Boston Landmarks Orchestra

The orchestra was founded in 2001 as a first-rate professional orchestra performing in Boston in the summertime. Since 2007, when the orchestra began giving concerts at the DCR’s Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade, audiences have grown rapidly. We now host thousands along the banks of the Charles on a weekly basis.

Our name comes from the close connection the orchestra has to Boston’s public spaces. We have performed on the Boston Common, in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and atop the bullpen in Fenway Park We still appear regularly in public parks, youth centers, and under-served neighborhoods throughout the city.

We believe in the fun and spontaneity of music making, and consider all Bostonians to be our public. Every performance is designed to be as approachable as possible, with storylines and visual elements adding context and excitement to the experience. Nearly every week we collaborate with leading Boston-area artists and organizations.

Boston Landmarks Orchestra programs are not “pops” concerts, but they are popular. And the programming is eclectic. We are just as likely to perform a new work featuring an emerging Boston artist as we are one of the great symphonic classics—which we love too! A typical Landmarks Orchestra season includes a great many masterpieces, performed alongside theatrical work, dances, folk songs, Latin jazz, and music influenced by cultures throughout the world.

In recent years, the orchestra has become a leader in promoting accessibility and inclusiveness. The Breaking Down Barriers initiative—serving the blind, deaf, hard of hearing, and those limited in mobility—has earned the organization the UP Designation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The orchestra is one of only 32 organizations to have earned that distinction so far.

The orchestra is part Boston tradition, part Beantown innovation. And it has become an essential part of summertime in Boston.