• Biography

• More ...
• Filmbug Top 100
• Movie Dictionary

Browse ..
A-Z
By Date
By Year
By State
By Country

•  

JOHN WILLIAMS is one of the world's most renowned and respected composers, having earned five Academy Awards, 18 Grammys, three Golden Globes, a British Academy Award and 39 Academy Award nominations, most recently for his score from The Patriot.

Williams has composed the music and served as a music director for more than 90 films, including Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace; Stepmom; Saving Private Ryan (Grammy); Amistad; Seven Years in Tibet; The Lost World; Rosewood; Angela's Ashes (Grammy); Sleepers; Nixon; Sabrina; Schindler's List (Academy Award and Grammy); Jurassic Park; Home Alone; Home Alone 2; Far and Away; JFK; Hook; Presumed Innocent; Born on the Fourth of July; the Indiana Jones trilogy (Grammy); The Accidental Tourist; Empire of the Sun (British Academy Award); The Witches of Eastwick; E.T. (Academy, Award, Golden Globe and Grammy); Superman (Grammy); Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Grammy); the Star Wars trilogy (Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy); Jaws (Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy); Fiddler on the Roof (Academy Award) and Goodbye Mr. Chips. His most recent project is Steven Spielberg's A.I.

In 1980 Williams was named 19th Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He currently holds the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor, which he assumed following his retirement in 1993. He also holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood.

Williams has written many concert pieces including two symphonies, a cello concerto premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 1994, concertos for the flute and violin recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, concertos for the clarinet and tuba and a trumpet concerto, which was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra and their principal trumpet Michael Sachs in 1996. His bassoon concerto, The Five Sacred Trees, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic and principal bassoon player Judith LeClair in 1995, was recorded by Williams with Ms. LeClair and the London Symphony Orchestra and has recently been released by Sony Classical to critical acclaim.

In addition, Williams has composed the NBC theme The Mission, Liberty Fanfare composed for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, We're Looking Good! composed for the Special Olympics in celebration of the 1987 International Summer Games, and themes for the 1984, 1985 and 1986 Summer Olympic games. His recent concert work Seven for Luck is a seven-piece song cycle based on the texts of former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, premiered by the Boston Symphony with soprano Cynthia Haymoon at Tanglewood in 1998. Most recently, Williams composed his Celebration 2000, an orchestral work written to commemorate the new Millennium and to accompany the retrospective film The Unfinished Journey directed by Steven Spielberg. The film and music were premiered at the America's Millennium concert in Washington D.C. this past New Year's Eve.

Many of Williams' film scores have been released as recordings. (The soundtrack album for Star Wars has sold more than four million copies.) Williams' highly acclaimed series of albums with the Boston Pops Orchestra began in 1980. He has to date recorded over 20 successful albums with the Orchestra including his most recent recording Summon the Heroes, the title track of which was the official theme for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Williams has led the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra on United States tours in 1985, 1989 and 1992 and on a tour in Japan in 1987. He led the Boston Pops Orchestra on tour in Japan in 1990 and 1993. In addition to leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, Williams has appeared as guest conductor with a number of major orchestras, including the London Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with which he has appeared many times at the Hollywood Bowl. Williams holds honorary degrees from 18 American universities, including Berkee College of Music in Boston, Boston College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Boston University, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, The Eastman School of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.