Sep 20
Join Bernadette Peters for New Year's Eve With the Boston Pops
READ TIME: 4 MIN.
Legendary star of stage and screen Bernadette Peters makes her much-anticipated Boston Pops return for a special December 31 concert at 8 p.m. at Boston's Symphony Hall.
One of the most popular guests to appear with the Pops over the years, Peters – who last performed with the orchestra in 2019 – will ring in the New Year for a magical and inspiring evening of songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, and other Broadway legends. The program features not one but two conductors making their Pops debut: Troy Quinn, who will lead the orchestra in first half of the concert, and Joseph Thalken, Peters' music director, who will conduct her set on the second half of the program and accompany her at the piano.
Over a career spanning more than six decades, Peters has starred in musical theater, television and film, performed in solo concerts, and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards (winning three) and nine Drama Desk Award nominations (also winning three). Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
Regarded by many as the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim, Peters is particularly noted for her roles on the Broadway stage, including in the musicals "Mack and Mabel," "Sunday in the Park with George," "Song and Dance," "Into the Woods," "The Goodbye Girl," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Gypsy," "A Little Night Music," "Follies," and "Hello, Dolly!" She has recorded six solo albums as well as many cast albums and performs regularly in her own solo concert act. Peters recently concluded a highly successful West End debut in the Cameron Mackintosh production of "Old Friends," celebrating the life and work of Sondheim. The production will transfer to Broadway in spring 2025.
In addition to the concert, this festive evening includes food and beverage service. It marks the first New Year's Eve Pops concert since 2019 when the New York-based jazz band Hot Sardines performed.
How to Purchase Tickets
Tickets to the Bernadette Peters program and other Pops and BSO (Boston Symphony Orchestra) concerts throughout the 2024–25 BSO are available to purchase by calling 888-266-1200 or visiting bso.org. Tickets for Bernadette Peters go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, September 25.
About The Boston Pops
For more than 135 years, the Boston Pops have entertained audiences in Boston and beyond, with Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart leading the orchestra since 1995. It all began in 1885, thanks to the vision of Civil War veteran Henry Lee Higginson. Four years earlier, in 1881, he founded the Boston Symphony Orchestra, calling its establishment "the dream of my life." From the start he intended to present, in the warmer months, concerts of light classics and the popular music of the day. From a practical perspective, Higginson realized that these "lighter" performances would provide year-round employment for his musicians. The "Promenade Concerts," as they were originally called, were soon informally known as "Popular Concerts," which eventually became shortened to "Pops," the name officially adopted in 1900. The following year the orchestra performed for the first time in its new home, Symphony Hall.
In 1930 Arthur Fiedler became the first American-born musician to lead the orchestra. In Fiedler's nearly 50-year tenure as Pops Conductor (1930–1979), he established the Boston Pops as a national icon and began the tradition of offering free Fourth of July concerts on the Esplanade. When John Williams (1980–1993) succeeded Arthur Fiedler, he was the most highly acclaimed composer in Hollywood, and today, with 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the most-nominated living person in Academy history.
Keith Lockhart was named conductor in 1995 and has since led over 2,250 concerts with the Pops. He has created programs that reach out to a broader and younger audience by presenting artists – both established performers and rising stars – from virtually every corner of the entertainment world, all the while maintaining the Pops' core appeal. He has made 81 television shows, led 45 national and five overseas tours with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, led the Pops at several high-profile sports events, and recorded 12 albums. Lockhart's tenure has been marked by a dramatic increase in touring, the orchestra's first Grammy nominations, the first major network national broadcast of the July 4 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular from the Esplanade, and the release of the Boston Pops' first self-produced and self-distributed recordings. Last fall, Lockhart led a Pops tour in Japan and conducted 34 Holiday Pops programs in December.
