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I got this message from a local friend. He got the support from the LSO! Lets do this! ‪So the plan is after the first number for everyone to stand and applause for 1 minute to show support to John, it’s being broadcasted and John Williams will be listening. #applauseforJohn please RT ‬

Don't write Chamber of Secrets off for the rehashing, Williams wrote some amazing themes for the film, alongside a busy scoring year no less. What godly being other than Williams could write Fawkes' Theme, Across the Stars, Catch Me If You Can and Minority Report in the same year?

Dear Johnny, I was so sorry to hear about your health problems. Stay in London and away from work as long as you need to. A "speedy recovery" is overrated. You must have rest. And by all means, please let me know if you need anything. Sincerely, John Powell cc: Kathy

Azkaban last night was truly incredible. Hearing all these cues performed live by a great orchestra was something else. The icing on the cake was how the program weaves the Williams-penned source music right into things. This means the violin and snake charmer pieces in the Leaky Cauldron, the candy shop bell piece, the courtyard recorder piece, the Three Broomsticks source music, AND Winter's Spell we're all performed live, and sounded great! This is especially cool because these are all mixed so low in the film, especially Winter's Spell, but here they are heard easily. What a treat! The show uses a choir; they do all the oohing and aahing for the dementors and the Patronus charm, Double Trouble, and Winter's Spell. They sounded great! I beleive there was six percussionists on stage, and we sat near them, so it was a treat to see all the different instruments they have to use in this score. Timpani, bass drum, xylophone, wood blocks, cymbals, drum kit, bells, tamborine, finger cymbals, ratchet, and even a whistle for the Knight Bus cue. So cool to see! I noticed there was a saxophone player in the ensemble; after the Knight Bus sequence, he left the stage The intermission break came after the scene where Lupin teaches Harry the Patronus charm, and they segued from that cue to a piece of the first film's prologue to end the first half. The entr'acte was a section of escape from the Dursleys that went right into the recorder source music heard in the courtyard just before Hermione punches Malfoy. For the end credits, they repliacted the same sequence of previous cues, but didn't replicate the little edits within them. So they basically wrapped up Aunt Marge's Waltz just in time for the credits to be over, and didn't do the little Pettigrew harpsichord. Boy, it was a great show!

Belgian newspaper De Standaard did an interview with Dirk Brossé yesterday. since not everybody here understands Dutch, I put it through Google Translate. Very interesting read, most importantly Dirk confirming that it's a minor, not life threatening, health issue and hinting that John Williams might be able to greet the audience with for example a video message... Full article in Dutch: http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20181024_03869269?utm_source=standaard&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=send-to-a-friend Dirk Brossé replacing ill John Williams in London A couple of days before his venue in the Royal Albert Hall, filmcomposer John Williams ended up in the hospital. Colleague Dirk Brossé takes over his baton. Dirk Brossé: 'The fact that yesterday I was welcomed by the orchestra on applause, showed their great confidence.' Dirk Brossé replaces ill John Williams in London. A few days before his performance at the Royal Albert Hall, film composer John Williams ended up in the hospital. Fellow Dirk Brossé takes over the baton. "Because of a disease at the last minute, John Williams has to regret that he can no longer conduct the concert with the London Symphony Orchestra." This is the announcement of the Royal Albert Hall, where the composer of Jaws and E.T. would give a long-awaited concert on Friday. He now has to leave the conducting to his Belgian colleague Dirk Brossé. In a man of 86 you fear the worst, but Brossé is comfortable from a taxi in London, on the way to a rehearsal with the orchestra. "He was admitted to the hospital, but things are going well with him. It is nothing life-threatening, we do not know much more for the time being. I hope he can greet the audience on Friday, for example with a video message. The disappointment is great, but I think the public understands this too. John is 86 years old. " 'It's like driving with the best car in the world: it's great, but you still have to hold the steering wheel' Brossé may now call the composer of Close encounters of the third child a good friend. "I know him well. I do not know what is going on now, but he is working very hard. He has not been in London for long, after his concert in the US. Performance is mentally and physically heavy. John still thinks he's 40. " As a conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic at the annual World Soundtrack Awards, Brossé is obviously well acquainted with Williams' work. Moreover, he was the first conductor between 2009 and 2011 during the concert tour of Star wars: in concert. He is also director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, but he is also familiar with the London Symphony Orchestra, with which Williams recorded the music of the first six Star Wars films. 'I've been working with this world-class orchestra for twenty years. It is like driving with the best car in the world: that's great, but you still have to hold the steering wheel. That I was welcomed by the orchestra on applause yesterday, showed their great confidence. ' Brossé did not have to go to London overnight. 'Coincidentally, I had been hired for a whole week, because I was allowed to do the first rehearsal with the orchestra, after which John would take over. He asks me this because he knows that I will not walk away taking the credits. This evening is not about me, but about his music. I am modest, but I do not want to bother about it either: of course I am very proud that I am asked for. ' Williams was also expected at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on 3 and 4 November. Those concerts have been canceled.

