Keith Lockhart and ‘Pops’ come to Bethel Woods

By TOM KANE

BETHEL, NY - The dynamic Boston Pops Orchestra and its equally dynamic conductor, Keith Lockhart, will be coming to serenade the audience with music from Broadway at the last Bethel Woods concert of the season on Saturday, August 26, at 8:00 p.m.

Lockhart, who considers himself a “local boy” because he was born and raised near Poughkeepsie, has been a singular figure in maintaining the hegemony of the famous “other orchestra” in Boston through the years. He is following in the footsteps of the famed orchestra creator Arthur Feidler, who also created the Boston Symphony.

Both groups play at the historic Symphony Hall in Boston.

Lockhart and the orchestra are equally comfortable playing both popular and classical music, since many of its members are also members of the Boston Symphony. Lockhart has conducted several world-renowned symphony orchestras with programs in the classical tradition.

Over the years, Lockhart has maintained a grueling schedule in leading the orchestra in more than 600 concerts and 50 television shows, including 31 programs for PBS’s “Evening at Pops.” He also provides musical directorship of the Utah Symphony in Salt Lake City, UT.

Under his leadership, the orchestra broadened its touring activities in recent years, performing in concert halls and sport arenas across the country.

Lockhart discredited the legend that the orchestra derived its name from popping champagne bottles, as waiters opened the bottles with a pop at the hall. It is a tradition at Symphony Hall that the orchestra seating area be filled with tables and a sometimes noisy audience eating and drinking champagne. The Boston Pops name, however, is a reference to popular music.

Lockhart expressed his enthusiasm for coming to Bethel Woods. “It’s going to be very exciting playing at Bethel Woods, since the venue is being praised by people in the business,” Lockhart said. “It’s getting a very good reputation in a very short time.”

Lockhart commented on the role of a conductor in leading a very accomplished group of instrumentalists, who could undoubtedly play on their own. “An orchestra is first a group of individuals and, as individuals, they need to become a part of an ensemble producing an ensemble sound,” he said. “It’s the conductor’s role to see just where and how they fit in to the ensemble.”

Appearing with the orchestra is the Tony-award-winning singer Faith Prince, who is best known for her role as the perennially unwed Adelaide in the 1992 Broadway revival of “Guys and Dolls.” She was last seen on Broadway in “Noises Off” along with Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher. No stranger to the dramatic stage, Prince appeared recently in the Broadway production of James Joyce’s “The Dead.”