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From Costa Communications:-

COMPOSER PETER BOYER AND LYRICIST LYNN AHRENS’S NEW WORK, THE DREAM LIVES ON: A PORTRAIT OF THE KENNEDY BROTHERS, TO RECEIVE WORLD PREMIERE PERFORMANCE BY KEITH LOCKHART AND THE BOSTON POPS, AS PART OF ORCHESTRA’S 125TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON CELEBRATION

LOS ANGELES (April 2, 2010) – Peter Boyer, one of the most performed American orchestral composers of his generation, has been commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra to create a work, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, celebrating the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy, as part of the Boston Pops’ 125th anniversary season, May 4 – June 20. This new work, conceived by Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart and written with lyricist Lynn Ahrens, will have its world premiere performances at Boston’s Symphony Hall on May 18 and 19, in performances featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and four celebrity narrators (details to be announced soon). Additional performances are scheduled throughout the Boston Pops spring season (May 20, 21, and 22), at Tanglewood in the Berkshires (July 18), and at a special concert in Hyannis, MA (August 1).

Boyer is active in both the field of concert hall music and the film and television music industry where he recently orchestrated music for Michael Giacchino’s Oscar^® winning score to UP. In addition to contributing orchestral arrangements to more than a dozen major feature films, Boyer has twice arranged and orchestrated music for the Academy Awards, including the 2009 telecast.

The Dream Lives On pays tribute to the call to public service, drive for social change, the legacy of optimism for America’s future, and the spirit epitomized by the Kennedy brothers.

“This project – a new work for the Boston Pops honoring the Kennedy brothers – has been a dream of mine for quite some time now,” said Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart. “I have never performed Peter’s music, but after hearing a recording of his Ellis Island, I realized that his style of composing – its distinctly ‘American’ feel, with a buoyancy I find very inspiring – was a great choice for this Boston Pops project. Peter’s compositional style and Lynn Ahrens’s poetic way of matching words to music are the ideal collaboration for this tribute to these native sons of Massachusetts.”

Written by Boyer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime), The Dream Lives On combines quotes from speeches by the Kennedy brothers, original text and video with Boyer’s dramatic orchestral-choral score. The title of the work was taken from the closing lines of Ted Kennedy’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention: “If we set our compass true, we will reach our destination… The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”

“The fact that members of the Kennedy family gave their blessing to the Boston Pops for the project and the choice of composer is especially meaningful to me,” said Boyer. “I see my role in this project as endeavoring to reflect and amplify these timeless words of the Kennedys through the special power that belongs to music alone. If I can help to strengthen the connection that listeners feel to these powerful words in a directly emotional way through music, and thereby honor the Kennedys’ legacy, it will be as meaningful an outcome as I can imagine for a composer.”

Boyer’s orchestral works have received nearly 250 public performances by more than 80 orchestras. His widely acclaimed Ellis Island: The Dream of America celebrates the historic American immigrant experience. With more than 100 performances by 50 orchestras since its 2002 debut, Ellis Island is one of the most-performed large-scale American orchestral works of the last decade. It was nominated for a Grammy Award^® for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 2006.

Film composers for whom he has orchestrated music include Oscar^® winning Michael Giacchino (UP, STAR TREK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, SPEED RACER), John Ottman (FANTASTIC FOUR), Graeme Revell (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), and the late Michael Kamen (OPEN RANGE, FIRST DAUGHTER, AGAINST THE ROPES). As a television composer, Boyer’s credits include The History Channel’s ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE.

Before beginning composition, Boyer consulted dozens of books and archival recordings and visited the Kennedy gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery. As the quotes in the work primarily exist in recorded form, Boyer was able to work with audio sound bites from the speeches while crafting the work. Boyer’s original score incorporates the actual words of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy, and places them in a dramatic musical context.

Additional information about Peter Boyer can be found at www.PropulsiveMusic.com.

Tickets for the May concerts can be purchased online at www.bostonpops.org, by phone through 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200 or in person at the Symphony Hall box office.

Additional performances of The Dream Lives On will be held throughout Massachusetts this summer by the Boston Pops Orchestra. It will be featured at the annual free and open to the public Boston Pops July 4^th concert at Boston’s Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade. For the July 18^th performance at Tanglewood in the Berkshires, tickets can be purchased online at www.tanglewood.org, and by phone through 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200. An August 1^st performance in Hyannis, MA, home to generations of Kennedys, will also be given. The concert is on the Hyannis Village Green. Tickets are available online at http://www.artsfoundation.org/products/3.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON POPS 125^TH SEASON, MAY 4 – JUNE 20

The 125^th season opens on May 4 with a gala concert featuring multiple Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel and the inimitable Doc Severinsen, who holds the distinction of having performed under the batons of Arthur Fiedler, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart—a perfect addition to a program honoring the artistic vision of the three most famous Boston Pops conductors (more information available at bostonpops.org). During the season the Pops will present the world premiere of a new work by composer Peter Boyer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, honoring Massachusetts native sons John, Robert, and Edward Kennedy, mark the 10th anniversary of the popular radio and TV show “From the Top,” focus on esteemed artists from the fields of jazz, musical theater, and pop, including Dave Brubeck, Kelli O’Hara, and Maureen McGovern, and honor the legacies of such musical titans as Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. Daniel Bernard Roumain, who in concert melds his classical music roots with his own Haitian-American cultural references and vibrant musical imagination, and Ozomatli , the multi-Grammy award-winning, genre-defying sensation, join the orchestra for programs that continue the Pops tradition of focusing on the best and brightest new talent on the musical scene today. Returning to the Pops schedule is the legendary film music series under the direction of John Williams, this year marking his 30^th anniversary with the Pops, and one of the newest Pops traditions, Gospel Night with Charles Floyd. To bring the 125^th season to a close in June, the Boston Pops will present one of this country’s greatest living legends—the incomparable Arlo Guthrie. Other highlights include A Boston Pops 125^th documentary, entitled America’s Orchestra: Celebrating 125 years of the Boston Pops to air on PBS in the spring, and a national contest trough Twitter, Facebook, and mobile phone text messages for a family of four to win a trip to Boston’s famous Fourth-of-July celebration, details of which are available at bostonpops.org/125.