Performers

Since the group’s inception in 1993, the Boston College Acoustics have performed their way into the hearts of listeners with their fun, quirky, and theatrical brand of a cappella. ​A group rich in traditions and family values, the Acoustics are extremely passionate about the music they perform together. They have been blessed by the contributions of over 150 members, a number that continues to grow each semester. The “Stix” pride themselves on the diversity of their repertoire, wailing away on ’70s rock, ’80s pop, ’90s jams, and millennial miscellany. They have released a total of nine studio albums, the most recent being On Acoustics Time, released in 2020.

Alexandrina Weingart is a senior from St. Louis, Missouri, studying neuroscience with a minor in philosophy. She is a member of the University Chorale, Liederabend, Musical Theater Cabaret, and is a music minister for the weekly Heights Room Mass on campus. She started singing at nine and has a background in Gregorian chant, choral music, classical, musical theater, and opera. Most recently, she was selected as a winner of the 2024 BC Symphony Orchestra Concerto-Aria Competition and performed as part of their Winter Concert this past February. Outside the arts, she enjoys working as an operations and recruiting intern for the BC Football program. She has plans to pursue graduate studies and a career in biotechnology, pharmaceutical research, or public health.

Billy Bollbach is a junior at Boston College from Bergen County, New Jersey, studying theatre, English, and journalism. A multi-hyphenate storyteller, Billy has fourteen years of experience acting, directing, and writing. At BC, he directed the 2024 production of Rabbit Hole, played Lawrence Macbeth in Inverness Unravels, and performed in the ensemble and played Gordon and the Man in Rent. On campus, Billy teaches spin classes, gives tours to prospective families, and is a peer coach for the Murray Center for Student Wellness. He extends immense gratitude to his friends and family, specifically his parents, and the Pops on the Heights staff for all of their support and encouragement.

The Bostonians of Boston College are BC’s original and premier a cappella group. Established in 1986, The Bostonians have made their way through the collegiate a cappella scene as pioneers in their niche. Having written and produced 10 albums that won several awards, appearing over eight times on the annual “Best of College A Cappella” (BOCA) album, and being known as one of Boston’s historic, collegiate a cappella groups, the Bostonians are a staple at Boston College and within the greater Boston community. In addition to their music, the Bostonians enjoy touring across the country and overseas to share their music with others.

Founded in 2015, the Common Tones is Boston College’s only service-based a cappella group. Tones was created in order to bring the passion of BC voices into the heart of Boston. Versatile in repertoire and dedicated to serving the community, the Common Tones are a committed, energetic, and vibrant family of singers.

The Boston College Dynamics is an all-gender a cappella group. Founded in 1998, the group has developed into a premier performing group on the Boston College campus. Their repertoire includes Top 40, R & B, and many other genres of popular music.

Veronica Wells is a senior in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences majoring in psychology, on the clinical track, and minoring in sociology. Veronica is the treasurer of the University Chorale as well as a member of the Chamber Choir, Musical Theater Cabaret, and Liederabend. She started singing in musicals and choir in second grade and hasn’t stopped! Two of her favorite musical memories are performing the lead role of Velma in Chicago and singing with the All-State Choir of Massachusetts. In the future, Veronica plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology, focusing on the mental health of incarcerated people. She currently works for Correctional Psychiatric Services in Boston and plans to do a senior thesis on prison nurseries and their perceived effect on maternal mental health.

The Heightsmen of Boston College is BC’s only all-male a cappella group on campus. Known for their diverse repertoire and captivating performances, the Heightsmen have entertained local and national audiences for over 30 years.

The Sharps were founded in 1990 as the only all-female a cappella group at Boston College. They take pride in being not just an a cappella group, but also a close-knit community of women who support and care for one another. In addition to singing and entertaining on campus, they enjoy performing throughout the Northeast and collaborating with other collegiate a cappella groups.

and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra

On May 10, 1995, Keith Lockhart, the 20th conductor of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, opened his very first Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra season, leading a concert featuring guests Sylvia McNair, Mandy Patinkin, and Doc Severinsen, with a repertoire ranging from Wagner to “Charlie on the MTA.” He was only 35 years old—the same age as Arthur Fiedler was when he became Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra conductor. Since then, with seemingly endless energy, Keith Lockhart has led the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in more than 2,000 concerts in every imaginable setting—from hospitals to the Super Bowl—and collaborated with nearly 300 guest artists, drawn from the worlds of classical and popular music, rock, jazz, sports, politics, Broadway, and Hollywood. He holds the Julian and Eunice Cohen Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra Conductor chair.

