From Costa Communications:-
BOSTON POPS TO BE NARRATED BY DE NIRO, HARRIS, FREEMAN, BALDWIN AND COOPER
THE DREAM LIVES ON: A PORTRAIT OF THE KENNEDY BROTHERS
PREMIERES IN MAY
LOS ANGELES (April 29, 2010) – Renowned actors Robert De Niro, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Alec Baldwin and Chris Cooper have signed on as narrators to the Peter Boyer composed, Boston Pops Orchestra commission, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers. This new work celebrates the legacy of Massachusetts’s native sons and the Boston Pops 125th anniversary season. Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart brought on Peter Boyer, one of the most performed American orchestral composers of his generation, to create this new work that will premiere May 18 with performances throughout the summer. The program features excerpts speeches made by John, Bobby and Ted Kennedy, a multi-media presentation and original text by Tony Award-winning lyricist Lynn Ahrens.
Robert De Niro, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman will portray John, Robert and Ted Kennedy, respectively when they join conductor Keith Lockhart, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for the world premiere on May 18, at 8:00 pm (repeated on May 19), at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA. Emmy Award-winner Alec Baldwin tackles all three Kennedy roles at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Lenox, MA on July 18. Academy Award-winner Chris Cooper will serve as narrator for a special performance of the new work on the Hyannis Village Green in Hyannis, MA, home to generations of Kennedys, on August 1. Additional performances this season will be held on May 20, 21 and 22, and on July 3 and 4 at the Charles River Esplanade as part of the annual Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular concert.
In addition to concert works, Boyer has scored and/or orchestrated for TV and film. “Composing The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers was similar to scoring a film in many ways,” explains Peter Boyer. “The many quotes from speeches by John, Robert and Ted Kennedy required appropriate musical support. While composing I carefully listened to archival recordings of these speeches for the inspiration to evoke a musical tone for each quote.”
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. 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.”
“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.”
“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. The works was written with more than one performance adaptation in mind: it can be performed with four narrators, chorus, and orchestra or it can be performed with a single narrator and orchestra with an optional chorus.
Additional information about Peter Boyer can be found at www.PropulsiveMusic.com. Join the Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/y34ufec.
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 3rd and 4th concerts at Boston’s Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade. For the July 18th 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. Tickets for the August 1st performance in Hyannis, MA at the Hyannis Village Green are available online at http://www.artsfoundation.org/products/3.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON POPS 125TH SEASON, MAY 4 – JUNE 20
The 125th 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 30th anniversary with the Pops, and one of the newest Pops traditions, Gospel Night with Charles Floyd. To bring the 125th 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 125th 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.
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