Keith Lockhart

Not to be confused with Keith Lockhart (baseball).

Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
Background information
Birth name	Keith Alan Lockhart
Born	(1959-11-07) November 7, 1959 Poughkeepsie, New York
Occupation(s)	Boston Pops Orchestra Music Director
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1989–present
Notable instruments
Piano

Keith Alan Lockhart (born November 7, 1959) is the Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Lockhart was the Music Director of the Utah Symphony from 1998 - 2009, and has held honorary titles in many other orchestras.

In 1995, Keith Lockhart became the third conductor of the Boston Pops. Lockhart holds the Julian and Eunice Cohen Boston Pops Conductor chair. Lockhart has worked with a wide array of established artists from the entertainment world, and promotes programs that focus on talented young musicians from the Tanglewood Music Center, Boston Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music.

Lockhart has conducted more than 1,500 Boston Pops concerts and introduced the innovative JazzFest and EdgeFest series, featuring prominent jazz and indie artists performing with the Pops. Lockhart has also introduced concert performances of full-length Broadway shows, including Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, and Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, along with the PopSearch and High School Sing-Off competitions.

Under Lockhart's leadership, the Boston Pops has commissioned several new works--including The Dream Lives On, a tribute to the Kennedy brothers, which was premiered in May 2010 during the 125th anniversary season-and dozens of new arrangements.

Early life

Born on November 7, 1959, in Poughkeepsie, New York, Lockhart is the elder of two children born to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean (Woodyard) Lockhart, who worked as computer professionals. He grew up in nearby Wappingers Falls and was educated in the public schools of New York's Dutchess County. He began studying piano at age seven. Lockhart graduated in 1981 from Furman University with a double major, German and piano performance. He then went on to get a master's degree in orchestral conducting from Carnegie Mellon University. Lockhart was initiated into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity in 1978 by the Gamma Eta chapter at Furman University.

Music career

Lockhart's conducting career began as the associate conductor of both the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops orchestras, as well as music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. In 1995, Lockhart became conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, succeeding John Williams. He maintains this position to date. Additionally, from 1998 to 2009, Lockhart was also the music director of the Utah Symphony. In 2010, Lockhart became the principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Lockhart is also the Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center summer institute and festival, a program which he attended as an adolescent.

In addition to his principal conducting roles, Lockhart has been a guest conductor for numerous international orchestras, including Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Domestically, Lockhart has also conducted with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. Since 1991, he has conducted over 100 programs with the Naples (FL) Philharmonic.

He and the Boston Pops have released five self-produced recordings-2013's A Boston Pops Christmas-Live from Symphony Hall, as well as Sleigh Ride, America, Oscar & Tony, and The Red Sox Album-and also recorded eight albums with RCA Victor-Runnin' Wild: The Boston Pops Play Glenn Miller, American Visions, the Grammy-nominated The Celtic Album, Holiday Pops, A Splash of Pops, Encore!, the Latin Grammy-nominated The Latin Album, and My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration. Keith Lockhart has made 74 television shows with the Boston Pops, including a 2009 concert featuring jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, and special guests Sting, John Mayer, and Steven Tyler, and the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, broadcast nationally for many years on the A&E and CBS television networks. He has also led many Holiday Pops telecasts, as well as 38 new programs for PBS's Evening at Pops (1970-2004). He has led the Boston Pops on 39 national tours, as well as performances at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, and brought the music of "America's Orchestra" overseas in four tours of Japan and Korea. Lockhart has led the Boston Pops in the national anthem for numerous major sports events.

Personal life

Lockhart married his college sweetheart, Ann Louise Heatherington, after he graduated from Furman University. The couple divorced two years later.

Lockhart married Boston Pops violinist Lucia Lin in 1996. The couple divorced in 2005. They have one son, Aaron, born in 2003. In 2007, Lockhart married his current wife, Emiley Zalesky. The two met while Zalesky was on a date at a restaurant in Boston. Zalesky is an attorney in Massachusetts. The couple have a son, Edward Kellan Lockhart, who was born in 2010.

Awards and nominations

Lockhart received the Bob Hope Patriot award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in 2006.