Betsy's View

On Thursday, June 11, 2009, former NASA astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, The Boston Pops and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came together to celebrate the upcoming 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.  In the image below, Aldrin is photographed by Neil Armstrong, whose reflection is seen in Aldrin’s visor.

It was an extraordinary event that has not been repeated  since December 1972.  During the three-year period, 12 men stepped foot on the moon and Dr. Aldrin was the second after Neil Armstrong.

In 1961, MIT received notice that it had been selected by NASA to develop the guidance navigation system of the project Apollo spacecraft.  Since then, MIT has played a role in every ‘human spaceflight development’ from Apollo to the Shuttle to the Space Station to the current (Ares and Orion) Constellation program. It was with great pride that MIT celebrated the 40th anniversary with a three-day symposium called Giant Leaps.

Giant Leaps
According to MIT, “Giant Leaps is a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing; it is also a celebration and discussion of what came before the landing, what has come since, and what may come in the future of aerospace.” The three-day symposium included:

• A memorial service for Robert C. Seamans Jr., a primary Apollo Program architect who passed away in 2008
• A one-day symposium covering reflections and lessons from Apollo, the next Giant Leaps in energy, environment and air transportation, and the next Giant Leaps in space exploration
• A special performance by The Boston Pops, including a guest appearance by Dr. Buzz Aldrin
• Behind-the-scenes tours at MIT labs and the MIT Museum emphasizing engineering innovation, leadership and research, and the Apollo missions to the moon.

The Giant Leaps program wasn’t highly publicized to the general public, but I stumbled across an article that mentioned the celebration and very special appearance by Dr. Aldrin at the semi-private Boston Pops performance.  MIT generously made a portion of the tickets available to the public for a staggeringly low price of $25, and I jumped at the opportunity and bought my ticket to this historic commemorative event!

I hadn’t been to a Pops performance in at least 10 years, and I was greatly looking forward to seeing Keith Lockhart conducting The Boston Pops again; he’s a wonderfully charismatic conductor. When I picked up my ticket on Thursday evening, I was shocked to find myself seated in the front row tables. I could not believe my luck in that I would be merely feet away from Dr. Aldrin and Maestro Lockhart!

The program for the evening was called MIT GIANT LEAPS: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.  The event was not advertised on The Boston Pops Web site and while the two subsequent evening Pops performances were, their programs were not the same.  This was a special night indeed!

Nothing could have prepared me for what was to come; not even the program guide.

In The Beginning…
The Boston Pops’ opening notes sent chills up our spines and the audience cheered and applauded. Many people may be unfamiliar with “The Opening fanfare from Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra”, but when its first note is played, it is immediately recognizable as the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dumm, dummm, dummmm, da-duuummmmmm... bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom…  Kubrick’s iconic space film preceded the lunar landing by one year, and it is inextricably linked with man’s thirst for space adventure, and his dreams of all that is possible.

Immediately following Also Sprach Zarathustra, the orchestra moved seamlessly into Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Blue Danube Waltzes, Op. 314, also featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey. What a way to start off the evening!

Lockhart addressed the mostly MIT audience and spoke of MIT’s significance in the nearly 50-year Space Program. The evening was about dreaming the once-thought impossible and then realizing its success! The audience included children, students, professors, doctors, and scientists.  Symphony Hall was filled with dreamers and explorers, and one very special guest: Dr. Buzz Aldrin.

Maestro Lockhart introduced Dr. Aldrin.  Dr. Aldrin would be narrating a very special presentation of excerpts from Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Dr. Aldrin softly recounted his Apollo 11 flight, detailing the silent stillness as Apollo 11 came around the back side of moon. As he spoke, the audience was transported 250,000 miles upwards, and for a moment, we sat beside Aldrin as he saw Earth for the first time from the moon.

As Dr. Aldrin’s voice faded into the darkness, the audience watched a rare screening of Jose Francisco Salgado’s “Gustav Holst's The Planets”.

