Spring Pops season to feature Cynthia Erivo, Orville Peck, and more

Keith Lockhart was appointed conductor of the Boston Pops in 1995, so naturally, there were big plans in the works for the 2020 Spring Pops season. “There were all these brochures — come celebrate Keith Lockhart’s 25th anniversary season! — that never went out, of course,” Lockhart said in a phone interview. “So everyone went, oh wow, we really have to do the 30th one.”

That 30th anniversary would be this upcoming spring season at Symphony Hall, which runs May 8 through June 7. The schedule includes an opening evening with “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo, Pride night with masked rhinestone cowboy Orville Peck, and a symphonic celebration of the music of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, featuring multiple members of the Jerry Garcia Band.

“But I have to tell you,” Lockhart said, “I’ve never been a big believer in anniversaries.”

Musical institutions tend to celebrate the anniversaries of “people who we focus on the rest of the time anyway,” he said. In line with that, he said he doesn’t have any special projects in mind for his 30th anniversary with the Pops. “There’s all sorts of things I want to do. They’re just not because of the number of years I’ve been here. I don’t want to sound falsely modest here, but it’s not about me. It’s about the work of the Pops, and what we do, and how we survive in this weirdly changing entertainment landscape, and it’s about the music. And I hope it stays that way.”

Lockhart, who has had his current job for almost half of his life, readily admitted he’s “looking at the back half” of his time with the orchestra. He described a recent experience during the December Holiday Pops season as “wonderful” and “horrifying”: “I have people come up backstage with their small children who want to meet me. Then they whip out a picture of them with their parents meeting me — you know, 25 years ago. But on the other hand, it’s really cool to be in a position to have had influence over that period of time.”

And he isn’t sharing any concrete plans to pass the baton yet. “I can tell you definitely, I’m not going to try for Fiedler’s record,” he said — referring to the half-century tenure of Arthur Fiedler. “He died during his 50th season on the podium. I can’t imagine that would be good either for the institution or for me — I don’t mean the dying part, I mean the being there another 20 years!”

With the time he has left, Lockhart said he intends to “stand for and fight for” the power of live performances. When he took the job in 1995, he had neither an email address nor a cellphone. “You just didn’t need those things,” he reminisced wryly. “It’s a very different entertainment landscape than it was.”

The pandemic shutdown in particular “brought a lot of people you know, more into themselves and less out into the community, the world,” he continued. “I think [these next few years] are going to be critical to how we engage with the arts as a population.”

The season’s hottest ticket is almost certain to be opening night with Erivo, who received the third Academy Award nomination of her life for her performance as Elphaba in the 2024 film adaptation of “Wicked.” The 38-year-old British actress and singer’s career has been on a meteoric rise in the past decade; she won a 2016 Tony Award for her performance as Celie in Broadway’s “The Color Purple” before breaking into film in the late 2010s with roles including Harriet Tubman in the 2019 biopic “Harriet,” for which she netted her first two Oscar nominations.

Erivo was booked with the Pops prior to the release of “Wicked,” and “now, everybody knows who she is!” Lockhart said. “We’re really excited. That was a case of right place, right time; making that deal before she became a household name. It’s a great way to open.”

Following that, the season incorporates plenty of Pops traditions. The music of laureate conductor John Williams is amply represented; the orchestra plays the live soundtrack along with a screening of “Jaws” (May 9 and 10), the “Star Wars: The Story in Music” narrated concert returns with actor Jeremiah Kissel (May 15), and there’s also a program titled simply “John Williams’ Playlist” (May 29 and 31). In addition, the orchestra will provide a live soundtrack to screenings of Disney’s “Frozen” (May 24 and 31), and conductor Charles Floyd will unite the orchestra, soloists David and Tamela Mann, and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir for the annual Gospel Night (June 7).

Peck, who is billed as a “special guest” for Pride Night (June 5), will presumably be taking a night off of his recently announced four-month engagement as the Emcee in Broadway’s ongoing revival of “Cabaret” to make his Pops debut. Another first-time guest is singer/songwriter/composer Cody Fry, who has been performing with a handful of American orchestras on the heels of his viral hit “I Hear a Symphony” and his Grammy-nominated, strings-forward arrangement of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” (May 28).

That’s not to say Lockhart is totally ignoring the trappings of his 30th anniversary; after all, his last concert of the season is a celebration of his three decades on the podium, featuring Broadway talents Mandy Gonzalez and Jason Danieley, and Great American Songbook advocate singer/pianist Michael Feinstein. But Lockhart doesn’t have much information beyond that.

“It’s being planned by my staff,” he said. “I don’t know what’s on it!”

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A.Z. Madonna can be reached at az.madonna@globe.com. Follow her @knitandlisten.