Peter Boyer
is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation, with over 300 public performances of his works by more than 100 orchestras, and numerous national broadcasts in the U.S. and abroad. Conductor Keith Lockhart chose Boyer for the Boston Pops’ 125th anniversary commission honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy, The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers. Its premiere in 2010, narrated by Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris, was attended by members of the Kennedy family, and received extensive national media attention. The Boston Pops also performed the work on their Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular for an audience of over 750,000; gave it two separate telecasts; performed it at Tanglewood with narrator Alec Baldwin; and released its recording. Boyer’s major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America (2002) has received over 140 live performances by 60 orchestras, making it one of the most-performed American orchestral works of the last decade. His recording on the Naxos label was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

In addition to his work for the concert hall, Boyer is active in the film and television music industry. He has contributed orchestrations to more than 20 film scores by top Hollywood composers, including Skyfall (composer Thomas Newman), The Amazing Spider-Man (composer James Horner), the Oscar-winning Up, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible III, John Carter, Super 8, Cars 2 (composer Michael Giacchino); and Dolphin Tale (composer Mark Isham). Boyer has twice arranged music for the Academy Awards, and composed music for The History Channel.

As conductor, Boyer has led such orchestras as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Hartford Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Richmond Symphony in concert; and the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Los Angeles studio orchestras in recording sessions. Boyer holds the Helen M. Smith Chair in Music at Claremont Graduate University. He served as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Composer-in-Residence in 2010-11, and is the Pasadena Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence this season.