De Niro, Jones & Freeman -Led THE DREAM LIVES ON Gets Live Recording, 5/18-19

The Boston Pops world premiere of The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, which will take place at Boston's Symphony Hall on May 18 and 19, is set to receive a live audio recording for later release. The event will also be documented in a video exclusive, featuring interviews with composer Peter Boyer, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and conductor Keith Lockhart, as well as excerpts from the show itself.

The Dream Lives On will feature acclaimed actors Robert De Niro, Ed Harris, Cherry Jones, and Morgan Freeman, who will give life to the words of John, Robert, and Edward Kennedy, respectively in the centerpiece event of the Boston Pops' 125th anniversary season.

Celebrating the legacies of these three influential and inspiring Massachusetts native sons, The Dream Lives On-composed by Peter Boyer with Tony Award-winning lyricist Lynn Ahrens-was commissioned by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. This new multi-media work combines quotes from speeches by the Kennedy brothers with original text and video, accompanied by a dramatic orchestral and choral score. The Dream Lives On pays tribute to the towering achievements and singular spirit epitomized by the Kennedy brothers-the call to public service, drive for social change, and the legacy of optimism for America's future. The title of the work was taken from the closing lines of Ted Kennedy's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Cherry Jones, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris and more will join the Pops to narrate The Dream Lives On at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (parent organization of the Boston Pops) in Lenox, MA on July 18, at 2:30 p.m. 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, at 5 p.m. The work 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 (optional chorus).

In addition to the repeat performance of the work at Presidents at Pops on May 19 (with Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris narrating), The Dream Lives On will receive additional performances during the Pops 125th anniversary season celebration 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 (narrator/narrators for these performances to be announced at a later date).

Commissioning of The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers was made possible by
generous support provided by Paul and Catherine Braverman and Robert and Evelyn Doran.

PETER BOYER, COMPOSER, The Dream Lives on: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers Peter 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 writing orchestral arrangements for more than a dozen feature films, Mr. Boyer has twice arranged and orchestrated music for the Academy Awards, including the 2009 telecast. His orchestral works have received well over 200 public performances by more than 80 orchestras worldwide including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Dallas Symphony.

With more than 100 performances since its 2002 debut, Mr. Boyer's Ellis Island: The Dream of America is one of the most-performed large-scale American orchestral works of the last decade. The Grammy-nominated Ellis Island was recorded with actors including Barry Bostwick, Blair Brown, Olympia Dukakis, and Eli Wallach. Further information about Peter Boyer can be found at
http://t.lt01.net/m/c56GdT6PcwEADOSKqddoASF5JOwnaVrUizzJgBohMVeYtGgXDQ.

Lynn Ahrens, LYRICIST, The Dream Lives on: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers Writer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens began her career writing songs for "Schoolhouse Rock." In her longtime partnership with composer Stephen Flaherty, she's enjoyed tremendous Broadway success with shows including Once on this Island, Dessa Rose, Seussical the Musical, and Ragtime (for which Ahrens won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards). The pair also collaborated on the animated movie Anastasia. Her songs have been recorded and/or performed by Aretha Franklin, Aaliyah, Johnny Mathis, Richard Marx and Donna Lewis, Renée Fleming and Bryn Terfel,
Donny Osmond, Deana Carter, Audra McDonald, and many others.

Further information about Lynn Ahrens can be found at http://t.lt01.net/m/b11GdT6PcwEADOSKqddoASF5JOwn65jRhy4YTdQbmsYCHGQWOg
and http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lynn-Ahrens-Stephen-Flaherty/312664849923?ref=ts.

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. During the season the Pops will 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 through 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 http://t.lt01.net/m/6cdGdT6PcwEADOSKqddoASF5JOwnAI5o39VtJZfDUQawDuarFw.

TICKET INFORMATION FOR 125TH SEASON, MAY 4-JUNE 20

Regularly priced tickets for the 2010 Boston Pops season, May 4-June 20, at Symphony Hall,
priced from $40 to $119, may be purchased online at http://t.lt01.net/m/936GdT6PcwEADOSKqddoASF5JOwnYJ1uqgjxbQU3l_qbHbr86Q or by phone through SymphonyCharge at 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (with a $5.50 handling fee for each ticket ordered online or by phone). Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Symphony Hall box office is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday
through Friday (10 a.m. through first concert intermission on concert days); Saturday noon through first concert intermission (noon to 6 p.m. on Saturdays with no concerts scheduled); and on Sunday from 1 p.m. through the first concert intermission on concert dates only. Most major credit cards and cash are accepted at the box office. For Group Sales of 25 or more, please call 617-638-9345 or 800-933-4255.

