Make your way over to Symphony Hall (at 301 Massachusetts Ave) for for tonight's opening of the Boston Pops, now in their 125 year as a Boston institution! Featuring Michael Chertock, Idina Menzel, Doc Severinsen, and Keith Lockhardt, the lineup tonight looks amazing!
I just checked the BSO website and there are tickets from $40 to $119 still available.
From the Boston Symphony Orchestra website, about tonight's show:
In 1885, the founding father of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Henry Lee Higginson, had a rather radical idea: that there was room on the docket of this august institution for concerts of a different sort-concerts played at a high artistic level but with the emphasis on accessibility and entertainment. Out of this revolutionary notion was born a uniquely American institution-the Boston Pops. Here we are now-125 seasons, twenty conductors, hundreds of recordings, tours, and television shows, thousands of concerts, and untold millions of audience members later.
The concert highlights the extraordinary legacy of Arthur Fiedler (Pops Conductor 1930-79), one of the most beloved figures in Boston history, with pianist Michael Chertock performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The program continues with music by acclaimed conductor/composer John Williams (Pops Conductor, 1980-93), including selections from E.T., The Extra-terrestrial and Star Wars. The inimitable Doc Severinsen, the longtime trumpeter, bandleader, and irreverent sidekick on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, makes a special appearance, as he holds the distinction of performing under the batons of all three of the evening’s tribute Pops Conductors.
Keith Lockhart (Pops Conductor 1994-present) leads the program’s grand finale, featuring Idina Menzel, Tony Award-winning actress and new star of the hit TV show Glee!, singing two of her most famous songs from Rent and Wicked, and the world premiere of The Beatles: Rock Band, a fully orchestrated audience sing along featuring some of The Beatles’ iconic songs synched to the groundbreaking game design by Harmonix Music (producers of the wildly popular game series Rock Band) projected above the orchestra on the Pops’ 44 foot-wide screen. A collaboration between the Boston Pops and Harmonix Music, their parent company, MTV, and the Beatles’ record label, Apple Records. It connects past to present in that Arthur Fiedler was among the first to recognize the incredible musical force the Beatles would become when he recorded The Boston Pops Plays the Beatles, and Keith Lockhart brings it full circle to recognize the enormous global impact of video gaming to 21st Century homes.
With everything from Rhapsody in Blue to the Beatles in video game form, it can't be anything but a great time! Get there at 7pm, for the festive pre-concert reception and see giant balloon arches and a huge “125” on top of the marquee to commemorate the anniversary milestone.
For tickets: http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp?pid=prod361001
