Keith Lockhart, who has been the Music Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 15 years, follows the footsteps of John Williams and Arthur Fiedler and is only the third conductor of this institution since 1930. Born in 1959, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Lockhart began his musical studies at age seven when he took piano lessons.  He earned two degrees from Furman University in Greenville, SC in 1981 and holds an M.F.A. in Orchestral Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.  He also served as the Music Director of the Utah Symphony from 1998 until stepping down this year.  He will remain as Conductor Laureate.   

BSO founder Henry Lee Higginson had proposed this new series of concerts in the hope of re-creating the ambiance of summer evenings in Viennese concert gardens, while also providing summer employment for the members of the Boston Symphony, who at that point had to search for other work six months out of the year.  In 1900 these performances officially became Pops (short for “Popular”) concerts.  Under Keith Lockhart, the orchestra has dramatically increased its touring activities, performing in concert halls and sports arenas across the country. The Pops received its first Grammy nomination for “The Celtic Album," and "The Latin Album" received a Latin Grammy nod. In 2004 the orchestra released “Sleigh Ride,” its first self-produced recording. The perennially popular July Fourth concert is now telecast nationally on CBS. 
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