Keith Lockhart is Conductor of the Boston Pops and has been Artistic Director of the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute and Festival since 2007.

Lockhart’s appointment at Brevard solidified an already special relationship with BMC, having attended as a teenager for two summers (1974, 1975). Now in his 31st season, Keith has served as Conductor of the Boston Pops since 1995, a tenure that includes over 2500 performances, nearly 50 national tours to more than 150 cities, and five international tours. He and the Pops have made eighty television shows. The annual July 4 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular draws a live audience of over half a million with millions more who watch on television or live webcast.

As Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra from 2010-2018, Keith led acclaimed North American tours, annual performances at The Proms, a celebration of the orchestra’s 60th year, as well as a concert to honor Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. Keith was also Music Director of the Utah Symphony (1998-2009), Music Director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra (1992-1999), and Associate Conductor of both the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras (1990-1995). Keith Lockhart has conducted nearly every major orchestra in North America, as well as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Vienna Radio Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In the opera pit, Keith has conducted productions with the Opera Companies of Atlanta, Washington, Boston Lyric, and Utah. Recent engagements have included returns to The Cleveland Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Vienna Tonkuenstler Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and The Orchestra Japan for its 10th Anniversary Gala Concert in Suntory Hall, Tokyo.

Born in Poughkeepsie, NY, he began his musical studies on piano at the age of seven, and holds degrees from Furman University and Carnegie Mellon University; Keith also holds honorary doctorates from the Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Northeastern University, Furman University, and Carnegie Mellon University, among others. He was the 2006 recipient of the Bob Hope Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, and was a recipient of the 2017 Commonwealth Award, Massachusetts’ highest cultural honor.