John Williams News

Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) have announced the Orchestra's 2016-2017 season, its tenth season under the direction of Maestra Alsop.

Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) today announce their 2016-17 season.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and Conductor John Morris Russell are pleased to announce the Pops' 2016-2017 season, to be performed at Downtown Cincinnati's historic Taft Theatre, the Orchestra's 'home away from home' while Cincinnati Music Hall undergoes a major renovation during the 2016-17 season. (The Pops will return to the renovated Music Hall for the 2017-18 season.) The star-studded season is a testament to the Orchestra's steadfast commitment to innovation and extraordinary artistry. Entering his sixth season as Conductor of the world-famous Cincinnati Pops, Mr. Russell introduces guest artists and concert programs that continue to develop the wide variety of orchestral programming. The Orchestra also announces its summer 2016 concerts, to take place both at the Taft Theatre and Riverbend Music Center.

The upcoming FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Broadway Cast Album will feature an additional bonus track from co-stars Adam Kantor and Alexandra Silber!

On April 8, 2016, at 8:00PM, The New York Pops will take center stage at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage in The Music of John Williams: From Spielberg to Star Wars. Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the orchestra in a celebration of the work of legendary film composer John Williams, with a strong focus on his collaborations with Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg. The orchestra will breathe life into some of cinema's most iconic scores, including selections from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park. The concert will also include a look at Williams' seminal scoring of the Star Wars films, from their beginnings in the 1970s to today's  The Force Awakens.

Embracing its deep roots and far-reaching artistry during its 30th Anniversary Season, the Los Angeles Children's Chorus (LACC) honors four esteemed visionaries who have left their indelible stamps on the acclaimed chorus, including five-time Academy Award-winning film composer John Williams and LACC Founding Director Rebecca Thompson, at Gala Bel Canto, its annual fundraiser, on Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 6 pm, at Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. 

Today, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) and Dr. Timothy Seelig, Artistic Director, announced its spring fundraising event at the home of Ann & Gordon Getty in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., featuring two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone, and honoring composer Jake Heggie with a Champion Award.

Your Grand Rapids Symphony's 87th annual season, offers classical blockbusters; classic pop and rock shows plus family friendly entertainment; and cinematic special events plus seasonal celebrations that'll bring a galaxy of eminent artists and guest conductors to Grand Rapids, all paving the way for the orchestra's next music director, who will be selected in the months ahead.

We have a feeling Broadway fans are going to love the 2016 Boston Pops season, running May 6-June 18, under the direction of conductor Keith Lockhart. Featuring classic Boston Pops programming, including film scores of the silver screen, ballads from Broadway and the great American Songbook, classic rock anthems, and a Gospel Night spectacular, along with an impressive lineup of Boston Pops debuts, new programs that spotlight the best of the worlds of dance and puppetry, and the return of last year's audience favorite -- Pops On Demand: You Choose the Tunes -- the lineup features a slew of Broadway talent, including Sutton Foster, Mandy Patinkin, and Marin Mazzie & Jason Danieley.

Orange County, Calif.—Feb. 17, 2016—Jumpin' Jupiter! Fasten your seatbelts for blast-off as Pacific Symphony, navigated by Assistant Conductor Roger Kalia, takes the audience on a musical journey through the solar system for Family Musical Mornings, “Symphony in Space,” sponsored by Farmers & Merchants Bank. An astonishing experience for ears and eyes, this concert invites the audience to revel in thrilling selections from “Star Wars,” Gustav Holst's epic “The Planets” and more, while watching actual footage from NASA projected onto the giant screen and enjoying a story about a boy who manages to get lost in space. Joining the orchestra are the gifted young musicians of Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) in a side-by-side performance for this awesome galactic experience. This event is sure to inspire awe in both the magnificence of the universe and the wonder of music.

February 16, 2016 – Richmond, Virginia Music Director Steven Smith and Executive Director David Fisk announced the 2016-17 season of the Richmond Symphony (RSO). The season features great works of music that tell stories about the world in which we live and fantastic guest artists that represent the best in world-class soloists. As a special collaboration with the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Jewish Community Center, the Symphony will open its season with the legendary Itzhak Perlman – an artist that transcends music of all genres and people of all backgrounds.

Last Sunday, New York's Birdland Jazz Club welcomed the third and fourth shows in Ann Hampton Callaway's This is Cabaret series that is subsequently aired on National Public Radio (check local listings for dates and times). As increased exposure is vital to the health of the art form, one can only applaud its emergence. Callaway's special guests (one in each hour segment) were jazz performer Kurt Elling and cabaret Goddess Marilyn Maye.

Grammy-, Golden Globe- Drama Desk- and three-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer Bernadette Peters-known for her raw talent and ability to knock the socks off an audience with her glorious voice-joins Pacific Symphony just in time for Valentine's Day weekend!

WALNUT CREEK, CA (February 9, 2016) - The aerialists, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, strongmen and acrobats of Cirque de la Symphonie join the California Symphony and Music Director Donato Cabrera in the Orchestra's annual fundraising special event, Cirque du Symphonie Presented by Steadauto.com, Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm at the historic and beautiful Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. For this performance, the Cirque production team and California Symphony have developed a unique program specifically for the Orchestra and the special characteristics of the Scottish Rite Center. The artists of Cirque de la Symphonie will execute their spectacular feats to music ranging from Bizet's Carmen to John Williams (music from Indiana Jones and Superman), Leonard Bernstein's Candide Overture, Arturo Marquez's Danzon No. 2, Debussy's Clair du lune, Offenbach's Can-Can No. 4, and Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 6, and the orchestra plays music from Aaron Copland (Rodeo from Hoe-Down), Richard Rodgers (Carousel Waltz), and Strauss (Emperor Waltz). All proceeds from the event, presented by steadauto.com, support the California Symphony and its music education programs, including Sound Minds, Music in the Schools, and the organization's respected Young American Composer-in-Residence Program.

  The producers of the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof announce that ITZHAK PERLMAN, the reigning virtuoso of the violin, has recorded a special bonus track for the upcoming New Broadway Cast Album of Fiddler on the Roof.  PERLMAN has recorded 'Excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof' arranged by John Williams.

Happy Birthday, John Williams! The Cincinnati Pops be celebrating his FIFTIETH Academy Award Nomination March 4-6 with an all-Williams first half as part of An Evening of Comedy & Song with Jason Alexander. For more information, visit: cincinnatipops.org

Today, in its 50th day of release, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is expected to cross the $900 million mark at the domestic box office. It is the only film in history to reach this milestone.

The Oscar celebration starts early this year with PNC Pops: The Ultimate Oscars at Heinz Hall on February 5-7.

Today, at Roy Thomson Hall, Music Director Peter Oundjian unveiled the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's 95th performance season.

have been and where we are going? Or how certain kinds of music fit into this diverse universe of sound? These are some of the important questions that music raises, and each year, Pacific Symphony, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, attempts to shed light on the answers by exploring a different facet of American music through the American Composers Festival (ACF). This year's ACF spotlights organ music through four highly acclaimed organists and the splendor of the king of instruments-in this case, the one-of-a-kind William J. Gillespie Concert Organ, located in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Built from steel, tin, oak, poplar, maple, lead and carbon fiber, the astounding instrument found in the Symphony's concert hall required three years and 42,000 hours of labor by a team of organ builders at C.B Fisk in Gloucester, Mass., before making its debut with Pacific Symphony in 2008.