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This is not a DH update, but we were able to meet the maestro himself yesterday! He came to Juilliard for a conducting session where we played Superman March, theme from Jurassic Park, and Adventures on Earth. I was lucky enough to play piano/celesta, and Molly (who was in town to see his Carnegie concert the night before) was turning pages for me. So the short version is: both of us were in the room with JW and it was thrilling! And yes we did give him a flash drive with GOF, OOTP, and HBP on it. Basically we wrote him a thank-you letter for everything his music means to us, and presented highlights from the project as a fan gift (along with the knit JW). The project content was in an envelope so we don't know what he thinks or if he's heard it but we're just happy to have expressed our appreciation in some way! -BP

**Edit for even more context: Hi, this is Ben Pawlak - we usually post over on the New Project: John Williams Potter Scoring thread. This account is shared between me and Molly Sanford as a composing/music editing team. We are also both professional pianists in graduate programs, hence the pictures!** Yesterday after the Carnegie concert, the Maestro himself came to Juilliard for a conducting session where we played the Superman March, theme from Jurassic Park, and Adventures on Earth. Here's our post from the Potter thread about it: I was lucky enough to play piano/celesta, and Molly (who was in town to see his Carnegie concert the night before) was turning pages for me. So the short version is: both of us were in the room with JW and it was thrilling! And yes we did give him a flash drive with GOF, OOTP, and HBP on it. - BP More context - Several months ago I saw that our April 22nd orchestra read was going to be a John Williams day, so I went to ask my orchestra director if he’d invite JW to the school since he’ll be in town for the Carnegie concert the night before. He said he’d talk to the dean and reach out to see if it were possible. We finally got confirmation about ten days ago that he’d be able and willing to visit the session. It all spun into something much bigger as camera crews set up microphones and the Juilliard president, provost, dean of the music division, and president emeritus arrived. We had only about an hour to rehearse everything and were all super excited. John showed up in the late morning, and brought Anne-Sophie Mutter with him, so all of the violins were suddenly panicked which was fun. He was not planning to conduct us while he was here, only to guide the rehearsal which was led by our grad student conductors. He gave them feedback and spoke to the group about certain aspects of the pieces that he finds particularly difficult to work on with an orchestra. At the end, he was talking about bar 8 of the Jurassic Park theme (where it goes into the main tempo) and how it’s always difficult to get together. The conductor who was on the podium at the time asked if he wanted to fix it. He then stood up and took over to much applause. His efficiency in fixing it was incredible. It was an amazing couple minutes that we’ll never forget. Afterwards he got a photo op at the aforementioned John Williams Orchestra Library. With the amount of cameras that were in the room, I’m sure it will be thrown on Juilliard’s YouTube page at some point in the coming months once they edit it. Side Note: After we played E.T., Juilliard’s President Damian Woetzel interrupted to say that he had filmed part of it on his phone and sent it to Steven Spielberg who had responded with kind words and a warm hello to John. View from the piano: BP

"thank you, you'll be hearing from my lawyers." ~ JW

Indeed, though I found the inclusion of a giant choir of 30 bagpipes to be an unexpected choice.

The fans.

Benny's Hill

John Williams. Karol

Weekend at Benny's

He plans to bookend his career with perfect symmetry. For his final work, he will be working with Canadian officials in Newfoundland for a promo video.

I don't give a s*** about the series. So, yes, as soon as the theme is available, I'll listen to it.

I just hope JW grabs this golden opportunity to write the first ever love theme of the saga.

Benny’s Wondrous World

I think it's wonderful he's doing that. It means all of his handwritten scores and sketches will be properly preserved and academically studied for eons to come, as they should. Hopefully that includes "bottom drawer" compositions that would otherwise never see the light of day. It's a testament to the incredible esteem he has amassed in his lifetime as a composer; in centuries to come he will likely be as well-studied and written about as the greats before him, especially as an iconic force in preserving the cultural relevance of the symphony orchestra. It's a far cry from the elitism of art music criticism in the 80s-90s in which he was regarded as a "lesser" composer.

