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Lockhart and the Pops: A Winning Formula
he passage of time leaves us with fond memories of past experiences. This is exactly how Boston Pops Orchestra conductor Keith Lockhart views the nearly two decades he has spent leading the AFCC’s seminal event, Citizens Bank Pops by the Sea. “It’s a magical experience, a real New England experience, and I’m honored to be a part of it,” he says. With his longevity at the Pops, Lockhart acknowledges that some performances stick out more than others. Like the year guest conductor Jim Belushi did a standing back flip and the splits on stage. It was purely improvisational, something the comedian “didn’t tell us” he was going to do, Lockhart laughs. Then there was the year guest conductor Ed Asner “was a lot saltier than Mr. Grant,” Lockhart recalls, in reference to the fictional character the actor played on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” “I remember thinking, ‘I hope he won’t be telling the same jokes he was telling backstage’,” Lockhart says. “He didn’t, which was good.” Another year, Lockhart made his way into the crowd, urging the audience to belt out the lyrics with him. “I plopped down next to Ted Kennedy and he had a sing-along with me,” Lockhart says. Lockhart is confident there will be special moments like this when Blue Man Group joins him and the Boston Pops Orchestra onstage at the 31st annual Pops. “Part of the fun is they are pretty unpredictable,” Lockhart says of this year’s guest conductors. “You never know quite what is going to happen with them.”
And that is the beauty of the Pops for Lockhart and his crew. “There is no substitute for the power of live music,” he says. “It’s an amazing thing being able to connect with several thousand people in an event like this.” The concert serves as a beacon to what art can achieve when done right. “Music and the arts add depth. They add the context. They add the why,” Lockhart says. “We are so obsessed with the when and the how much that the arts encourage us to look deeper beyond the easy answers and tap into the creativity of the human spirit.”
P H OTO B Y D A N C U T R O N A
“ It’s a magical experience, a real New England experience” —K eith Lockhart on the Pops
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