Submitted by Nick Balkin
Berklee Night at the Pops featuring Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer/songwriter and Berklee alumna Melissa Etheridge will showcase four up-and-coming artists from her alma mater in the first half of the program June 12 at Symphony Hall.
The Berklee artists—recent graduate Sarah Walk, and current students Sarah McKenzie, Deni Hlavinka, and Ahmad El Haggar—were selected by Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart to perform at the event. Each artist will pair with a Berklee student arranger to create orchestrations of their works to be performed with the Pops.
To preview the event, the Loft Sessions, a video showcase for Berklee students and alumni, released a new video today for Sarah Walk’s “Keep on Dreaming,” recorded with 60 students at Symphony Hall. Watch it here.
The event is the latest in an ongoing collaboration between Berklee and the Boston Pops. In recent years, students have gained exposure performing at the JazzFest and EdgeFest series at Symphony Hall. Many Berklee faculty members are also members of the Pops, including Julianne Lee, Gus Sebring, and Owen Young. Berklee professor Bill Elliott arranges for the Pops and is coaching the student arrangers for this concert. The student arrangers include Evan Chapman, Dante St. James, Joel Sim, and Ziga Pirnat.
The concert is Etheridge’s first-ever appearance with a symphony orchestra, and kicks off her two-night run with the Pops. Etheridge attended Berklee through 1980, and returned to the college in 2006 to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary doctorate.
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The concert will take place on Thursday, June 12, 8:00 pm, at Symphony Hall. Tickets are $24-$94 and are available at bso.org.