Steven Spielberg was in a nostalgic mood this week, appearing at the TCM Classic Film Festival to commemorate the 40th anniversary of “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.” On the red carpet, he revealed that his beloved movie could have looked very different were it not for the help of frequent collaborator Harrison Ford. Spielberg recalled that he came up with the idea for the film while shooting “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in Tunisia (via The Hollywood Reporter). He did not have time to write the script himself, but he thought he knew the perfect person for the job: Melissa Mathison, the screenwriter behind “The Black Stallion” who just happened to be dating Harrison Ford at the time. “I pretty much had worked out most of the story and I needed a writer to write it with me, or write it just based on the story,” Spielberg said. “I was shooting in Tunisia; we were shooting outside the Well of the Souls with Harrison, and Harrison’s girlfriend Melissa Mathison was there on location…I was just talking to her and I told her my ‘E.T.’ idea, the whole story. And she said, ‘I’ve retired from writing, I don’t write anymore. I’m not interested in writing anymore. It’s too hard.’ She turned me down.” Mathison may not have been interested, but Spielberg was not ready to give up on her yet. He took another route, opting to convince her by pitching the story to Harrison Ford first. It appears that his pitch resonated with Ford more than Mathison, as he ultimately convinced her to take the job. “I went to Harrison and said, ‘Your girlfriend turned me down. She doesn’t want to write my next movie,’” Spielberg said. “He said, ‘Well, let me talk to her.’ He talked to her and she came to me the next day and said, ‘OK you got Harrison so excited about this. What is it that I missed?’ I think I hadn’t told her the story very well because I told her the story again and she got really emotional and she committed right there in the Tunisian desert.” The collaboration turned out pretty well for both of them. “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial” was a massive hit, firmly embedding itself in American pop culture and winning four Oscars from nine nominations. Mathison received the sole writing credit, picking up an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for her efforts. Mathison passed away in 2015, but she collaborated one final time with Spielberg on 2016’s “The BFG,” which he directed from a script she wrote. https://www.indiewire.com/2022/04/steven-spielberg-harrison-ford-et-1234719099/

The Adventures of Benny

C3PO waving into the camera for a final time gives me something special every time....

I came across this. I am not familiar with any of this, so I had to do a bit more research. This comes from deputy editor-in-chief at Shogakukan. Sho Kobayashi confirmed the news easily enough after sharing their congratulations for Blue Orchestra overall. This is a surprise to be sure, but a welcomed one! Translation: What!! "Blue Orchestra" has been animated!! You can actually listen to the performance scenes of the violin and orchestra along with youth-like stories...! I'm looking forward to expressing sounds such as classical masterpieces from now on. In commemoration of the gorgeous collaboration and animation, you can read 30 episodes for free with the app now, so I'm looking forward to working with you. Planning with the master John Williams, who works on movie music such as "STAR WARS" and "Jurassic Park" and the largest classical label, German Gramophone, is also underway! “I am working on the project with John Williams, the master composer behind Star Wars and Jurassic Park. I wish I could tell my younger self in high school orchestra club who used to play John's theme for E.T. that I'd be working with him in the future.” Anybody else heard of this?

Honestly, this is just sad. Williams took on Harry Potter because of his grandkids. Now they're probably all teens/young adults obsessing over anime. At this stage of his life, Williams is making a Hail Mary attempt to try to reconnect with his distant weeb grandchildren and show he's still hip by delving into the anime genre. At 90, Williams might be one of the oldest people to just now be getting into anime.

You're on. If this turns out to be real and igger6 at least makes a true attempt to eat his own head, I will......

I will also take that bet. And no euphemisms or slang. I mean his actual head (as in the one with a nose)

I'll take that bet

I will eat my own head if this turns out to be real.

Not sure I understand. Of course, you could make it easier for yourself but that would be lowering the standards, wouldn't it? I don't necessarily want people to emulate John Williams verbatim. That isn't interesting either. But it would be nice to have someone who can at least understand the DNA of his work and can move within that world. Especially if JW is directly involved in the project. Karol

The Village - James Newton Howard Gorgeous!! Wish he'd write a score like this again!

The Adventures of Benny on Tatooine or Scherzo for Benny and Orchestra

No. But I didn't say, Williams never scored a garbage movie. I said, He never delivered a garbage score. So, everything that isn't great is garbage? You really must have had a hard time in cinemas for the past 20 years.

I've been listening to the new theme a lot. It sounds exactly like 4′33'' by John Cage.

