FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            CONTACT:
NFL-46                    8/26/04                                                            BRIAN MC CARTHY, NFL  
                                                                                                     212-450-2069, mccarthyb@nfl.com

                                                                                                    SEAN KERRIGAN, Boston Pops
                                                                                                    413-637-5286 

                                 
BOSTON POPS TO JOIN IN “NFL OPENING KICKOFF” CELEBRATION

 Show Includes Performances by Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child, Elton John, Toby Keith, Lenny Kravitz, and Jessica Simpson

Hailed nationwide as “America’s Orchestra,” the BOSTON POPS, led by Conductor Keith Lockhart, will help the NFL open its 2004 season on Thursday night, Sept. 9 with a performance at Gillette Stadium during the one-hour pregame special – “NFL OPENING KICKOFF” – prior to the season’s first game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.

“NFL Opening Kickoff” will air from 8-9:00 PM (ET) on ABC and lead into the season opener between the Patriots and Colts – a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship Game (ABC, 9:00 PM ET).  The show will air following the game in the Rocky Mountain and West Coast time zones.

“NFL Opening Kickoff” will salute the Super Bowl champion Patriots and feature a star-studded musical lineup with performances from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, and Jacksonville, Florida, site of Super Bowl XXXIX. 

The Boston Pops will team with ELTON JOHN for two performances that will be among the highlights of the night’s entertainment.  In addition, they also perform the national anthem which will be sung by MARY J. BLIGE.

Also performing live at Gillette Stadium during “NFL Opening Kickoff” are DESTINY’S CHILD, TOBY KEITH and LENNY KRAVITZ.  JESSICA SIMPSON will perform from Metropolitan Park in Jacksonville, where the next Super Bowl champion will be crowned.

Top-tier partners for “NFL OPENING KICKOFF” include Ameriquest Mortgage, Campbell’s, Canon, Coors, Pepsi and Sony Playstation.  Associate partners are Gatorade, Gillette and Visa.

The Boston Pops performed during the pregame festivities before Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, a Patriots victory over the St. Louis Rams.  In addition, on several occasions members of “America’s Orchestra” have played the National Anthem prior to Patriots games at Gillette Stadium.

In February 1995, Lockhart was named 20th Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.  With this appointment, Lockhart succeeded John Williams, Hollywood’s premier film composer, who held the position from 1980 to 1993.  Named Boston Pops Conductor at age 35, Lockhart is only the third conductor to lead the orchestra since 1929, when Arthur Fiedler began his unprecedented 50 years as conductor of the orchestra.

Since its first concerts in 1885, the Boston Pops has become an American institution.  Through its pioneering concerts at Boston’s Symphony Hall, extensive touring, and standard-bearing recording and broadcast history, the Boston Pops has brought great music to audiences around the world, and, in many ways, has redefined how classical music could reach a mass audience. 

 

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