I disagree with the thought that the March of the Resistance, played mournfully, should be considered Holdo's theme. To me it is simply the March of the Resistance played mournfully because that matches the emotional content of the scene it scores. I do agree that there is a rhythmic structure that is repeated in a couple places before Holdo's Sacrifice that kind of previews the big, climatic music accompanying Holdo's big moment.

A surprise at the concert? I'd put my money on a Darth Maul cameo.

What disconcerting news to learn (no pun intended). I fervently hope for a speedy recovery. It helps greatly in dialing down the anxiety level to hear via MM that the condition that's hospitalizing him is "routine," but I have to wonder what kind of routine condition would require someone to take to medical care almost immediately upon arrival (as implied in the BBC article)? Or instigate the immediate cancellation of a concert a week and half out? We should rest assured JW is receiving the best care that can be had and if he didn't fly to London on private jet, he will be doing so coming home. At this point, I'd bet my bottom dollar that his recovery will strain him no more than if this all happened in LA. Theoretically, a full recovery could put back into play any undisclosed plans of his to give a concert or two in 2019. But the Ep. IX scoring assignment is likely to be his main priority for most of the year. By the time the picture is locked 13 months from now, he may decide it safer not to return to the public podium. This would be a bitter disappointment to his fandom, particularly to those who invested so much emotionally in the European concerts. To see your hero in his element is a feeling I can't describe. It's surreal, precious. (I was fortunate to see him in Baltimore earlier this year.) You wouldn't want to deny that feeling to anyone. It's heartbreaking to read posts from people who were going to see him conduct for the first time because we must acknowledge that this might have been the last opportunity. In each of those posts I feel a palpable sense of loss, maybe even a kind of grief. My condolences to all those who feel this way now.

Your mature, insightful perspective is valued as always.

I suspect they are alluding to this:

Conducting Imperial March through Skype!

John Williams appearing as a kind of Star Wars hologram from his hospital bed...

I'm about to take a train to London as I write this and, as the disappointment and sadness begin to fade, I feel happy and lucky to attend this concert on friday. I've only heard the LSO once in Paris and it'll be the first time at the RAH which I've heard is a magnificent venue. I hope each and everyone of you have a great evening and, who knows, maybe Mr Williams will want to defy his health and reschedul a concert next year!

The original intention was to use the Shire theme over the Hobbit title. I don't think it was recorded.

I've been doing a lot of Potter listening in the car lately. Desplat's are by far the dullest for me, with the fully formed transformation into dark blockbuster, ostinato-based scoring. Don't particularly like the movies either. Hooper's two jump constantly between really dull and really interesting. I came up with a playlist combining both scores with the best stuff. Doyle's has some really cool highlights. I actually enjoy the highlights more than bits of PoA. This one is unfairly given the brunt of the post-JW bashing. And as for JW: HP:PS - couldn't ask for more. CoS: recycles an astonishing amount of material and it does somewhat detract from the listening experience. PoA: a very different score and I don't think all the ideas make the the best listening. Because of that, some of Doyle's/Hooper's material is more entertaining to me.

Lowering the prices now would open the gate to even more reclamations, resulting in even greater loss of money I guess.

The way Trump's going, John will be denied entry when he gets back to LA anyway!

He should just settle permanently in London. With Trump ruining his home country this is the perfect time to do it.

Dunno. Far out prediction: Star Wars won’t go the time travel route. These kind of solutions to painting yourself into a corner plot wise are generally reserved for Star Trek. In fact introducing time travel would be less respectful of Star Wars legacy than anything that happened in TLJ.

Get well soon, Maestro Williams. We don't want to start thinking about an official Sugarland Express anytime soon.

I have also heard on good authority that they do still plan to have a life size cardboard cutout of Williams in the main lobby for everyone to take pictures with after the concert. So there's that, too.

I hope it's OK if I post Mike Mattessino's recent Facebook post here, since there were no pertinent details about the illness other than to comfort us all a little bit -- which we need right now:

Und zis is how ve refund in Germany, Dr. Jones.

If i turn up at a bunch of London hospitals and find him do you reckon he'll sign my orchestral scores? 😂🤘

What - not indiana jones!??? or Ryan????? What the hey!!!! 😉 I just got tickets cos in fact, I am very keen to hear JW's work performed by the quintessential LSO and the conductor who JW hand picked to perform his work. i think this is going to be amazing and everyone who is going, is going to have an amazing night. John - you will me missed, but not forgotten. Get well soon. We dont care how long it takes. I DONT KNOW WHO IS STILL READING THIS THREAD - BUT PLEASE TELL ME THE SIGNED CARD AT THE PRE SHOW MEET UP IS HAPPENING. Cos it needs to happen. And will be a massive deal/impact. And should happen. And just do it. And raise a glass at the venue to Mr W. I AM PRACTICING MY WILD SIGNALS RIGHT NOW TO SING ALONG WITH YOU ALL!!!

