John Williams is a best-known movie composer, who needs little or no introduction. According to many people he is the best movie composer as well.
He won 5 Oscars, 17 Grammys, 2 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes and 5 BAFTA Awards. Although he is best known for his movie scores and ceremonial music, he was also composing concert works and conducting.
Some of his most famous work includes scores for ‘Jaws’, ‘ET-the Extra Terrestrial’, ‘Schindler’s list’ and ‘Indiana Jones ‘ series. Those titles brought him the worldwide recognition, multiple awards and best-selling records. The greatest impact on his career however, was writing scores for the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy.
He composed and directed the music for nearly 80 films, some of which including bestsellers like ‘Amistad’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’, ‘Seven Years in Tibet’, ‘Rosewood’, ‘The Lost World’, ‘Sleepers’, ‘Sabrina’, ‘Nixon’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Far and Away’, ‘Home Alone’, ‘JFK’,’ Hook’, ‘Always’, ‘Presumed Innocent’, ‘Born on the 4th July’, ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, ‘Superman’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third kind’ and so on.
Early Years
John Williams was born on 8th February 1932 in New York but moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1948. He attended UCLA and studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
He served in the Air Force, then returned to New York where he enrolled Juilliard School to study piano with Madame Rosina Lhevinne. While staying in New York, he was also working as a jazz pianist.
He began his career in the movie industry upon his return to LA, where he worked with composers like Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, and Franz Waxman. He was writing music for many TV programs and won two Emmy Awards for his work.
See John Williams talks about scoring "Saving Private Ryan".
Other Work
John Williams was named 19th Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra in January 1980. Following his retirement in December 1993, he got the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor and at the moment holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood.
He has written many concert works - a symphony, a sinfonietta for wind ensemble, a cello concerto, concertos for the flute and violin, concertos for the clarinet and tuba, trumpet concerto and a bassoon concerto,‘The Five Sacred Trees’. In addition, Williams composed the wide-known NBC News theme ‘The Mission’.
See John Williams Recording "NBC Nightly News Beat"
For the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty he composed ‘Liberty Fanfare’, for the Special Olympics he composed ‘We're Lookin' Good!’ as well as the themes for the 1984, 1988, and 1996 Summer Olympic games. His most recent concert work is for soprano and orchestra - ‘Seven for Luck’
In 1985, 1989 and 1992 he has led the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra on US Tours, and in 1987, 1990 and 1993 on a Japan tour. He has appeared as guest conductor with many major orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra the London Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Dallas Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
He has honorary degrees from 14 American universities, including Berklee College of Music in Boston, Northeastern University, Boston College, Tufts University, the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston University, and the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
Want to read interviews with John Williams?
At his fanclub site there's a collection of them. To visit
Click here.
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