Peter Boyer Commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra to Compose a Work on the Kennedy Brothers
Claremont Graduate University’s Peter Boyer has been commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra to compose a work entitled, "The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers," which will be premiered during the Pops’ annual series from May 18 to 22.
Claremont, CA, March 11, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Boyer will be working with lyricist Lynn Ahrens on the piece, which will honor brothers John F., Robert F. and Edward M. Kennedy, all native sons of Massachusetts. This is the 125th anniversary of the Boston Pops.
“Having deeply admired the Kennedy brothers and their legacy for so long, I feel profoundly privileged to have been chosen for this commission, and to have this wonderful opportunity to help honor their legacy through music,” Boyer said. “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.”
For the five premiere performances at Boston’s Symphony Hall, the performers will be celebrity narrators (not yet announced), the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, conducted by the Boston Pops’ Keith Lockhart. Members of the Kennedy family are expected to attend, and there will be a video component to the work, produced by Susan Dangel, longtime producer for WGBH, John Williams, and the Boston Pops.
The work will call for narrators, chorus, and orchestra, and will be approximately 14 minutes in duration. The text includes quotes from speeches by the Kennedy brothers, as well as Ahrens’ original words.
Lockhart said it was Boyer’s voice as a composer, enthusiasm for the project, and his reverence for the Kennedys which made him the best choice for the commission.
“This project has been a dream of mine for some time, so I was very concerned that we collaborate with a composer whose voice complimented the inspiring words of these three iconic Americans,” Lockhart said. “Peter’s is the perfect voice for this project. His music exults and elevates, while never overpowering. It has a distinctly “American” feel, a buoyancy and optimism that I feel is perfect for the occasion.”
Boyer said that for him, the most inspiring aspects of the Kennedy brothers’ legacy are a commitment to idealism, and a sense of enduring optimism for our nation and for mankind.
“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,” Boyer said. “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. He has conducted recordings of his music with two of the world’s finest orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia. His works have received national broadcasts by NPR in the U.S., and by radio networks throughout Europe and Australia.
Boyer’s major work, "Ellis Island: The Dream of America," which celebrates the historic American immigrant experience, has been his most successful composition to date. This work has been enjoying an extraordinary performance history, with more than 100 performances by 50 orchestras from its debut in 2002 through the 2010-11 season, making it one of the most-performed large-scale American orchestral works of the last decade. "Ellis Island" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 2006.
Boyer holds the Helen M. Smith Chair in Music at CGU.
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“Having deeply admired the Kennedy brothers and their legacy for so long, I feel profoundly privileged to have been chosen for this commission, and to have this wonderful opportunity to help honor their legacy through music,” Boyer said. “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.”
For the five premiere performances at Boston’s Symphony Hall, the performers will be celebrity narrators (not yet announced), the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, conducted by the Boston Pops’ Keith Lockhart. Members of the Kennedy family are expected to attend, and there will be a video component to the work, produced by Susan Dangel, longtime producer for WGBH, John Williams, and the Boston Pops.
The work will call for narrators, chorus, and orchestra, and will be approximately 14 minutes in duration. The text includes quotes from speeches by the Kennedy brothers, as well as Ahrens’ original words.
Lockhart said it was Boyer’s voice as a composer, enthusiasm for the project, and his reverence for the Kennedys which made him the best choice for the commission.
“This project has been a dream of mine for some time, so I was very concerned that we collaborate with a composer whose voice complimented the inspiring words of these three iconic Americans,” Lockhart said. “Peter’s is the perfect voice for this project. His music exults and elevates, while never overpowering. It has a distinctly “American” feel, a buoyancy and optimism that I feel is perfect for the occasion.”
Boyer said that for him, the most inspiring aspects of the Kennedy brothers’ legacy are a commitment to idealism, and a sense of enduring optimism for our nation and for mankind.
“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,” Boyer said. “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. He has conducted recordings of his music with two of the world’s finest orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia. His works have received national broadcasts by NPR in the U.S., and by radio networks throughout Europe and Australia.
Boyer’s major work, "Ellis Island: The Dream of America," which celebrates the historic American immigrant experience, has been his most successful composition to date. This work has been enjoying an extraordinary performance history, with more than 100 performances by 50 orchestras from its debut in 2002 through the 2010-11 season, making it one of the most-performed large-scale American orchestral works of the last decade. "Ellis Island" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 2006.
Boyer holds the Helen M. Smith Chair in Music at CGU.
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Contact
Claremont Graduate University
Nikolaos Johnson
909-621-8396
www.cgu.edu
Nikolaos Johnson
909-621-8396
www.cgu.edu
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