shows have holiday–oriented themes, such as Christmas shows featuring performers such as Jonathan Meath, who appeared as Santa with the Boston Pops for ten shows during 2008–2009.
After Fiedler's death in 1979, he was succeeded as conductor of the Boston Pops by the noted film composer John Williams. Williams continued the Pops' tradition of bringing classical music to a wide audience, initiating the annual "Pops-on-the-Heights" concerts at Boston College and adding his own library of well-known film scores to the orchestra's repertoire. During his time with the Pops, Williams performed with Sammy Davis Jr. as one of the artists for one of the Evening at Pops specials that aired in 1988. In 1991, the orchestra played Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen and other bluegrass classics with Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder.
In 1992, Williams conducted a memorable performance of the Pops featuring Broadway Icon John Raitt and his daughter Grammy winner Bonnie Raitt along with members of her Band.
Keith Lockhart assumed the post of principal Pops conductor in 1995. Lockhart continues to conduct the Boston Pops today. Williams is Laureate Conductor of the Pops and conducts the Pops at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood.
Guest artists
Lockhart has brought in numerous pop-music acts and icons in addition to Broadway greats to play with the orchestra since being named conductor, including Ben Folds, Rockapella, Guster, My Morning Jacket, Aimee Mann, Kelly Clarkson, and Elvis Costello.Spring Season
2012
Glee star Matthew Morrison performed with the orchestra.2014: "The Very Best of The Boston Pops" (May 7–June 14, 2014)
The 2014 Spring Season was announced towards the end of February 2014, with the title "The Very Best of the Boston Pops".Opening Night was Wednesday, May 7 at 8 pm, and the orchestra opened with "The Very Best of the Boston Pops with Jason Alexander", conducted by Keith Lockhart.
"The Very Best of the Boston Pops" was conducted by Lockhart and performed on select nights throughout the season, giving audiences both a chance to see what the orchestra was capable of performing as well as the opportunity to select which dates worked best for them. These performances were given on Thursday, May 8, Friday, May 9, Tuesday, May 27th, and Friday, June 13.
2015 (May 6–June 13, 2015)
During the 2015 Pops Spring Season, the orchestra worked with Bernadette Peters, The Midtown Men, and Audra McDonald. In 2015, the film that was chosen for the "Film with Orchestra" series was Singin' In The Rain. The orchestra also had tributes throughout the season: two nights of the orchestra playing the music of The Beatles; the ever-popular "John Williams Film Night"; a Celtic sojourn hosted by Brian O'Donnovan with Carlos Núñez and Karan Casey as the special guests; the ever-popular "Gospel Night at Pops" conducted by Charles Floyd featuring The Blind Boys of Alabama; the return of "Cirque de la Symphonie" featuring Cirque du Soleil performers; and ending with Simply Sondheim, featuring Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley and the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows as special guests.2017: "Lights, Camera…Music: Celebrating Six Decades of John Williams"
During the 2017 Pops Spring Season, the orchestra had its first season-long tribute to a composer, that composer being John Williams. They recorded a new CD, Lights, Camera, Music: Six Decades of John Williams, which was released during the season. The orchestra had two pre-season events which marked the first time the orchestra had ever used Symphony Hall before May: "Celebrating John Williams!" and "E.T. in Concert". The Pops opened the season with Queen Latifah, and went on to host such events as "Mamma Mia! Mother's Day with the Music of ABBA", working with Ben Folds, "Gospel Night" in its 25th anniversary with Floyd and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir; Leslie Odom Jr. in his orchestral debut after starring in Hamilton: An American Musical; performing a tribute to The Beatles with Larry "Cha-Chi" Loprete as the host; "Parting with The B-52s", and giving the world-premiere of Sondheim on Sondheim with Philip Boykin, Carmen Cusak, Gabriel Ebert, and Lisa Howard as the vocalists.2018: "Celebrating Leonard Bernstein's Centennial" (May 9–June 16, 2018)
The 2018 Spring Season was announced on Monday, February 26, 2018, and featured a season-long celebration and tribute to Leonard Bernstein's centennial.During the 2018 Pops Spring season, the orchestra worked with both Leslie Odom Jr. and Andy Grammer for the second time after successful Fourth of July performances, as well as Sutton Foster again, who performed "A Broadway Celebration" with the orchestra. Some highlights of the season were the return of Laureate Conductor and legendary film composer John Williams for his annual "Film Night" appearances, in addition to an Opening Night salute to Leonard Bernstein for the occasion of Bernstein's centennial later that year. In addition to celebrating Bernstein's centennial, the orchestra presented concert versions of both On The Town and "West Side Story In Concert". They "Danced to the Movies", and were joined by tenor Alfie Boe who "Rocked the Pops" with them. The Pops were joined by Ashley Brown, Josh Strickland, Alton Fitzgerald White and Merle Dandridge to perform beloved songs from 9 Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-winning scores to "Disney's Broadway Hits". The orchestra also performed "The Best of the Boston Pops" Concerts, a series that hadn't been featured since 2013. The Pops performed their annual "Gospel Night" with the Boston Pops Gospel Choir and guest star Melinda Doolittle under the direction of Charles Floyd. The orchestra also welcomed back Leslie Odom Jr. with special guests Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo for "An Evening with Leslie Odom Jr".
2019: "Boston Pops: It's a Party!" (May 8–June 15, 2019)
The 2019 Spring Season was announced on Monday, February 25, 2019, with the title "Boston Pops: It's A Party!"Bernadette Peters was the Opening Night headliner, with the Pops performing a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, the world premiere of "From The Earth to the Moon and Beyond", a piece by composer James Beckel. May 9 was the annual Presidents At Pops fundraising gala held every year.
The orchestra performed the score to Star Wars: A New Hope in its entirety, live to picture on May 10 and 11, and 14.