Cynthia Erivo
Lead Season Sponsor
Thursday, May 8, 7:30pm
Corporate support for Thursday evening’s concert is generously provided by BSO Business Partner Bayberry Financial Services.
BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA
KEITH LOCKHART conducting
The Club, from In The Heights
Miranda—arr. Solla
Jerome Robbins’ Broadway: Gotta Dance
arr. Ramin
Presenting
Cynthia Erivo
Selections to be announced from stage
INTERMISSION
Sir Duke
Wonder—arr. Elliott)
Oblivion
Piazzolla—arr. Morley
Presenting
Cynthia Erivo
Selections to be announced from stage
The Boston Pops welcomes Bridgewater State University Music Department; Harvard Club of Boston; Harvard Outings & Innings; Diana Hunt; Joslin Diabetes Center; Jason Leonhard; MIT Activities Committee; MIT Office of the Arts; Northeastern University Alumni Relations; Carmen Patti and Margaret Nelson Household; Brian Patton; The Price Center; The ‘Quin House; Giana Uwazany
Guests are expected to drink responsibly. Intoxication will not be tolerated. Intervention with an impaired guest will be handled in a prompt and safe manner, which may include ejection from the premises.
Photos, videos, and audio recordings are prohibited during the performance. You are welcome (and encouraged!) take photos and videos before and after the concert, and at intermission.
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Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart is the second longest-tenured conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra since its founding in 1885. He took over as conductor in 1995, following John Williams’s thirteen-year tenure from 1980 to 1993; Mr. Williams succeeded the legendary Arthur Fiedler, who was at the helm of the orchestra for nearly fifty years. Keith Lockhart, who occupies the Julian and Eunice Cohen Boston Pops Conductor chair, has conducted more than 2,100 Boston Pops concerts and annual Boston Pops appearances at Tanglewood, as well as 45 national tours and 5 international tours to Japan and Korea. The annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular conducted by Mr. Lockhart draws a live audience of over half a million to the Charles River Esplanade and millions more who view it on television or live webcast. He has led eight albums on RCA Victor/BMG Classics; recent releases on Boston Pops Recordings include A Boston Pops Christmas–Live from Symphony Hall, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, and Lights, Camera… Music! Six Decades of John Williams. The list of nearly 300 guest artists with whom Keith Lockhart has collaborated represents performers from virtually every corner of the entertainment world. Having recently completed an eight- year tenure as principal conductor, he is now chief guest conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in London; he is also artistic director of the Brevard Music Center summer institute and festival in North Carolina. Prior to his BBC appointment, he spent eleven years as music director of the Utah Symphony. He has appeared as a guest conductor with virtually every major symphonic ensemble in North America and many in Asia and Europe. Before coming to Boston, he was the associate conductor of both the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops orchestras, as well as music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. For more on Keith Lockhart, visit www.bso.org/keith-lockhart or bostonpops.org.
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Cynthia Erivo
Cynthia Erivo, MBE is an Emmy, Tony, two-time Grammy Award-winning and three-time Academy Award-nominated actress, singer and producer. Erivo burst onto West End and Broadway stages in The Color Purple, for which she won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical and has since taken the world by storm. In 2024, she starred as Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande’s Glinda in Universal’s record-breaking film adaptation of the hit musical Wicked from director Jon M. Chu. The film opened number one at the box office. Erivo garnered widespread critical acclaim for her performance, receiving Golden Globe, SAG, Critics’ Choice, NAACP, BAFTA, and Academy Award nominations. In November 2025, the follow up film Wicked: For Good opened at number one at the box office, exceeding expectations and breaking records including the biggest opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation. Erivo continues to receive widespread raves for her performance.
Erivo is next set to start production on the film adaptation of Prima Facie, the Broadway sensation that originated on the West End. Under her Edith’s Daughter production banner, she will also executive produce the film. This February 2026, Erivo will be making her highly anticipated return to the west end in Kip Williams' play Dracula. In this one woman show, Erivo will play 23 characters — from the naïve solicitor Jonathan Harker and his fiancée Mina Murray to confidante Lucy Westenra, her suitors, and the formidable vampire hunter Van Helsing — as well as the infamous Count Dracula themself. Dracula will make a limited run through May 2026.
In addition to her illustrious acting career, Erivo is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer, often headlining sold-out shows, symphonies, and music spaces including the Kennedy Center Honors, the 2020 Academy Awards, the 2017 Governor’s Ball, and the 2017 Grammy Awards. In 2026, Erivo won a Grammy Award for "Defying Gravity" in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category with Ariana Grande for Wicked. She released her second studio album, I Forgive You, on June 6th, 2025, with Republic Records and received a 2026 Grammy nomination for her single "Be Okay" off the album in the category of Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. Erivo’s debut album, Ch. 1 Vs. 1 was released in September 2021 with Verve/Universal Music Group.
The Boston Pops and Symphony Hall major corporate sponsorships reflect the increasing importance of alliance between business and the arts. The Boston Pops is honored to be associated with the following companies and gratefully acknowledges their partnership. For information regarding BSO, Boston Pops, and/or Tanglewood sponsorship opportunities, contact Joan Jolley, Director of Corporate Partnerships, at (617) 638-9279 or jjolley@bso.org.
Boston Pops Major Corporate Sponsors, 2024-25 Season
