That's a good point about Schindler's List actually, I think that would be my pick for its influence on historical dramas and I think it did probably play a role in the upswing of people like Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Renee Fleming etc crossing over to movies and "starring" in scores dominated or highlighted by their soloist, lending the movies an air of prestige. Obviously something Williams continued with Seven Years in Tibet and Memoirs of a Geisha. That seems to be a pretty recent development, can anybody think of any pre-Schindler examples of this? I'm sure it happened in jazz scores, but it's harder to think of orchestral examples. The Godfather and The Mission come to mind as probably influential in guiding toward that sound, though they weren't spotlighting particular performers. I'm guessing before Williams, it was something that was more prevalent outside Hollywood. I can see him having played a part in the increase in dramatic, piano-led scores as well, though I think The Piano may be the biggest influence in that regard. Fiddler on the Roof maybe? Stomu Yamashta on Images (or is that pushing it)? Would be interesting to hear more about Presumed Innocent's influence on other scores. Other scores: Maybe Ornette Coleman on Naked Lunch? Pat Metheny on Goldsmith's Under Fire. Miles Davis on Ascenseur pour l'échafaud? Feel like I may be stretching the boundaries of "star soloists" too far here. Maybe we should we limit it to "classical star soloists"? If not then we could count Lisa Gerrard, Johnny Marr and these kind of people too, would that make sense? Also Branford Marsalis in The Russia House.