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.

Renee Salvo is a junior majoring in transformative educational studies and applied psychology and human development in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, with a minor in music.

Salvo has been singing in choirs since seventh grade, and she began singing competitively in tenth grade, ranking first in Pennsylvania for choral singing in 2024. On campus, she participates in the University Chorale and its Chamber Singers, and she is also a flute player, a piccolo player, and a pianist for the University Wind Ensemble and Flute Ensemble.

Salvo enjoyed performing a piccolo solo of “Stars and Stripes Forever” at the 2024 Pops on the Heights.

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.

Renee Martel is a sophomore studying economics in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, with minors in marketing and French. 

She began singing her sophomore year of high school, and since then she has performed in musical theater shows, vocal showcases, and a student band. 

On campus, Martel is a vocalist for Boston College’s jazz group, BC bOp! Additionally, she serves as a Boston College tour guide, where she enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for the University with prospective students and families. She is passionate about music accessibility worldwide and building community through the arts.

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.

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.