BACKGROUND ON THE BOSTON POPS
Celebrating its 125th anniversary this spring, May 4-June 19, the Boston Pops Orchestra has distinguished itself as the founder of and leader in its genre, presenting the best of a wide variety of music from jazz to pop, indie rock to big band, film music to the great American songbook, and Broadway to classical. Affectionately know as "America's Orchestra," the Boston Pops is the most recorded and arguably the most beloved orchestra in the country, beginning with
the establishment of the modern-era Pops by Arthur Fiedler and continuing through the innovations
introduced by John Williams and the new-millennium Pops spearheaded by Keith Lockhart.

With the 125th anniversary season, the Boston Pops reaches a landmark moment in a remarkable history that began with its founding in 1885. Civil War veteran Henry Lee Higginson, the founder of the Boston Symphony (1881) and Boston Pops, intended from the very start to present
concerts of light classics and the popular music of the day.

It was Arthur Fiedler's nearly 50-year tenure as Pops Conductor (1930-1979) that established the
Boston Pops as a national icon by moving the Pops beyond its origins in light-classical music into the world of pop culture showcasing the popular artists of the day as well as the work of young American composers and arrangers. Mr. Fiedler organized the first free outdoor orchestral concerts on the Charles River Esplanade that led to the Boston's now-famous Fourth of July concert, established the Pops as the most recorded orchestra in history-including the first orchestral recording to sell more than a million copies-and introduced the "Evening at Pops" television series, bringing the orchestra into the living rooms of countless Americans.

When John Williams (1980-1993) succeeded Arthur Fiedler in 1980, he was the most highly acclaimed composer in Hollywood, and today, with 45 Academy Award nominations, he is the most-nominated living person in Academy history. With the Pops, Mr. Williams continued the orchestra's prolific recording tradition with a series of best-selling recordings for the Philips and Sony Classical labels, broadened and updated the Pops repertoire-commissioning new compositions and introducing new arrangements of Boston Pops classics-and entertained audiences with live orchestral accompaniment to film clips of memorable movie scenes, many of which featured iconic music from his own film scores. He traveled extensively with the Pops both nationally and internationally, leading the Pops on its first tours to Japan. Mr. Williams also brought a bit of Hollywood to the Pops stage, with special appearances by Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Frank Langella, not to mention Darth Vader, R2D2, and C3PO.

Having led more than 1,200 Boston Pops concerts, Keith Lockhart (1995 - present) is now in his sixteenth season as Boston Pops Conductor. In response to the ever-diversifying trends in music, Keith Lockhart has taken the Pops in new directions, creating programs that reach out to a broader and younger audience by presenting artists-both established performers and rising stars-from virtually every corner of the entertainment world, all the while maintaining the Pops' appeal to its core audience.

He has made 67 television shows, led 33 national and four overseas tours with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, and recorded eleven albums. Mr. Lockhart's tenure has been marked by a dramatic increase in touring, the orchestra's first Grammy nominations, the first major network national broadcast (on CBS Television) of the Fourth-of-July spectacular from the Esplanade,
and the release of the Boston Pops' first self-produced and self-distributed recordings, now numbering four: Sleigh Ride, America, Oscar & Tony, and The Red Sox Album. He led the Pops for
Chris Botti's "In Boston" CD and DVD, featuring special guests Sting, John Mayer, Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Ma, and Steven Tyler, recorded live from two performances at Symphony Hall. The recording received multiple Grammy nominations earlier this year and the show was aired on PBS stations nationally. Mr. Lockhart has also led the Boston Pops at several high profile sports events, including
the pre-game show of Super Bowl xxVI and the opening game of the 2007 World Series, at Fenway Park with the Boston Red Sox. Further information about the Boston Pops is available at
http://t.lt01.net/m/cddGdT6PcwEADOSKqddoASF5JOwnmY5aYCVe1Tv2xJa63y3NqQ>

SPONSORSHIP
Opening Night at Pops and the entire 2010 Boston Pops season is sponsored by Fidelity Investments. The Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel is the Official Hotel of the Boston Pops. New England Coffee is the Official Coffee of the Boston Pops. Commonwealth Worldwide is the Official Chauffeured Transportation Provider of the Boston Pops. American Airlines is the Airline Partner of the Boston Pops.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.