News

Star-Studded Performances Include Sting, Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Ma, Steven Tyler and More

Performance to Be Recorded Live, Broadcast on PBS and Released on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray

Tickets Go on Sale August 8

Renowned trumpeter Chris Botti will perform two special star-studded performances with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops as part of a PBS special "Chris Botti Live in Boston," at 7:30 p.m. at Symphony Hall on September 18 and 19, 2008. These star-studded performances will include Botti performing with some of today's most popular music artists including Sting (18th and 19th), Josh Groban (18th), Yo-Yo Ma (19th), Steven Tyler(18th and 19th), and many more. Tickets for each performance range from $95-$250 and will go on sale beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 8. They are available online at BostonPops.org and through SymphonyCharge by calling 1-800-266-1200.

This special collaboration with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will be broadcast nationally during PBS' pledge drive in March 2009; a DVD and other bonus items will be released exclusively through PBS in March as well.  Sony Music Entertainment will release a live audio CD of the performance in December 2008, followed by a nationwide DVD and Blu-ray release in April 2009. 

"Chris Botti Live in Boston" is a follow-up to Botti's platinum DVD "Live with Special Guests" PBS Special/DVD released in 2005.  Since the release of his first solo album in 1995, trumpeter Chris Botti has created a series of recordings which have made him a star in the realm of contemporary jazz and pop world. Through his singular combination of lush atmospheres and thoughtful improvisations, Botti has earned both critical acclaim and mainstream appreciation for a succession of best-selling albums including When I Fall In Love (2004, #1 Jazz Album) and  To Love Again: The Duets (2005, #1 Top Jazz Album).

In the studio and on stage, Chris Botti has worked with such leading singer-songwriter/composers as Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Sting, and renowned film composer John Barry, among others; as a sideman, he has appeared on dozens of albums, compilations and soundtracks. Botti's association with Sting--who joins Botti on both To Love Again and When I Fall In Love -- dates back to 1999, when the trumpeter joined the pop legend's band as featured soloist on the "Brand New Day" tour, which lasted two years.

WGBH, Boston's PBS station, is a media partner for the concert, and will have tickets available for the September performance. Chris Botti has been a great supporter of public broadcasting, and has provided WGBH with 600 tickets that they will be offering during their August on-air  fundraising campaign.

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops
Keith Lockhart is currently in his fourteenth season as conductor of the Boston Pops. In February 1995, he was named 20th conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra since its founding in 1885. During his tenure, he has conducted the orchestra in more than 1000 concerts, made 65 television shows, including 38 new programs for PBS's "Evening at Pops"; the annual July Fourth spectacular, produced by Boston's WBZ-TV and shown nationally on CBS Television; and the orchestra's annual holiday special, produced and aired in Boston on WBZ-TV and nationally on PBS. The Boston Pops' 2002 July Fourth broadcast was Emmy-nominated, and the "Evening at Pops" telecast of "Fiddlers Three" won the 2002 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Keith Lockhart was an October 2006 recipient of the Bob Hope Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. During his tenure, the Boston Pops has performed with a diverse group of musical greats including Natalie Cole, Rascal Flats, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval, Brian Stokes Mitchell, My Morning Jacket, Bernadette Peters, Elvis Costello, and Andrea Bocelli. The Boston Pops, "America's Orchestra," performs for an audience of nearly 900,000 people annually in Boston, across the country, and around the world, and reaches millions more through its recordings and television broadcasts.