“Gustav Holst's The Planets is a suite of seven HD videos produced to accompany live performances of the popular orchestral suite. The critically-acclaimed suite was produced and directed by Emmy-nominated astronomer and visual artist José Francisco Salgado. Each of the videos includes awe-inspiring images of the featured planet, historical illustrations from the Adler Collection of Works on Paper, NASA and ESA animations, as well as animations produced by Salgado. The videos follow the tempo and tone set by the music. They are not intended to be seen as documentaries but as art pieces that aim to inspire audiences and encourage them to learn more about our solar system and the Universe. Executive Producers: Adler Planetarium and Vectors & Pixels Unlimited. © 2006 Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum”.

Former Astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin
In addition to The Planets’ introductory video, The Boston Pops performed four Planets pieces: Mars, Venus, Uranus and Jupiter.  Prior to each, Dr. Aldrin spoke eloquently about the planet, detailing moons, terrain, mountains, valleys, temperatures, atmospheres, gases, ice, eruptions, temperatures, and storms.

The music and accompanying films were incredible.  Lockhart stated that the pieces by themselves are thought to be an odd set of works by Holst by some, but to hear the music in conjunction with the films, it was a marriage made in the heavens.  I was engaged and transported.

After the spectacular music, narration and imagery of The Planets came Intermission.  During intermission, Dr. Aldrin took his seat in the audience close to the stage where he mingled with attendees and MIT alum, shaking hands, smiling and posing for photographs.

The first half of the evening was a true gift.  We imagined the possibilities, we soared with the Apollo 11 crew and we journeyed to Mars, Venus, Uranus and Jupiter.  The second half of the evening was yet to come, and oh the fun that would bring!

“Space…The Final Frontier”
The evening was a celebration of space.  What better way to celebrate together than by hearing music from the most well-known science fiction and space movie soundtracks of the past 30 years?  The Boston Pops began the second half of the evening with excerpts from John Williams’ Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We then watched the world premiere film “Eye Turned Skyward” by Susan Dangel and Dick Bartlett. Commissioned specifically for the event, the film is set to “Flight,” from John Williams’ American Journey. The music was absolutely gorgeous.

The Pops then moved to the familiar Theme from Star Trek.  It was very interesting, and enjoyable, to hear the full theme as opposed to the excerpt we’ve memorized from the opening and closing credits.  In addition to the Theme from the original Star Trek series, The Pops performed the End Credits from (the new) Star Trek (2009).  Not many people stay for the duration of the film credits, but I’ll never take them for granted again.  The score was wonderful and I hope to hear it again!

Rounding out this stellar program of space-inspired movie soundtracks, Lockhart turned to the audience and said that the final piece needed no introduction.  Star Wars. The audience once again erupted into applause.  It is a score that has been in our hearts for more than 30 years.  It is identified with inarguably the most famous science fiction movie and trilogy ever made.

When you think of Star Wars, you think of George Lucas and all the films he has made.  You think of a new generation of special effects.  You think of good vs. evil.  You think of Darth Vader, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. Having seen the Star Wars films many times over, I was able to identify each musical passage with a particular scene from the film.  I envisioned Han Solo and Luke Skywalker being adorned with medals by Princess Leia at the end of the original Star Wars movie.  We know the music.  We’ve heard the Theme from Star Wars many, many times.  Hearing it live, played by an orchestra with such passion, for this highly passionate audience…it was simply incredible.

Not Quite Finished…
Keith Lockhart and The Boston Pops then invited us to “Howlin’ at the Moon: A Moon Tune Sing-Along. As requested, we sang along – though not very well at all – with Lockhart and The Pops as they performed Blue Moon, It’s Only a Paper Moon, Moon River, Fly Me to the Moon, Moondance, Bad Moon Rising and When You Wish Upon a Star.

The Boston Children’s Chorus then joined The Pops on stage and sang John Lennon’s Imagine.  It was just perfect!

And finally…the perfect ending to the perfect Pops evening; John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. It is the trademark Pops ending!  With such a full evening, I wasn’t sure if The Pops would also perform Stars and Stripes, but Keith Lockhart raised his baton and off we went!!!

It was a phenomenal evening filled with passion, imagination, dreams, exploration, creativity, history, music and expression.  What an event! What a performance!  What a night!

Related Links:

The Boston Pops The Boston Pops Apollo 11 Program Audio Keith Lockhart John Williams

NASA Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Dr. Buzz Aldrin MIT Giant Leaps

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