Cha-Chi Plays With The Pops

We can say for certain that we know a man who knows how many holes it takes to fill Symphony Hall — Boston’s own resident Beatles expert Cha-Chi Loprete, Marketing Director of CBS Radio Classic Rock WZLX and WBZ-FM (98.5 The Sports Hub)/Boston, and more importantly (for the purposes of this story), the longtime host of Breakfast With The Beatles on WZLX.

This past Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights, much like he did in 2015, Cha-Chi hosted and narrated The Beatles and Beyond with The Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. “I told The Beatles’ story from 1964 to 1970, interspersed with Beatles compositions performed by The Boston Pops,” Loprete relates to RAMP. “Our guest conductor was Steve Hackman (pictured, right), who is really amazing. He has a reputation for being a trailblazer, a new breed conductor who performs mash-up shows with various orchestras all over the country. Hackman has performed mash-up concerts with music by classical composers and bands like Radiohead, Coldplay and The Beatles.”

He added, “For our three shows, in addition to The Beatles and Classical mash-ups, Hackman and the Pops also performed mash-ups featuring songs by Coldplay and Queen. It was an amazing three nights with full houses!” As a special treat, during the encores Cha-Chi emerged onto the stage wearing his blue Sgt. Pepper jacket. A splendid time was guaranteed for all…