Guitarist, born in Melbourne, Victoria, SE Australia. Resident in England since 1952, he trained at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena, Italy, and the Royal College of Music, London, studied with Segovia, and made his professional debut in 1958. He has since taught at colleges in London and Manchester. His musical sympathies are wide-ranging, from renaissance to jazz. Several modern composers have written works for him, and he founded a jazz and popular music group known as Sky (197984). He later formed the contemporary music group Attacca.
| John Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 8, 1932 Floral Park, New York, USA |
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is one of the most widely recognized composers of film scores.
Williams is best known for heroic, rousing themes to adventure and fantasy films. His richly thematic and highly popular 1977 score to the first Star Wars film was selected in 2005 by the American Film Institute as the greatest American movie score of all time. So far, five of his film scores have won Oscars.
His long career has also included many sensitive dramatic scores (such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan) and more experimental concert works.
Early life
John Williams was born in Floral Park, New York.
Film scoring
Williams later returned to Los Angeles, where he started working in the film studios.
In the early 1970s, he established himself as a composer for big-budget disaster films with scores for The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, and The Poseidon Adventure. To date, Williams has composed the music to all but two of Spielberg's movies (The Color Purple and Twilight Zone: The Movie, composed by Quincy Jones and Jerry Goldsmith, respectively ). He currently holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person and has the same number of Oscar nominations as Alfred Newman. (With four more losses than Newman, Williams would need to win on his next five nominations to match Alfred Newman's overall Oscar record.)
Williams has received two Emmy Awards, seven BAFTAs, eighteen Grammy Awards, and has been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. On January 16, 2006, Williams won a Golden Globe, his fourth, for his score in Memoirs of a Geisha.
Notable film music
The following list consists of films for which John Williams wrote the score and/or songs. Those films for which his music won an Oscar are in bold-face.
Audio samples composed by John Williams: "Theme from Jaws" (1975) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Jaws "Main Title from Star Wars" (1977) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Star Wars "Main Title from Superman" (1978) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Superman "The Imperial March" (1980) (file info) — play in browser (beta) The Empire Strikes Back "The Raiders' March" (1981) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Raiders of the Lost Ark "Flying Theme" (1982) (file info) — play in browser (beta) E.T. the Extra Terrestrial "Main Title from Home Alone (Somewhere in My Memory)" (1990) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Home Alone "Flight to Neverland" (1991) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Hook "Theme from Schindler's List" (1993) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Schindler's List "Look Down, Lord" (1997) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Rosewood "Duel of the Fates" (1999) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace "Hedwig's Theme" (2001) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone "Across the Stars" (2002) (file info) — play in browser (beta) Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Problems playing the files? See media help. Munich (2005) Oscar nomination Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) Golden Globe and BAFTA winner, Oscar nomination War of the Worlds (2005) Grammy nomination Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) double Grammy nominations The Terminal (2004) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Grammy & Oscar nominations Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Grammy nomination Minority Report (2002) Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) Catch Me If You Can (2002) Oscar nomination Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) double Grammy & Oscar nomination A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) Grammy & Oscar nominations The Patriot (2000) Oscar nomination Angela's Ashes (1999) Grammy & Oscar nomination Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) Grammy nomination Saving Private Ryan (1998) Golden Globe, Grammy & Oscar nominations Stepmom (1998) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Amistad (1997) Grammy & Oscar nominations Seven Years in Tibet (1997) Sleepers (1996) Oscar nomination Sabrina (1995) double Oscar nominations Nixon (1995) Oscar nomination Schindler's List (1993) Oscar, Grammy and BAFTA winner Jurassic Park (1993) Far and Away (1992) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) JFK (1991) Oscar nomination Hook (1991) Grammy & Oscar nominations Home Alone (1990) double Oscar nominations Presumed Innocent (1990) Stanley & Iris (1990) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Oscar nomination Born on the Fourth of July (1989) Oscar nomination The Accidental Tourist (1988) Oscar nomination The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Oscar nomination Empire of the Sun (1987) Oscar nomination, BAFTA winner Space Camp (1985) The River (1984) Oscar nomination Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Oscar nomination Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) Oscar nomination E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Golden Globe, Oscar & BAFTA winner Yes, Giorgio (1982) Oscar nomination Monsignor (1982) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) double Grammy & Oscar nomination Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) double Grammy & Oscar nomination, BAFTA winner Dracula (1979) Superman: The Movie (1978) double Grammy & Oscar nomination The Fury (1978) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Oscar nomination Star Wars (1977) Oscar, Golden Globe & Oscar winner The Towering Inferno (1974) Oscar nomination Tom Sawyer (1973) Oscar nomination shared with Robert B. Sherman The Paper Chase (1973) Cinderella Liberty (1973) Oscar nomination The Cowboys (1972) The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Oscar nomination Images (1972) Oscar nomination Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Oscar winner Jane Eyre (1970) Storia di una donna (1970) The only Williams' score written for an Italian movie Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) Oscar nomination The Reivers (1969) Oscar nomination A Guide for the Married Man (1967) Valley of the Dolls (1967) Oscar nomination John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965) Daddy-O (1958)Notable television themes
For NBC: NBC News - The Mission NBC Nightly News The Today Show Meet The Press NBC Sunday Night Football Amazing Stories Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (Wicket's theme reprised from Return of the Jedi) Land of the Giants Lost in SpaceCollaborations with Steven Spielberg
John Williams' relationship with producer/director Steven Spielberg has been long and fruitful. Every film directed by Spielberg since and including The Sugarland Express, with the exception of Twilight Zone: The Movie and The Color Purple, has been scored by Williams, including:
Munich The Terminal War of the Worlds The Indiana Jones trilogy: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Empire of the Sun Amistad Saving Private Ryan Schindler's List Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park Always Hook 1941 Jaws The Sugarland Express Close Encounters of the Third Kind Catch Me If You Can Minority Report AI: Artificial IntelligenceConducting and performing
From 1980 to 1993, Williams succeeded the legendary Arthur Fiedler as Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Williams has written many concert pieces, including a symphony, Concerto for Clarinet written for Michele Zukovsky (Principal Clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) in 1991 , a sinfonietta for wind ensemble, 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, tuba, and a trumpet concerto, which was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra and their principal trumpet Michael Sachs in September 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 for Sony Classical by Williams with LeClair and the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Williams composed the well-known NBC News theme "The Mission" (which he has occasionally performed in concert for surprised audiences), "Liberty Fanfare" for the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty, "We're Lookin' Good!," for the Special Olympics in celebration of the 1987 International Summer Games, and themes for the 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2002 Olympic games.
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