By Jeanne Sager
BETHEL — August 15, 2006 — Bethel Woods will be going out with a pop.
The finale of the inaugural season at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts will likewise be the end of a long summer for the Boston Pops.
In the weeks working up to the August 26 performance at the Woodstock site, the historic touring section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will pop into locales from Nantucket, Mass. to Vienna, Va.
Conductor Keith Lockhart, only the third man to hold the baton in the Pops’ 125-year history, said they’ll fit sleep in somewhere!
He’s looking forward to the Bethel performance as a sort-of homecoming.
Raised in Poughkeepsie, Lockhart wasn’t old enough to attend the original 1969 Woodstock concert.
“I’m not quite old enough to remember [it],” he said, “except my parents telling me to stay inside and keep the screen door locked!
“It’s certainly a storied section of the world,” he said.
Lockhart and the Pops will be joined in Bethel by Tony Award winner Faith Prince who will belt out some of her favorites from old Broadway in a two-hour concert in Bethel.
The entire set of music was played by the Pops during their summer season several years ago, but Lockhart said the folks at Bethel Woods were set on a Broadway theme and he was happy to accommodate.
“American Broadway, in addition to jazz, is one of the great musical styles,” he said.
“We’re bringing a program that’s near and dear to the Pops’ heart.”
Well known as America’s orchestra, the Pops have risen to new heights under Lockhart’s capable leadership.
With him at the front, they’ve earned their first Grammy nomination, and the Emmy Award-winning “Evening at Pops” is aired on PBS stations nationwide throughout the summer.
The Pops’ fireworks spectacular is part of many Americans’ July 4 celebration in front of the television.
But Lockhart is still jazzed about this trip to Bethel.
“We’re just as thrilled [in Bethel] as we are to play in D.C.” he said. “We’re part of the grand christening!”
The Boston Pops concert will begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 26.
Tickets can be purchased at Steve’s Music Center in Rock Hill or at the Bethel Woods box office. For information, visit www.bethelwoods live.org.