Melissa Etheridge Will Join the Boston Pops Next Summer

Grammy and Oscar-winning American rock singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge will join the Boston Pops under conductor Keith Lockhart on June 12 and 13 for her first-ever appearances with a symphony orchestra. Tickets for these concerts go on sale Friday, December 20th at 10 a.m. at www.bostonpops.org or 888-266-1200 and range from $24-$94. With these performances, Etheridge joins "The Very Best of the Boston Pops" 2014 Boston Pops season, May 7-June 14, showcasing the amazing range of music and entertainment that audiences have come to expect from "America's Orchestra," under the direction of Keith Lockhart, at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA. Further details are available at www.bostonpops.org.

Melissa Etheridge, who will bring her mixture of personal lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and smoky vocals to the Boston Pops stage, is an alumna of Berklee College of Music, which is a co-sponsor of the June 12 program. "Berklee Night," one of many spring concerts celebrating the collegiate neighbors of the Boston Pops, will feature talented students from the prestigious performing arts school during the first half of the program. The incomparable Etheridge will take the stage after intermission to perform some of her most recognizable hit songs to the accompaniment of the Boston Pops. The first half of the June 13th program taps into the overarching theme of the spring season -- "The Very Best of the Boston Pops" -- which draws from over 3,400 titles in the orchestra's massive library.

In February 2007, Melissa Etheridge celebrated a career milestone with a victory in the "Best Song" category at the Academy� Awards for "I Need to Wake Up," written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." Over the course of her more than two decades as a performer and songwriter, Etheridge has shown herself to be an artist who has never allowed "inconvenient truths" to keep her down. Earlier in her recording career, Etheridge acknowledged her sexual orientation when it was considered less than prudent to do so. In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer, a health battle that, with her typical tenacity, she won. Despite losing her hair from chemotherapy, Etheridge appeared on the 2005 Grammy� telecast to sing "Piece of My Heart" in tribute to Janis Joplin. By doing so she gave hope to many women afflicted with the disease. In 2012, she released her most recent album, 4th St. Feeling. Melissa Etheridge opened the 2013 Tanglewood Season this past June, one of several popular music acts chosen to perform at the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

"The Very Best of the Boston Pops" 2014 Boston Pops season, May 7-June 14, will showcase the amazing range of music and entertainment that audiences have come to expect from "America's Orchestra," under the direction of Keith Lockhart, at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA. Along with the orchestra's beloved tradition of presenting classic hits from Broadway, film, and the Great American Songbook, all chosen from its exclusive library of extraordinary music, the 2014 Boston Pops spring season will also introduce its audiences to debut appearances by Warren Haynes (5/13 & 14), Tony award-winning Billy Porter (5/20 &21), and conductor Sarah Hicks (5/23 & 24), as well as first-time collaborations with the New York-based jazz band sensation The Hot Sardines (5/28-30) and "Cirque de la Symphonie" (5/16 & 17) -- the wildly unique circus act that brings its aerial flyers, acrobats, dancers, and jugglers to orchestral stages throughout the country.

The Boston Pops Opening night concert on May 7 will feature Jason Alexander -- actor, director, producer, writer, singer, and comedian, best-known for his role as George Costanza of "Seinfeld" fame, who will join Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra for an evening of comedy, song, and dance. Additional season highlights include a screening of the complete "Wizard of Oz" with live orchestra accompaniment (5/10 & 11), the annual Film Night series with Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams (6/6, 7, 10, 11), Gospel Night with Grammy-award winning a cappella group Take Six and the world premiere of a new work, "The Song of Solomon" by conductor Charles Floyd (6/14), as well as performances by the winners of the 2014 Fidelity Investments Young Artists Competition at the Boston Pops, and original "Dreamgirls" cast member Jennifer Holliday (6/3). Holiday will also make a special appearance during the annual Gala fundraising event, Presidents at Pops (6/4).

"Melissa Etheridge Concert"
Thursday, June 12, 8 p.m.
Friday, June 13, 8 p.m.
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Melissa Etheridge, guest artist
Tickets for these concerts go on sale Friday, December 20th at 10 a.m.
www.bostonpops.org or 888-266-1200