Most of the concerts led by Keith Lockhart take place in Symphony Hall during the spring and holiday Pops seasons. He also leads annual Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra appearances at Tanglewood and has led the orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall, on 45 national tours to more than 150 cities in 38 states, and on four international tours to Japan and Korea. He and the Pops have made 83 television shows. The annual July 4 Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra Fireworks Spectacular draws a live audience of over half a million to the Charles River Esplanade, and millions more view it on television or live webcast. During Keith’s tenure, the July 4 event was televised by a major national network for the first time. During Symphony Hall’s closure to the public due to the pandemic, Keith Lockhart led the Pops in the 2020 Holiday Celebration concert and four 2021 Spring Celebration concerts, all presented on the BSO’s streaming platform, BSO NOW. And in February 2021, they performed the first live-streaming concert to appear on the platform, a Valentine’s Day–themed program that featured dancers from three exciting Boston-based troupes collaborating with the orchestra. With the 2021 Holiday Pops season, Keith and the orchestra welcomed Pops audiences back to Symphony Hall. Lockhart has led the Pops on 14 albums—two Grammy-nominated—most recently Lights, Camera…Music! Six Decades of John Williams (2017), a collection of Williams compositions from the 1960s onward.

Committed to bringing the orchestra’s vibrant music and spirit into the Boston community, Keith Lockhart and the Pops have appeared at gubernatorial and mayoral inauguration ceremonies; the holiday tree lighting in Boston’s Public Garden; and the memorial service for the Boston Marathon bombing victims. He has led free concerts in such major public spaces as the Boston Common and Franklin Park, and each holiday season he brings musicians from the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra to play for patients at Boston Children’s Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He is a recipient of the 2017 Commonwealth Awards for Achievement, the state’s highest honor in the arts, humanities, and sciences, presented by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In 2019, both the spring and holiday Pops seasons included a sensory-friendly concert designed for families with individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder or sensory sensitivities.

During his decade tenure as principal conductor, and then chief guest conductor, of the BBC Concert Orchestra, Keith Lockhart led the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to his BBC appointment, he spent eleven years as music director of the Utah Symphony, which he led at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. He has appeared as a guest conductor with virtually every major symphonic ensemble in North America, as well as many prestigious orchestras in Asia and Europe. Before coming to Boston, he was the associate conductor of both the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops orchestras, as well as music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. He also serves as artistic director of the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute and Festival in North Carolina, a position he has held since 2007. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Keith Lockhart began his musical studies with piano lessons at the age of seven. He holds degrees from Furman University and Carnegie Mellon University and honorary doctorates from several American universities.

For more than 135 years, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra has entertained audiences in Boston and beyond, with Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra 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. Not only is this performance space acoustically outstanding, it was also designed, at Higginson’s insistence, so that the rows of seats for Boston Symphony concerts could be replaced by tables and chairs for Pops concerts. To this day, patrons sitting at the cabaret-style tables can enjoy food and drink along with the kind of musical entertainment only the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra can provide.

There were 17 Pops conductors, beginning with the German Adolf Neuendorff, who preceded Arthur Fiedler, 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 Esplanade Orchestra as a national icon. When John Williams (1980–1993) succeeded Arthur Fiedler, he was the most highly acclaimed composer in Hollywood, and today, with 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the most-nominated living person in Academy history. Mr. Williams continued the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra’s prolific recording tradition with a series of best-selling recordings for the Philips and Sony Classical labels, broadened and updated the Pops repertoire, and entertained audiences with live orchestral accompaniment to clips of memorable movie scenes, many featuring iconic music from his own film scores. 

Having led over 2,000 Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra concerts in his tenure to date, Keith Lockhart (1995–present) 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 83 television shows, led 45 national and four overseas tours with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, led the Pops at several high-profile sports events, and recorded 14 albums. Mr. 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 Esplanade Orchestra Fireworks Spectacular from the Esplanade, and the release of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra’s first self-produced and self-distributed recordings.