Benny, Good Man

Wailing fakir? Seriously how uneducated those folks are. Director Shekhar Kapur sought Qawwali singer Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as a virtuoso artist to collaborate with James Horner. He had previously employed Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for Bandit Queen and previously Peter Gabriel used him in THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. When Nusrat Fateh died, Rahat took over as his grand seat of the Qawwali. Qawwali is the mystical Devotional singing art of the Sufi order from the region of Pakistan and India going back 500 years. Back in 90s Nusrat Fateh did back to back concerts in New York, London, Paris rendering the western audiences in a mesmerizing fervor. He was an instant hit. He also participated in DEAD MAN WALKING with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. James Horner called his collaboration with Rahat one of the most rewarding experience of his career. He then reemployed him for APOCALYPTO. Rahat is one of the Top vocalists working in Bollywood film music playback groups. I once asked Hans Zimmer about him and if would collaborate with this world music artist and he was already enthusiastic. Hopefully that will happen someday..

I really like the new theme--it has many of the stylistic touches of Williams' bittersweet themes of the last decade. The cute little intermezzo is also a nice touch. However, I think the force theme will always reign supreme--I am most happy that it got its own concert version called "The Throne Room."

For me, that moment is when Luke reaches out to Leia through the Force and the Falcon turns around in the clouds. Amazing rendition.

Sound The Bells Violin Concerto No 2 Across The Stars Flight To Neverland Excerpts from Close Encounters The Duel Nice To Be Around Hedwigs Theme Throne Room Schindler's List Flying from ET Imperial March from my memory anyway

The Hyborian Age is upon us! It gives me great pleasure to say that Basil Poledouris' iconic score from "Conan the Barbarian" is now available to pre-order (ships week commencing 9th May). Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, for many it was their first exposure to Arnold Schwarzenegger. With the movie featuring almost wall-to-wall music, this is a really must-have study score! The book includes every cue from the movie, plus various album edits and unused cues. The perfect companion to read along with the movie, or with the expanded Original Soundtrack release from Intrada. Add to that a beautiful foreword by Zoë Poledouris Roché and thematic and cue analyses by Erik Heine, this book really has everything. Order Here: bit.ly/CSMP_IFS-004

Honestly that would still be cool imo

It seems like the manga is about a violinist? They could be tracking in some of the Anne-Sophie Mutter arrangements or even Violin Concerto No. 2 which would be cool. If he's writing original music for the show maybe this is the next Mutter collab.

Frank Marshall took this at the Carnegie Hall concert

I see this @Manakin Skywalker

That doesn't make Star Wars more difficult to score. That just means the composer is making it hard on himself/herself by trying to do other people's music. It is not different than Bond/Mission Impossible. You adapt some themes than you do your own shit. Ludwig Göransson for example, has already done this. If you try to make a score to sound like John Williams, then you are making it hard on yourself, not that the franchise is hard to score.

First 2 eps of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's eighth and final season are now on All4. The first one's insistence on dealing with BLM issues frankly grates a bit, but the second is B99 back to doing what it does best ... a talented, funny ensemble making the most of a 'zingy' script.

Cube - five strangers meet in a cube-shaped room, with no idea of how they got there or why they are there. Quickly establishing that they they are in some sort of maze made up of similar interconnecting rooms (some of which have fatal booby-traps), they realise they are going to have to work together in order to escape the maze alive. Intriguing little sci-fi horror-thriller. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark - horror based on a series of kids' books (although I'd say this is probably unsuitable for small children... some of it gave me a bit of a chill, so God knows what it would do to kiddiewinks). Quite entertaining. The discussion about Basic Instinct 2 led me to its Wikipedia page out of idle curiosity ... I see that 'Sharon Stone's lopsided breasts' in the 'Worst Screen Couple' category was amongst its 'Razzie' nominations/wins.

Oh, the story is terrible, but you have to hand it to Abrams, the visuals are great. not the greatest, I would say, but good. Its not much, but it’s something.

I think JW will use a more evocative title like The Rebellion is Reborn or Duel of the Fates.

Made an album cover out of one of the pictures I took.

I was able to find a few clips/recordings of ET Flying Theme and Throne Room/Finale from this concert on Instagram by sifting through #johnwilliams and #philadelphiaorchestra by most recently posted. It was a phenomenal concert and these little clips are a great way of reliving that night

You know what... fucking good on her. She's having a break-out budding media composers can only dream about and this will only boost that. I literally didn't know who she was a few weeks ago and now she's scoring the biggest TV show of the year. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

I LOVE it! Any recording that doesn't use it sounds wrong to me now.

Both are fantastic Marc! Beautiful work

The On Demand Audio is now live! 2:36 minutes which is exactly what I captured live. So, I think it is basically the entire concert unedited. https://www.wqxr.org/story/john-williams-conducts-the-philadelphia-orchestra/

The on-demand audio might be hold back up until the recording of the Concerto is out.