For new wing, MFA rolls out a masterpiece – Moves meticulous and mighty do the trick in 11 days
By Geoff Edgers – Globe Staff / February 19, 2010

After 10 years of effort and more than $500 million in fund-raising, the Museum of Fine Arts installed the first painting in its new Art of the Americas Wing yesterday, and it’s no ordinary work.

Thomas Sully’s 19th-century masterpiece “The Passage of the Delaware’’ is just the kind of painting the MFA hasn’t been able to display properly in the past. Why? It’s simply one of the largest in the museum’s collection. At 17 feet by 12 feet and weighing 1,000 pounds, with lively brushwork showing General George Washington on the banks of the Delaware River, the painting has been too big to put in a gallery.

This was no typical installation, either, with 19 staffers – from videographers, curators, and conservators to MFA director Malcolm Rogers – crowding around to watch as muscle-bound workers hoisted the gilded frame onto a wall.

“It’s a big, symbolic moment,’’ said Rogers, who scooted down to the gallery between his lunch and a trustees meeting. “After years of planning, seeing the first work of art in place is thrilling for me. It also relieves a lot of tension. We’re on our way.’’

Boston Pops turns 125 with a nod to the past
By Jim Sullivan/Boston Herald – February 19, 2010

The Boston Pops, getting ready to celebrate its 125th anniversary, today announced details of the coming season, which kicks off in May.

Among the diverse participants: Grammy-winning Latin, funk and hip-hop band Ozomatli (May 7-8); Pops laureate conductor John Williams and his famous movie scores (May 11-15); and jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who returns for his first appearance since the days of Arthur Fiedler (June 1-5).

Asked to pick his top of the Pops 2010, conductor Keith Lockhart said, “the big event is the Kennedys piece, which is something I’ve had in mind for years.”

Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers” was written by Peter Boyer with lyricist Lynn Ahrens. The piece, which will be performed May 18-22, was originally intended as a tribute to President John F. Kennedy, with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy narrating.

“But when Ted got ill,” Lockhart said from Salt Lake City, “it took on a whole different context. So we’re honoring the end of an era.”