Celebrating Keith Lockhart’s 20th anniversary as Boston Pops Conductor, the orchestra’s 2015 Spring Season opened on Wednesday, May 6 at 8 p.m. with Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters as the special Opening Night guest; Maestro Lockhart was fetted in grand fashion at the end of the evening with a five-foot tall cake presented on stage at Symphony Hall

Keith Lockhart opened the first concert of the 2015 Boston Pops season with John Williams’ celebratory “Sound the Bells!,” a musical tribute to Frank Sinatra, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the singer’s birth, and the premiere of a new orchestra arrangement of Meghan Trainor’s hit pop song “All About that Bass,” written exclusively for the Boston Pops. The Broadway megahit “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”—the first piece Keith Lockhart led in 1995 after being appointed Boston Pops Conductor—opened the second half of the program, which featured Broadway songstress Bernadette Peters in a selection of beloved songs from the Broadway and great American songbook canons. Complete details about the 2015 Boston Pops season are available at www.bostonpops.org.

BOSTON POPS 2015 SEASON OVERVIEW
Wednesday’s Opening Night concert set the stage for a season showcasing the wide ranging musical styles and entertainment made famous by the Boston Pops, “America’s Orchestra.” Highlights on Keith Lockhart’s 20th anniversary season include performances by Audra McDonald (6/2 & 6/3), a night devoted to the legendary musical theater genius Stephen Sondheim with the help of Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley (6/10 & 6/11); and a brand new series—“By Popular Demand,” five concerts (5/7, 16, 26, 29, & 6/5) that offer concertgoers a chance to vote via cell phone, live during the concert’s entire second half, for the music to be performed. The season also welcomes debut performances of The Midtown Men—four stars from the original cast of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys— (5/19, 20, & 21), living legends of gospel, The Blind Boys of Alabama, on Gospel Night (6/6), and performers Carlos Núñez and Karen Casy as part of “A Celtic Sojourn at Pops,” hosted and curated by WGBH’s Brian O’Donovan for broadcast on his immensely popular radio program “A Celtic Sojourn.” Some of the most popular concert themes of recent years return to the Pops stage include the annual Film Night series led by Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams (5/22 & 23); a performance of Cirque de la Symphonie complete with aerial flyers, acrobats, dancers, and jugglers (6/12 & 13); and a screening of the complete 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain with live orchestra (5/8 & 5/9).