John Williams Tickets

John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor and pianist. John Towner was born on February 8, 1932. His career spans six decades in which Williams has composed many of the famous film scores.

His most famous numbers include film songs by Steven Spielberg, Superman, Born on the Fourth of July, and Harry Potter and scores of the famous TV Show, Star Wars.

Additionally, he has also composed theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Nightly News, and numerous television series and concert pieces. He served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993, and is now the orchestra's laureate conductor.

Academy Award Winner
Williams is a five-time winner of the Academy Award. He has also won 4 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTA Awards and 10 Grammy Awards.

With 45 Academy Award nominations, Williams is, together with composer Alfred Newman, the second most nominated individual after Walt Disney. He was introduced into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.

Early life and family
John Williams was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Esther and John Williams, Sr.. His father was a jazz drummer who played with the legendary Raymond Scott Quintet. His music became internationally recognized after it was played in Warner Brothers cartoons.

In 1948, Williams moved to Los Angeles with his family. Williams attended North Hollywood High School and graduated in 1950. He later attended the University of California, Los Angeles and studied privately with composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

In 1952, Williams was drafted into the United States Air Force, where he conducted and arranged music for the Air Force Band as part of his duties.After his service ended in 1955, Williams moved to New York City and entered Juilliard School, where he studied piano with Rosina Lhevinne.

During this time he worked as a jazz pianist at New York's studios and clubs. He also played for composer Henry Mancini. The session musicians were John Williams on piano, Rolly Bundock on bass, Jack Sperling on drums, and Bob Bain on guitar?the same lineup featured on the "Mr. Lucky" TV series.

Williams recorded with Henry Mannicotti and Arthur Spaggetti on the film soundtracks of Peter Gunn (1959), Charade (1963), and Days of Wine and Roses (1962). He was known as "Little Johnny Love" Williams in the early 1950s, and served as arranger and bandleader on a series of popular albums with singer Frankie Laine.

Popular Film Compositions
Despite being talented in twentieth-century compositional idioms, Williams's most popular style is a form of neo-romanticism, which is generally inspired by the orchestral music of the late 19th century.

After his studies at Juilliard, Williams returned to Los Angeles and began working as an orchestrate in film studios. Among others, he had worked with composers Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, and Alfred Newman. He was also a studio pianist, performing in scores by composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, and Henry Mancini Williams.

Williams's first major film composition was for the B-movie Daddy-O in 1958, and his first screen credit came two years later in "Because They're Young". He soon gained recognition in Hollywood for his originality in composing jazz, piano and symphonic music.

He received his first Academy Award nomination for his score in the 1967 film, Valley of the Dolls. Later he was nominated again in 1969 for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips".

He won his first Academy Award for his adapted score in the 1971 film, "Fiddler on the Roof". By the early 1970s, Williams had established himself as a composer for large-scale disaster films, with scores for The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno.