17 Facts About Keith Lockhart

Keith Alan Lockhart was born on November 7,1959 and is an American conductor.

Keith Lockhart is the Conductor of the Boston Pops orchestra, the Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

Keith Lockhart grew up in nearby Wappingers Falls and was educated in the public schools of New York's Dutchess County.

Keith Lockhart graduated in 1981 from Furman University with a double major in German and piano performance.

Keith Lockhart was initiated into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity in 1978 by the Gamma Eta chapter at Furman University.

Keith 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.

Keith Lockhart was appointed conductor of the Boston Pops in 1995.

Keith Lockhart has conducted more than 1,900 Pops concerts, most of which have taken place during the orchestra's spring and holiday seasons in Boston's historic Symphony Hall.

Keith Lockhart has led annual Boston Pops appearances at Tanglewood, 43 national tours to more than 150 cities in 38 states, and four international tours to Japan and Korea.

Keith Lockhart conducted The Star-Spangled Banner in the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

In 2010, Keith Lockhart became the principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Keith Lockhart concluded his tenure as principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra at the end of December 2017, and took the title of chief guest conductor of the orchestra, effective January 2018.

Keith Lockhart is the Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center summer institute and festival, a program which he attended as an adolescent.

Keith Lockhart has conducted nearly every major orchestra in North America as well as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Keith Lockhart completed a recording of the Bernstein Serenade with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 2007, Keith Lockhart married his current wife, lawyer Emiley Zalesky.

Keith Lockhart received the Bob Hope Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in 2006 and was recipient of the 2017 Commonwealth Award, the highest cultural honor bestowed by the state of Massachusetts.