Peter Boyer’s New Work Premieres in Boston
Celebrated composer and USC Thornton School of Music alumnus Peter Boyer ’96 will premiere his new work, “The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers,” celebrating the legacy of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy, in Boston’s Symphony Hall.
The piece was commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra to celebrate its 125th anniversary season and will have its world premiere performances on May 18 and 19 featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and actors Robert De Niro, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman.
“The Dream Lives On” combines quotes from speeches by the Kennedy brothers, original text and video with Boyer’s score for orchestra and chorus.
“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,” Boyer said. “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, a graduate of the USC Thornton School’s scoring for motion pictures and television program, has contributed orchestral arrangements to more than a dozen major feature films and twice arranged and orchestrated music for the Academy Awards.
He recently was appointed composer in residence with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
