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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Keith Lockhart marks Pops journey in 30th anniversary concert — with the help of friends
Funny thing about Keith Lockhart's 30th anniversary concert: It was wrong. Lockhart's debut conducting the Boston Pops was indeed June 5-6 … in 1993, 32 years ago. He did open his first season as the official successor to Not that Lockhart could be bothered with the former. From the stage, the conductor mentioned, not for the first time, his general disinterest in birthdays, anniversaries, and the like, preferring instead to look forward, and while he took the stage to a standing ovation, two pieces had passed — the overture to Bernstein's 'Candide' (prancing, tiptoeing, and wafting in equal measure) and a galloping and brassy 'Everything's Coming Up Roses' — before he even addressed the audience to welcome them to the 2025 season as usual. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Related : Advertisement But Lockhart soon settled into the theme of the concert, if somewhat abashedly, by focusing on his role as only one link in an ongoing chain. A video essay on his appointment showed Williams literally passing the baton to him all those years ago, while Peter Fiedler, a nearly spitting image of his father, Arthur, showed up in person to offer congratulations. And Lockhart pointed out that bass player Larry Wolfe had him beat by 25 years, while others on stage hadn't been born by the time he arrived. Advertisement Percussionists Samuel Solomon and Toby Grace with conductor Michael Feinstein and Keith Lockhart in Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" on June 6 at Symphony Hall. Robert Torres He also argued for the purpose of the Pops and the various roles the orchestra serves for Boston and the wider world. One was championing American music, and there were entries from the Great American Songbook (including a scampering 'I Got Rhythm' aided by guitarist John Pizzarelli's high-speed scatting, the tropical rhythms of 'All The Things You Are'), a dip into the rock and disco eras (with Rockapella bringing out the calypso undertones of 'Rock the Boat' and Melinda Doolittle attacking the bluesy swing of 'I'm a Woman' with fire) and light-classical curios (Leroy Anderson's percussive 'The Typewriter,' with Lockhart performing the title instrument). And the Pops is surely unique in offering an extended video-essay salute to 'America the Beautiful' poet Katharine Lee Bates alongside Tom Lehrer's 'sick humor' exemplar 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.' Related : Lockhart also stressed the Pops' role in seeing audiences through difficult times, listing the crises the orchestra has weathered during his tenure: 9/11, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Boston Marathon bombing, financial crises, and a Snowmageddon that saw one concert beginning with only 25 musicians on stage, playing to a crowd of 15. The unspoken message was that the way to make it is together, and Lockhart was joined by a handful of friends, from Pizzarelli, Rockapella, and Doolittle to Michael Feinstein, Jason Danieley, and, in a rare out-of-season appearance, Santa Claus. Conductor Keith Lockhart and members of Rockapella with a cake for his 30th anniversary celebration and concert at Symphony Hall on June 6. Robert Torres Those were just the ones onstage. Liza Minnelli saluted Lockhart via audio, while Williams's congratulatory message was read onstage by Feinstein. And two songs from the end, and before the giant cake arrived, a parade of well-wishers that included Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Branford Marsalis, Ana Gasteyer, James Taylor, Kristin Chenoweth, David Ortiz, and Mayor Michelle Wu appeared by video to sing Sondheim's 'I'm Still Here' with new, Lockhart-specific lyrics. And then the visibly-moved conductor worked his way back to his podium, and he got back to work. Advertisement THE BOSTON POPS: The Keith Lockhart 30th anniversary concert At Symphony Hall, Friday Marc Hirsh can be reached at or on Bluesky @ Marc Hirsh can be reached at
Scotsman
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The Great Wave: Scottish Opera's Hokusai-inspired production to 'straddle fact and fantasy'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The headline news for Scottish Opera earlier this month, while revealing its upcoming 2025-26 programme, is that the new season also marks music director Stuart Stratford's tenth year in the company's artistic hot seat. Given how critical the past decade has been for Scottish Opera - marking its reinvention following a funding crisis that seriously threatened its credibility and very existence - Stratford's success in the role is equally a measure of that comeback. General director Alex Reedijk doesn't hold back his own admiration. 'Stuart has brought so much to the company, exactly what we needed when the going was tough: great musical values, but most of all a style of leadership that makes everyone feel involved, whether artists on stage or specialists behind the scenes. He's created a really strong sense of ensemble within the company.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish Opera general director, Alex Reedijk (left) with music director Stuart Stratford. | Kirsty Anderson As for Stratford's own highlights of the last few years, these chime with recent, recognisable successes. Main stage productions such as Puccini's Il Trittico (Sir David McVicar's production won Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the 2023 Critics' Circle Awards) rank highly on his list. Then again, so do the far-reaching partnership projects and inclusive community initiatives that are now equal drivers in defining Scottish Opera's artistic programming. 'Collaborative productions like [Osvaldo Golijov's] Ainadamar have been a huge success,' he says, 'leading to popular stagings in North America - Detroit, Houston and the Met, before going on to Los Angeles next year. We're very proud it was 'made in Scotland''. 