John Williams News

Rafael Payare's highly anticipated inaugural concerts as San Diego Symphony's Music Director Designate take place as part of the annual January Festival. It will mark his only Jacobs Masterworks appearance this season and will feature acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein and the orchestra's first-ever performance of Benjamin Britten's Symphony for Cello and Orchestra. He will also perform in a special Discovery Night concert on January 10, with all funds from this concert going to support the San Diego Symphony's Learning and Community Engagement programs.

BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), the global leader in rights management, is proud to present legendary film composer John Williams with a special award bearing his name in recognition of his incomparable status as one of the greatest film and television composers of our time. The John Williams Award will be presented for the first time at the 34th annual BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards on Wednesday, May 9th at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA.  The private black-tie event will be hosted by BMI President and CEO Mike O'Neilland BMI Vice President Creative - Film, TV & Visual Media Doreen Ringer-Ross.

The Harry Potter Film Concert Series returns to Sony Centre for the Performing Arts with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Concert, the third film in the Harry Potter Series. On May 16-18, 2018, Jeffrey Schindler will conduct the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in performing the magical score live from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while the entire film plays in high-definition on a 40-foot screen.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic and Music Director Donato Cabrera announced the 2018 - 2019 concert season today, which will include 13 performances from September 15, 2018 - May 11, 2019 at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.  This marks the orchestra's 20th concert season and Cabrera's 5th season as Music Director for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.  The upcoming season begins with works by Leonard Bernstein as part of a world-wide celebration of his 100th birthday and the orchestra performs selections from West Side Story and Candide.  Other composers featuring prominently in the new season include Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, John Williams and others. The critically-acclaimed horror film Psycho will be presented in full on the large screen with the orchestra performing the entire spine-tingling score live in a concert for film and music lovers alike in October.   In November, a piano concerto composed by Philip Glass and commissioned by the Las Vegas Philharmonic as part of a consortium of orchestras will be performed by pianist Simone Dinnerstein.  Two holiday concerts in December will delight with nostalgia and feature a special reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas as well as powerful vocal performances by Kristen Hertzenberg and Travis Cloer.  Once again, we dedicate an entire evening to epic film scores by John Williams and perform music spanning four decades of fan favorites from films including Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Harry Potter, and Memoirs of a Geisha in January.  The orchestra features two of its own principal musicians, De Ann Letourneau (violin) and Andrew Smith (cello), as guest soloists in February's An Evening of Brahms.  For the first time, the orchestra is joined by the group Time For Three, an American trio that boasts an uncommon mix of virtuosity and showmanship on music from Bach to Brahms in addition to originals and their own arrangements of everything from bluegrass to mash-ups of hits by the Beatles, Justin Timberlake and more at the March 2019 concert.  In April, the second installment of the Music Unwound initiative with the National Endowment for the Humanities explores Czech composer Antonin Dvo?ak and his New World Symphony.  The Philharmonic's chorus-in-residence, the Las Vegas Master Singers will perform at the holiday concerts in addition to May's presentation of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Marking the third year of the orchestra's American German Cultural Exchange Fellowship, violinist Thomas Reif will perform Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in May's season finale. In a finale befitting a 20th Anniversary celebration, acclaimed vocalists Felicia Moore (soprano), Kelley O'Connor (Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano), Sean Panikkar (tenor) and Raymond Aceto (bass) will also perform on Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

It's getting to that time of year when we think about things that are truly American. We might think about baseball games and hot dogs.  There's also,  of course, the annual Fourth of July concert on PBS featuring Maestro Keith Lockhart and the world famous Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. If you can't wait until the 4th however, you can catch this true American institution on Sunday, April 8 at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD.  Performances are at 2 PM and 7 PM.

Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce the line-up for the 2018 season of 'HD at the Opera House' and "Classic Movies at the Opera House".  This weekly series of filmed performances has allowed Sarasota Opera to expand its programming from the fall and winter season to year-around. The 2018 "HD at the Opera House" series will open on Sunday, May 20th and run through September 30th and will include presentations of Ballet and Theater from some of the world's most famous venues and companies including the Royal Opera House; Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Royal Shakespeare Company; Vienna State Opera; and the Royal Ballet. Each presentation will begin at 1:30pm.

