John Williams may not be a household name, but for many of us, his music has been our first introduction to the sound of an orchestra.
Williams, 94, has created some of the most memorable film music of all time.
He’s a master of suspense (think Jaws and Jurassic Park) and action-packed adventure (Indiana Jones, ET and Home Alone) and his theme songs are often as iconic as the movies they belong to (Star Wars, Harry Potter and Schindler’s List just to name a few).
This October at MyState Arena, the full TSO and TSO Chorus will pay tribute to the composer who’s received more Academy Award nominations than any other living person.
They’ll be joined at MyState Bank Arena by Art of the Score podcaster and self-confessed film nerd Andrew Pogson, who will unpack what makes Williams’ music so extraordinary.
Top image: the TSO performs the Music of Hans Zimmer at MyState Bank Arena.
Importantly, the event does not include any screens or footage of the films. As the TSO’s Sarah Morrisby says, it’s all about the music and watching the orchestra itself in full flight.
‘We really want you to be in the moment, listening to the music, letting your imagination take you back to where you were when you first heard it,’ Morrisby says.
‘John Williams is one of those screen soundtrack composers who, if you don’t know his name, you will still know his music. Lately I’ve been rewatching the Jurassic Park films and that famous Jurassic Park theme song – that is John Williams to a tee,’ she says.
‘You also have Star Wars and Indiana Jones, ET … so many movies that have had such an impact on our lives.’
‘The feelings that John Williams’ music evokes and the journey it helps to take you on, it’s second to none.’
'There are no screens, we want you to be in the moment, listening to the music, letting your imagination take you back to where you were when you first heard it' - Sarah Morrisby, TSO.
For music reviewer Peter Donnelly, his love of movies as a child growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s led him to become hooked on the orchestra from a young age.
‘I would recall the themes and orchestrations as much as the plots of these films, often to the amazement of family and friends,’ Donnelly says.
‘Following on from these experiences, my first live concert with a school group of the TSO under the baton of Thomas Matthews was a watershed moment in my childhood.’
He says John Williams’ music deserves acclaim as much for its orchestration as for its narrative and imaginative power.
‘John Williams has been active as a composer of both film and concert music for some seventy years – his international fame arriving in the 1970s with his much-loved scores for the movies of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas,’ Donnelly says.
‘His music is sophisticated, imaginatively apt to the subject matter of each film project, and always musically memorable and brilliantly orchestrated' - music writer, Peter Donnelly.
Traditionally, because of time pressures, composers for film often hand the orchestration to assistants, Donnelly says.
'But Williams has always cued rhythms, voicings, counterpoint and instrumental detail himself while only employing trusted orchestrators to expand the detailed sketches.'
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