John Williams News

On Saturday, February 7, at 8 pm, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) presents PSO Saturday Evening POPS!, recasting its annual mid-winter pops concert into A Silver Screen Salute. Hosted by NPR film critic Bob Mondello, conducted by PSO Music Director Rossen Milanov, and featuring a special guest appearance by the American Boychoir, the program spotlights the award-winning works of John Williams, composed for the popular box office films Star Wars, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones. The voices of the American Boychoir join in on Amistad's "Dry Your Tears, Afrika," Saving Private Ryan's "Hymn to the Fallen," and Empire of the Sun's "Cadillac of the Skies" and "Exsultate Justi." Many other movie scores will be represented, including music from The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Cinema Paradiso, Laura, The Magnificent Seven, Sunset Boulevard, Lawrence of Arabia, and Vertigo.

The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart will showcase the extraordinary range of 'America's Orchestra' in five Florida cities from February 3-9, presenting a program focused on our country's most celebrated composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin, as well as film music favorites from the incomparable Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams. The orchestra will also perform crowd-pleasing orchestrations of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and ABBA's Dancing Queen, and a new Beatles sing-along including 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' 'Twist and Shout,' and 'Hey Jude.'

The Houston Symphony will treat audiences to a month of iconic movie scores, acclaimed guest artists, riveting performances by the Houston Symphony Chorus and Musically Speaking concerts.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gary Whitta, who was tapped to pen the script for the film, to be directed by GODZILLA's Gareth Edwards. Whitta completed the spinoff's first draft, and will now move on to the impending film adaptation of STARLIGHT. A new writer is expected to complete the project.

Violinist Amadeus Leopold will make his Houston debut Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, at 8 p.m. in the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater, presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

Violinist Amadeus Leopold will make his Houston debut Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, at 8 p.m. in the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater, presented by Society for the Performing Arts.

The North Carolina Symphony will pay tribute to two of the most beloved performers of the 20th century with Louis and Ella: All That Jazz, which will feature the music of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald performed by trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling and vocalist Marva Hicks, with drummer Robert Breithaupt. The Symphony concerts, which will be led by Associate Conductor David Glover, will take place in Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh, Friday, Jan. 16, and Saturday, Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. each night.

Eugene, Oregon

On January 31, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra hosts the returns of Cirque de la Symphonie: the magic of the circus combined with a live orchestra for a totally unique performance experience. With a family-friendly curtain time of 7:00 p.m., Cirque de la Symphonie is a spectacular evening the generations can enjoy together. Resident conductor Francisco Noya will be on the podium at the Vets in Providence.

The STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS team recently took some time to thank fans for their support. Below, watch this video featuring everyone from the crew to R2D2!

Today I had a lengthy Twitter discussion with a few passionate fans of THE VOICE about the increasingly complicated impact of iTunes purchases on the crowning of a champion. Unlike in previous weeks, there is no iTunes x10 bonus tonight, but the contestants will get cumulative credit for every song sold on iTunes starting with Top 12 week. I wanted to link to the official voting rules on NBC's website, but mysteriously they have taken it down since this morning; adding even more full to the conspiracy fire that always surrounds the finales of competition reality shows. If you want to try and prognosticate based on iTunes rankings from around the end of voting, PopVortex has a good breakdown.

With an overwhelming number of productions and events on the horizon, I find it difficult as a critic to decide what shows to cover ("criticism" is not the most appropriate quality of the holiday; therefore I aim to stay positive in this article). Fortunately, we can share Christmas without sharing the same theatrical experiences. So, take a moment to tell BroadwayWorld San Francisco what holiday shows and experiences you will visit this winter, and don't forget to check out BroadwayWorld's picks for a Bay Area holiday extravaganza!

Talking to Yahoo! Movies, original STAR WARS hero Mark Hamill talked about welcoming his smaller role in THE FORCE AWAKENS after being absent from the first trailer.

STAR WARS co-writer and director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy have revealed the first characters' names from the highly anticipated upcoming film STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

STAR WARS will soon be making its way into Disney Parks - but don't expect the upcoming attractions to be based on George Lucas' original films.

Leave it to NBC's THE VOICE to change up their format with little to no warning. One could say that it is in an effort to get (or keep) a specific producer-favorite in the competition, or it could just be a shrewd programming decision to make a normally anticlimactic results show just a bit more interesting.

Ok, things are getting real on NBC's THE VOICE tonight. Five artists will compete in the Semifinals hoping to secure a spot in next week's Season Seven finale. If last season is any indication, two of the semifinalists will be eliminated on Tuesday, but with THE VOICE's track-record of mixing up their format, you can never quite be sure. Case and point, on Tuesday's Results Show, eliminated contestants will have a chance to sing and earn another chance at the title. Will it be just the seven singers eliminated since Week 1's mass elimination of eight? Hopefully we will get some clarification during tonight's episode.

George Lucas, director of the first six 'Star Wars' films, claims that he hasn't even seen the trailer for the seventh film yet, according to Mashable.

A fan put together an amazing, shot-for-shot recreation of the STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS trailer with footage from the original trilogy. You can check it out below, along with the new teaser for reference!