FREE

As part of their 125th Anniversary Celebration, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will give a free concert on Boston Common at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 26. The concert will feature The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers, the centerpiece of the Pops' 125th anniversary season. This new work, which received its premiere on May 18, 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—composed by Peter Boyer with Tony Award-winning lyricist Lynn Ahrens— 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. Acclaimed Boston-based actor Jeremiah Kissel will narrate the performance. The work was commissioned for the Boston Pops 125th Anniversary by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra, with generous support provided by Paul and Catherine Braverman and Robert and Evelyn Doran.

The program will also include a tribute to Leroy Anderson, music from John Williams's Star Wars and Harry Potter scores, a '70's Sing-along, and Boston favorites "Sweet Caroline" and "I'm Shipping Up to Boston." Vocalist Renese King will sing "We the People" and a new arrangement of "God Bless America by Brad Hatfield."