Individual concert tickets for The Cleveland Orchestra's 2018 Blossom Music Festival 50th Anniversary Season go on sale Tuesday, May 1 at 9:00 a.m., online at clevelandorchestra.com, by telephone (216-231-1111), and in person at the Severance Hall Ticket Office. 

The Houston Symphony welcomes back former Principal POPS Conductor Michael Krajewski to Jones Hall for The Best of John Williams on April 20-21 at 8 p.m. and April 22 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The Hawai'i Symphony Orchestra offered another of its wildly successful pop up concert series at the Bank of Hawaii headquarters downtown on March 28. Joseph Stepec, Assistant Professor of Music at The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Director of Orchestras, conducted the free concert, which received thunderous applause throughout the event.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, due to overwhelming demand, is adding a third performance on Thursday, December 28, at 7:00 p.m.     The Harry Potter Film Concert Series returns to Music Hall with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert, the second film in the Harry Potter series. Previously announced, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra will perform John Williams' unforgettable score live from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, while the entire film plays in high-definition on a 40-foot screen on December 29-30.

Shakespeare's Globe is delighted to announce the return of guitar virtuoso John Williams for a weekend of candlelit concerts in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 July 2018.

This spring, the New York Guitar Festival and Arts Brookfield will present two days of performances devoted entirely to classical and flamenco Spanish guitar music at Brookfield Place. 

The Harris Theater announced last night the five artists and ensembles appearing in the 2018-19 Mix at Six series: British-Bahraini jazz trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, Afro-Cuban vocalist Dayme Arocena, Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz Villegas, Quebecois circus arts ensemble Cirque Eloize, and some of the best young dancers from right here in our city - the Chicago Academy for the Arts Repertory Dance Company.

The Folk Music Society of NY presents Martin Carthy and John Doyle, in concert, Thursday, Apr. 26th, 2018, 7:30PM at the Second Presbyterian Church, 96th St & Central Park West, Manhattan

This spring, the New York Guitar Festival and Arts Brookfield will present two days of performances devoted entirely to classical and flamenco Spanish guitar music at Brookfield Place.

'Cirque de la Symphonie" returns once again to Pacific Symphony, its third show in the orchestra's Pops series since 2012. This electrifying show returns by popular demand, with an all-new program featuring stunning aerial acrobatics, dancers, contortionists, strongmen and jugglers performing their cirque acts to classical favorites and popular film themes. Under the baton of Assistant Conductor Roger Kalia, the Symphony will provide a soundtrack for this special night, including compositions by composers John Williams, Jimmy Webb and Dmitri Kabalevsky, and featuring some of Hollywood's most memorable movie themes, such as "Mission Impossible," "Star Wars," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association today announced updates to the Hollywood Bowl 2018 summer season, including the first-ever Norteño at the Bowl! with Los Tigres del Norte on September 15; BADBADNOTGOOD added to the bill on June 17; David Newman conducting the LA Phil in the first half of the performances on August 31, September 1 and September 2; and Bonerama with special guest Erica Falls added to the Fireworks Finale performances on September 7, 8 and 9.

Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili and science-comedy phenomenon Festival of the Spoken Nerd have joined the all-star Space Shambles show, which comes to the Royal Albert Hall in June.

Utah Symphony | Utah Opera today announced its lineup for the 2018 Deer Valley Music Festival in addition to its plans to celebrate its 15th year of calling Park City, Utah its summer home. Highlights of the six-week, 17-concert music festival, which begins on June 30, 2018 and runs through August 11, 2018, include Utah Symphony performances with Emmy and Tony Award-winning Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, folk-rock singer-songwriter Amos Lee, 14-time Grammy Award-winner Ricky Skaggs, and Grammy Award-winner Rick Springfield; music of John Williams with scores from some of Hollywood's biggest blockbuster movies; Broadway vocalists and show tunes honoring Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim musicals; tributes to Swedish pop sensation ABBA, Pink Floyd and the music of the 1970s and '80s; Disney in Concert "A Silly Symphony Celebration" with scenes from some of Disney's earliest colorful cartoons playing on giant screens; and the perennial favorite, "1812 Overture" with live cannon fire on the hillside provided by Cannoneers of the Wasatch.

The Harry Potter Film Concert Series returns to Jones Hall with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Concert, the third film in the Harry Potter series. On June 15-17, Constantine Kitsopoulos will conduct the Houston Symphony in performing this magical score live from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while the entire film plays in high-definition on a 40-foot screen.