John Williams News

Two captivating displays of youthful musicality take place this month as Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) and Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble (PSYWE) perform an impressive range of music for their individual spring concerts.

Various sources have confirmed to the publication that GIRLS star Adam Driver is wrapping up talks to play the unnamed villain in the next installment of the franchise. Though details are scarce, 'the character is said to be in the vein of iconic STAR WARS villain Darth Vader.' Driver has reportedly been in talks for sometime, with scheduling for HBO's series with Lena Dunham being the main issue before a deal could be finalized.

Oscar-winning composer John Williams and legendary director Steven Spielberg will join the DSO for a one-night-only gala benefit concert for the orchestra. Tickets to this special concert appearance will be available starting April 14. Both artists are donating their services for this extraordinary event.

Shades of Jurassic Park! Big booming sounds from the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ and dino-mite music performed by Pacific Symphony combine with authentic footage from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) to create a family-fun musical expedition into the prehistoric world of "Dinosaurs!" Presented by Farmers and Merchants Bank, this Family Musical Mornings concert features a 66-pound dinosaur puppet, plus videos and still images of dinosaurs, fossils and paleontologists at work, provided by the NHM. Filled with dinosaur-inspired music, children and families are guided by paleontologist Dr. Olivia Mattis (Bree Burgess Rosen) and her young assistant Sammy (Coleton Ray) in a hunt for clues in the music to reveal the identity of a mystery dinosaur. An imaginative spectacle, "Dinosaurs!" sets the mood for the little T-Rex or Stegosaurus hoping to uncover the mysteries of natural history.

Shades of Jurassic Park! Big booming sounds from the William J. Gillespie Concert Organ and dino-mite music performed by Pacific Symphony combine with authentic footage from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) to create a family-fun musical expedition into the prehistoric world of “Dinosaurs!” Presented by Farmers and Merchants Bank, this Family Musical Mornings concert features a 66-pound dinosaur puppet, plus videos and still images of dinosaurs, fossils and paleontologists at work, provided by the NHM. Filled with dinosaur-inspired music, children and families are guided by paleontologist Dr. Olivia Mattis (Bree Burgess Rosen) and her young assistant Sammy (Coleton Ray) in a hunt for clues in the music to reveal the identity of a mystery dinosaur. An imaginative spectacle, “Dinosaurs!” sets the mood for the little T-Rex or Stegosaurus hoping to uncover the mysteries of natural history.

On Saturday, June 14, Oscar-winning composer John Williams and legendary director Steven Spielberg will join the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) for a one-night-only gala benefit concert for the orchestra. Tickets to this special concert appearance will be available starting April 14. Both artists are donating their services for this extraordinary event.

Careful direction, excellent timing and cast chemistry provide a very successful performance of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple (Female Version)

Yefim Bronfman, the New York Philharmonic's 2013-14 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, will be spotlighted in a chamber music concert co-presented with 92nd Street Y. Mr. Bronfman will be joined by Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow; Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson; Associate Principal, Second Violin Group, Lisa Kim; Associate Principal Viola Rebecca Young; and cellist Maria Kitsopoulos for the program, featuring Schubert's Sonatina in A minor; Bartok's Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano; and Brahms's Piano Quintet, Sunday, March 30, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. at 92nd Street Y.

The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Youth Orchestras (CSOYO) continue their 2013-2014 season on March 3 at 7:30pm at Brainerd Baptist Church with a concert performed by the Symphony Orchestra with Gary Wilkes conducting, featuring selections from The Planets by Gustav Holst. The massive work by Gustav Holst includes movements for each of the planets in our solar system. Movements to be performed in this concert include 'Mars', 'Venus', and 'Jupiter'. This music, familiar to many people, was the direct inspiration for John Williams as he wrote the score for the Star Wars movies.

The Segal Centre will present a limited engagement of David Mamet's powerful Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Glengarry Glen Ross, directed by Segal Centre Artistic Producer Paul Flicker, from March 16th - 30th, 2014.

No one writes more recognizable movie scores than John Williams, and on April 4 through 6, Maestro Michael Krajewski will lead the Philly POPS as they take audiences on a journey through the great music of many popular movies. The Magical Music of John Williams concert will feature music from Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and more. The POPS Festival Chorus will sing several selections. Guests will be surprised during the concert by local Star Wars enthusiasts who are members of the 501st Legion, Garrison Carida, the world's largest costuming organization, in character as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2D3, C3PO, and Storm Troopers.