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Hopefully the sound of the respirator won't drown him out.

Probably a video message from John. Unfortunately, the Vienna concert next Saturday was likely the only chance to see my favorite composer in person (being a composer myself), completely devastated. And since I got non-refundable tickets to Vienna and the hotel as well, I am still going. Might as well make a day out of it at least. So devastating. Hope John feels better very soon, and that everyone tomorrow has the most amazing time!

Queen wasn’t nearly as consistent. Half their output is kinda garbage. But the other half is fucking brilliant of course.

No.

Help me Dirk Brossé, you're my only hope.

When there's an important cancellation like this with such a "personnality" due to illness, there is all the "insurance" aspect. That's not our business, but it's the reality... JW will probably not be "insurable" anymore for a travel outside USA. But this is not our business...at the end, we just want to know the exact reason of the illness, and they probably won't tell us now... If it's the "back"... ok it's the "back"... If it's the "heart"... that's more serious. Honestly, I connect to the forum each hour since yesterday.. and maybe more often. I found the fact that "we don't know what happened" very stressfull.

I really loved Quidditch match cue live. I've not seen POA in many years but my impression was the choir was dialed out or mixed very low? Can't remember exactly. Not so here anyway. Karol

I will listen for you on the Classic FM broadcast!

Yeah, that's what will "fix" the sequel trilogy: the cheapest copout ever!

Especially not in this case.

Here's the Intermission for you. Just concentrated on the orchestra mostly whilst trying to hide my phone. Didn't want to disturb @Stefancos crotch conducting next to me, lol

Finally, a man of action! Well done, sir! 😎

No one's really gone. - Luke Skywalker Failure, the greatest teacher is. - Yoda I cannot be beaten. - Snoke Watch this video from one of Youtube's most respected Star Wars channels: If Snoke can bring himself - and hopefully Luke Skywalker - back using time manipulation (perhaps rendering The Last Jedi null and void), it's possible that the Sequel Trilogy can be saved... and the fandom will reunite... mostly. If not, Rian Johnson is the ultimate troll.

You must play Grave Trampling and The Asylum on the show!

I disagree with all of you on Goblet of Fire, it's my second favorite film in the series behind Prisoner of Azkaban. Hooper and Desplat get shit for their scores but they work well for the films they're written for - I honestly think that any composer might've been restricted by what they could do with Yates' films. JNH's Fantastic Beasts sounds like it was tamed and reeled in a bit to fit these incredibly glum/grim/dark looking films.

Truly devasting news. We got so close. All the best to the maestro. It just wasn't meant to be... Still, I would have gone to this concert anyway and I'm sure all who attend will have a great time. I'm sad but now that I've had time to process it, I'm still excited to hear the LSO play some of the greatest music ever written.

Well. After today's earlier devastating news, I was lucky enough to have an antidote that has somewhat cheered me up. Prisoner of Azkaban live in concert at the Royal Albert Hall. My favourite Potter book, film and score. It was a fun evening. The film is actually quite amusing and watching this kind of stuff with a crowd is perfect. The window to the past and the buckbeak stuff are some of my favourite Williams pieces. I eat them up everytime. A real highlight was the stuff with the choir when Harry defeats the dementors. I hadn't noticed before, or had forgotten how in sync and powerful music and picture are together in this sequence. Anyway, nothing will make up for not getting to see the maestro in person, but we are truly living in the golden age of film music concerts.

Odds are the Maestro will be listening in on Classic FM. How about JWFanners attending sing ‘hope you get well soon’ to the tune of of the 5 note CE3K motif as the LSO warms up? Led by Jay of course.

Another source to me has confirmed his condition is stable and they are waiting for clearance from the Doctors so that he can return home. So that's some good news for now.

Thank you. I'm actually quite disgusted by some of the people on here. As excited as everyone was to see him conduct, some for the first time, the way people turned and started foul mouthing the situation, some without the thought of even wishing Williams a speedy recovery says more to me than anything else. I knew there was a reason I told Stefan I'd rather not go to the dinner to meet most people on here, even though I do really like some of you quite a bit. Williams life might be on the line right now and all some of you can think about is how inconvenient it is that he will not be there? What kind of world do you people live in? I would say I'm shocked but really, the way I have seen some of you talk on here, I'm not sure why I am. Gross! I'm heartbroken that he is that ill. I said from the start I wish he would not do this journey. I just got to London a few days ago to see Harry Potter and the concert with him. I do not care that he will not show up. I only care that he gets better and gets back to LA in health. What is wrong with you people?

There's still a lot to look forward to people. I'm more concerned about his health, to be honest. Karol