"And given that he was there for 50 years, I don't think I'll overtake him," Lockhart joked.

Lockhart is also the newly appointed artistic director and principal conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

"This is really exciting," he said. "It's great to be teaching. I'm looking forward to that."

The one problem with his new job is scheduling. Since Brevard is a summer music program and the Boston Pops season is principally in the summer, some creative planning had to be done to allow Lockhart to juggle both positions successfully.

Guest conducting is also in his future. Lockhart has no desire to assume the music directorship of an orchestra at this time, unless something big comes along, but he does want to substantially increase his guest conducting engagements.

When he spoke with the Deseret News, Lockhart had already lined up appearances in Australia and with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and the BBC in London.

Lockhart also has a few words of advice for his successor.

"It's important that the new music director continues and improves on what I've done with the Utah Symphony. We have a tradition of bringing great music to the public, and it's imperative that the new music director continues with that tradition," he said.

If you go ...

What: Garrick Ohlsson, piano; Keith Lockhart, conductor, Utah Symphony and Chorus
Where: Abravanel Hall, 123 S. West Temple
When: Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.
How much: $16-$60
Phone: 355-2787 or 888-451-2787
Web: www.utahsymphony.org

---

E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com