The BAFTA Awards -- the EE British Academy Film Awards took place on 16 February at The Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. Stephen Fry returned to host this year's ceremony, which was broadcast on BBC One in the UK and in all major territories around the world. Scroll down for the full list of winners!

Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra presents 'Brass, Bows and Brilliance' today, February 15, 1:00 p.m., in Uihlein Hall of the the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St., Milwaukee. The performance will feature MYSO's Percussion Ensemble, String Orchestras West & Central, Junior Wind Ensemble and Philharmonia. The performance will include works written for orchestra by Gustav Mahler, Percy Grainger, Carl Maria von Weber, Maurice Ravel and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as well as works for percussion ensemble and wind band by contemporary composers including John Williams, Steven Barton, Kenley Kristofferson, Donald Grantham, Tomohiro Tatebe, Joel Smales and more.

Two captivating displays of youthful musicality take place next month as Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO) and Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble (PSYWE) perform an impressive range of music for their individual spring concerts. The students are bonded more than at any other time during the year, having recently returned from winter retreats, and have prepared some challenging repertoire to perform for the community. Led by Music Director Alejandro Gutiérrez, PSYO travels for the first time to Soka Performing Arts Center in Aliso Viejo, on Saturday, March 1, at 3 p.m., to perform a concert of 20th-century music by Prokofiev, John Williams, James Newton Howard, Ginastera and more. Then, the exuberant sounds of PSYWE are heard the following weekend on Sunday, March 9, at 3 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Led by Music Director Joshua Roach, the wind ensemble performs and narrates Mussorgsky's masterwork, “Pictures at an Exhibition,” and plays exciting music by Shostakovich, Grainger, Barber and Barnes. Tickets are $12, general admission; for more information or to purchase, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.

Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and President and CEO Deborah Borda today announced the 2014/15 season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This new season, the orchestra's 96th, is devoted to moving music forward by presenting an ever-evolving vision through a series of programs that demonstrate the artistry of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a leading orchestra of the 21st century, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra presents 'Brass, Bows and Brilliance' on Saturday, February 15, 1:00 p.m., in Uihlein Hall of the the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St., Milwaukee. The performance will feature MYSO's Percussion Ensemble, String Orchestras West & Central, Junior Wind Ensemble and Philharmonia. The performance will include works written for orchestra by Gustav Mahler, Percy Grainger, Carl Maria von Weber, Maurice Ravel and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as well as works for percussion ensemble and wind band by contemporary composers including John Williams, Steven Barton, Kenley Kristofferson, Donald Grantham, Tomohiro Tatebe, Joel Smales and more.

The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera today announced their 2014/15 season, led by Music Director Kayoko Dan in her fourth season. The regular concert season will begin in September 2014 and go through April 2015. "The 2014-15 season should be one of the most memorable in the CSO's history," stated CSO Executive Director Molly Sasse. "The opportunity to perform with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma is just the beginning. Our Masterworks concerts offer a great mix of beloved works and lesser-known masterpieces, with more great soloists. Our Pops concerts will have something for everyone, from the film classic, Casablanca to Broadway hits. We're so pleased to continue our concerts at the Volkswagen Conference Center and our chamber orchestra programs at the Silver Ballroom of the Sheraton Read House. There's great variety in the music and the settings across all of our series, and I hope audiences will try something that might be new to them this year."

Tonight, February 7 at 7:30 pm the Pinckney Community School Orchestras and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra will celebrate their eighth annual side-by-side concert at Jane Tasch Theater.

The audiences in the next Philly POPS concert series will certainly be 'feeling groovy' as music director Michael Krajewski introduces Philadelphians to a concert he helped develop - The Sounds of Simon and Garfunkel. After singing with symphonies throughout the country, AJ Swearingen and Jonathan Beedle, who hail from Bethlehem, PA, will perform such favorites as 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' 'The Sound of Silence,' 'The Boxer,' 'Mrs. Robinson', 'Feeling Groovy' and 'Scarborough Fair.'

Magic and wonder await as Deputy Headmaster Vladimir Kulenovic conducts the Utah Symphony through the music and fantasy of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on February 18 and 19 at Abravanel Hall. Songs from the 'Harry Potter' movie soundtracks composed by John Williams are scattered throughout the concert including the musical flights of 'Nimbus 2000' and 'Hedwig's Theme' and the mystical spells of 'The Sorcerer's Stone' and 'Witches, Wands and Wizards'.