You know spring and summer are right around the corner in Boston when the Pops announce their lineup for the season. For the past 125 years, they have been bringing classical music to Symphony Hall. Since their inception, they have expanded to other locations, including Hyannis, Nantucket.
Conductor Keith Lockhart has invited a phenomenal roundup of talent of music guests, such as musical theater greats Linda Eder, Julia Murney, and New York Pops conductor Steven Reineke; Boston Pops Gospel Night conductor Charles Floyd; film music master and Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams; jazz trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling; bluegrass king Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder; Ray Charles protégé Ellis Hall; pop music star Kenny Loggins; New Orleans jazz ambassadors Dukes of Dixieland; and the great interpreter of the American Songbook, Michael Feinstein.
Lockhart and the Pops will also present American Icons?concerts that pay tribute to some of the great artists who compose the national repertoire and give voice to its songs. These programs will include works by distinctly American composers including Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cab Calloway, Mahalia Jackson, and Louis Armstrong.
Tickets for the 2011 Boston Pops season at Symphony Hall range from $21 to $121 and are available at www.bostonpops.org or by calling (617) 266-1200.
Photo Courtesy of Boston Symphony Orchestra