'I'm also very passionate about the community style operas we've done - the circus tent Pagliacci in Paisley, Bernstein's Candide and, at last year's Edinburgh Festival, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. These are ongoing and now one of the flagship things we do.' Add to that Stratford's championing of rare operatic repertoire, much of it presented in concert format with the Scottish Opera Orchestra centre stage, other productions - such as Richard Strauss' Daphne - facilitated by the company's recent partnership with East Lothian's Lammermuir Festival. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Which is exactly where the 2025-26 Season kicks off: a comedic double bill in Haddington (4 September) of Ravel's L'heure espagnole and Walton's Chekhovian one-acter The Bear, later transferring to Glasgow and Edinburgh. 'These will work well together, with a common theme of infidelity,' Stratford explains. The Ravel also recognises the 150th anniversary of the composers birth. The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai But the biggest news of the new season is the world premiere in February of a major new opera, The Great Wave, by British-based Japanese composer Dai Fujikura and Scots librettist Harry Ross. The title refers to the iconic woodblock print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, whose story, and that of his daughter, are freely imagined. 'The subject is an actual historical figure, but the storyline straddles fact and fantasy,' says Stratford. 'Then there's the elusive charm of Fujikara's music, a mix of avant garde with distinctive Japanese simplicity and instrumental colourings.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Great Wave marks yet another major international collaboration by Scottish Opera, this time with Japanese promoters KAJIMOTO, who will oversee future stagings in Japan. If the remainder of the main scale season amounts to a couple of revivals - the exuberant Barbe & Doucet production of Puccini's La bohème (October/November) and Sir Thomas Allen's sprightly Marriage of Figaro - these are nonetheless rich pickings from the Scottish Opera back catalogue. 'Doing Figaro in English this time will lend Sir Tom's production a fresh curiosity,' promises Reedijk. Lest serious opera fans feel short changed, there's a hint of bigger things to come in concert performances in Glasgow and Edinburgh (March) of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde featuring Annemarie Kramer as Isolde in her Scottish Opera debut. 'It's our first Wagner since 2013 and my first Tristan,' says Stratford, with a wink to the future. 'I think we're ready again to tackle these iconic Wagner works.' 'Look out for some future Verdi too,' Reedijk pitches in. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Meanwhile the groundwork for future community productions continues with the formation of a new children's chorus under the direction of Scottish Opera Chorus director Susannah Wapshott, and a new community chorus in Edinburgh arising from the success of last year's Oedipus Rex project. 'We're in a very stable position here,' insists Stratford. 'Getting to do such exciting projects is what keeps me here. I'm very optimistic about what we're doing. And about the next ten years.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Robert Caro, Salman Rushdie and Sandra Cisneros honored by Authors Guild
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Caro, Salman Rushdie and Sandra Cisneros were honored Monday night at an Authors Guild dinner gala that celebrated the written word and its vital role in the preservation of democracy. 'The world we live in is a house on fire and people we love are burning,' said Cisneros, the fiction writer, poet and pacifist who was presented the Baldacci Award for Literary Activism. Caro, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, is this year's winner of the Preston Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community and Rushdie, the novelist and determined critic of censorship, received the Champion of Writers Award for his 'steadfast commitment to free expression." The Authors Guild represents more than 15,000 published authors and advocates for a variety of causes, whether opposing book bans or calling for restrictions on the use AI. The gala, held in Gotham Hall in midtown Manhattan, was hosted by 'Saturday Night Live' star Ego Nwodim. Caro, who accepted his award through a pre-recorded video, served as Guild president from 1979-81. He noted that many of the issues that concerned writers decades ago still concern them, including, he joked, 'waiting for their editors to get back to them.' He otherwise called the Guild's work as 'urgent' as ever and warned that authors can't fight for their causes alone. 'To receive this award from the community that has give me so much moves me deeply,' he said. Rushdie referred to the Trump administration's threats to cut off funding for universities and drastic reductions in support for the arts and humanities and said that 'the sphere of culture is under attack as never before" in his lifetime. 'All segments of the story of America are in the process of being suppressed and perhaps even erased,' he said. 'Authors are the keepers of that story.' Rushdie said he had been reading the classic 18th century novel 'Candide,' and cited the title character's decision to step back from the tumultuous events of the world and 'cultivate his garden.' His retreat is a challenge to us now, said Rushdie, 77, who survived a horrifying on-stage stabbing in 2022. 'Is that how we are going to respond to the crisis of our time? Or are we going to engage with it and fight,' he said. "Now I'm not as young as I used to be. And I've had my share of getting beaten up. So I'm tempted, like Candide, to find a private garden to cultivate. But I may still have a little fight left, and I hope you all do, too.'
