Tickets for the 2024 Boston Pops on Nantucket concert are on sale now. This most popular August event is a major fundraiser for Nantucket Cottage Hospital, and tickets always sell out well before the event, so don’t wait! This year conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on Tour will be joined at Jetties Beach on August 10 by special musical guest Super Diamond. Best-selling author and island resident Elin Hilderbrand will host the event.
Super Diamond, featuring Surreal Neil, exhilarates audiences with an uncanny tribute to beloved master singer/songwriter/performer, American pop icon Neil Diamond. Super Diamond has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, CNN, VH1, and Comedy Central and has been featured in publications like Rolling Stone, Spin and The New York Times.
The Boston Pops on Nantucket is the single largest, most complex, and most popular event of the Nantucket summer season, but this longstanding event comes from humble origins. Bringing world-class entertainment to Nantucket required a world-class effort. In 1997, a small group of volunteers sought an innovative and inclusive way to raise money for Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Led by the late Kathy Clauss, they imagined what seemed impossible: what if we could bring the world-famous Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra to Nantucket?
Working with a few tireless advocates on the hospital’s Board of Trustees, including Margaretta Andrews and the late Charles Balas, Clauss’ idea of a concert on the beach began to take shape.
In August of 1997, the legendary John Williams conducted the orchestra at Jetties Beach while thousands of islanders came together to raise a total of $585,000. The hospital used these funds to purchase cardiac equipment and defibrillators. Planning for 1998 began immediately.
The next year, a then relatively unknown 38-year-old named Keith Lockhart came to Nantucket to conduct the orchestra. He continues to head the 100+ ensemble today. “What stays in my mind is the incredible beauty of the setting. It’s great music in a sublime place,” Lockhart told N Magazine of his favorite part of conducting on Nantucket.
Many Nantucketers work together each year to make this concert a reality. Volunteers, hospital staff, vendors, donors, and community partners join together to celebrate the best of Nantucket: summertime, the beach, live music, and raising money for a community cause. Today, the Boston Pops on Nantucket raises millions of dollars annually for Nantucket Cottage Hospital to support the hospital’s year-round commitment to the health of our island community.
“We are honored to be the co-chairs of the 27th annual Pops on Nantucket. It is always a great event, and it is such an important cause. Super Diamond and the Pops are going to put on an amazing show,” said this year’s event co-chairs Erin and Jamie Siminoff.
General admission ticket sales are just $30 each adult and $10 per child at Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s website: NantucketHospital.org/Pops. Limited reserved seating options are still available by calling 508-825-8250. All ticket levels are non-refundable and there is no rain date for this event. All proceeds benefit Nantucket Cottage Hospital, a nonprofit community hospital.