Associated Press
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Robert Caro, Salman Rushdie and Sandra Cisneros honored by Authors Guild
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Caro, Salman Rushdie and Sandra Cisneros were honored Monday night at an Authors Guild dinner gala that celebrated the written word and its vital role in the preservation of democracy. 'The world we live in is a house on fire and people we love are burning,' said Cisneros, the fiction writer, poet and pacifist who was presented the Baldacci Award for Literary Activism. Caro, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, is this year's winner of the Preston Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community and Rushdie, the novelist and determined critic of censorship, received the Champion of Writers Award for his 'steadfast commitment to free expression.' The Authors Guild represents more than 15,000 published authors and advocates for a variety of causes, whether opposing book bans or calling for restrictions on the use AI. The gala, held in Gotham Hall in midtown Manhattan, was hosted by 'Saturday Night Live' star Ego Nwodim. Caro, who accepted his award through a pre-recorded video, served as Guild president from 1979-81. He noted that many of the issues that concerned writers decades ago still concern them, including, he joked, 'waiting for their editors to get back to them.' He otherwise called the Guild's work as 'urgent' as ever and warned that authors can't fight for their causes alone. 'To receive this award from the community that has give me so much moves me deeply,' he said. Rushdie referred to the Trump administration's threats to cut off funding for universities and drastic reductions in support for the arts and humanities and said that 'the sphere of culture is under attack as never before' in his lifetime. 'All segments of the story of America are in the process of being suppressed and perhaps even erased,' he said. 'Authors are the keepers of that story.' Rushdie said he had been reading the classic 18th century novel 'Candide,' and cited the title character's decision to step back from the tumultuous events of the world and 'cultivate his garden.' His retreat is a challenge to us now, said Rushdie, 77, who survived a horrifying on-stage stabbing in 2022. 'Is that how we are going to respond to the crisis of our time? Or are we going to engage with it and fight,' he said. 'Now I'm not as young as I used to be. And I've had my share of getting beaten up. So I'm tempted, like Candide, to find a private garden to cultivate. But I may still have a little fight left, and I hope you all do, too.'
The Independent
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Robert Caro, Salman Rushdie and Sandra Cisneros honored by Authors Guild
Robert Caro, Salman Rushdie and Sandra Cisneros were honored Monday night at an Authors Guild dinner gala that celebrated the written word and its vital role in the preservation of democracy. 'The world we live in is a house on fire and people we love are burning,' said Cisneros, the fiction writer, poet and pacifist who was presented the Baldacci Award for Literary Activism. Caro, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, is this year's winner of the Preston Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community and Rushdie, the novelist and determined critic of censorship, received the Champion of Writers Award for his 'steadfast commitment to free expression." The Authors Guild represents more than 15,000 published authors and advocates for a variety of causes, whether opposing book bans or calling for restrictions on the use AI. The gala, held in Gotham Hall in midtown Manhattan, was hosted by 'Saturday Night Live' star Ego Nwodim. Caro, who accepted his award through a pre-recorded video, served as Guild president from 1979-81. He noted that many of the issues that concerned writers decades ago still concern them, including, he joked, 'waiting for their editors to get back to them.' He otherwise called the Guild's work as 'urgent' as ever and warned that authors can't fight for their causes alone. 'To receive this award from the community that has give me so much moves me deeply,' he said. Rushdie referred to the Trump administration's threats to cut off funding for universities and drastic reductions in support for the arts and humanities and said that 'the sphere of culture is under attack as never before" in his lifetime. 'All segments of the story of America are in the process of being suppressed and perhaps even erased,' he said. 'Authors are the keepers of that story.' Rushdie said he had been reading the classic 18th century novel 'Candide,' and cited the title character's decision to step back from the tumultuous events of the world and 'cultivate his garden.' His retreat is a challenge to us now, said Rushdie, 77, who survived a horrifying on-stage stabbing in 2022. 'Is that how we are going to respond to the crisis of our time? Or are we going to engage with it and fight,' he said. "Now I'm not as young as I used to be. And I've had my share of getting beaten up. So I'm tempted, like Candide, to find a private garden to cultivate. But I may still have a little fight left, and I hope you all do, too.'
