Omen II

Williams
Broughton
Eidelman
Elmer Bernstein (shook hands with him lefty to lefty and discussed conducting)
Bill Kraft (worked a concert with him where he was conducting a piece— we would chat while waiting for the late arriving musicians)
Raksin (taught film scoring for two quarters)

Also swapped some e-mails with Mrs. Silvestri.

Those are the names that immediately sprang to mind.
 
 

I have been lucky enough to see lots of film composers without much effort really - a distinct advantage of living in London and being a fan of film music who likes going to concerts (when we were allowed to!).  My current list is as follows:
 
Craig Armstrong David Arnold James Bernard Elmer Bernstein Peter Bernstein Ludovic Bource Dirk Brosse John Cameron John Carpenter Stewart Copeland Carl Davis Alexandre Desplat Patrick Doyle Anne Dudley Tan Dun Danny Elfman George Fenton * Anton Garcia Abril Michael Giacchino Philip Glass Nick Glennie-Smith Billy Goldenberg Jerry Goldsmith Harry Gregson-Williams Christopher Gunning Richard Harvey Nigel Hess James Horner * Quincy Jones Trevor Jones Jed Kurzel Michel Legrand Dario Marianelli Joel McNeely Ennio Morricone John Murphy David Newman Thomas Newman James Newton Howard * Michael Nyman John Ottman Carly Paradis Rachel Portman John Powell Andre Previn Steven Price Harry Rabinowitz Max Richter Lalo Schifrin John Scott Howard Shore * Brian Tyler * John Williams Austin Wintory Debbie Wiseman * Gabriel Yared Hans Zimmer  
The ones with asterisks are the ones I have actually met and had a conversation with.  I could probably asterisk Nigel Hess too if "Is anyone sitting there, mate?" while clutching a bowl of soup counts as a conversation.  As you can see, I have numbered them and sorted them alphabetically by surname like an absolute streak of piss.
 

“It is as it was.”
 
😃

You forgot that you had a conversation with Hans Zimmer too
 

Another hot shot. Another "by god" hot shot.

I have been lucky enough to see lots of film composers without much effort really - a distinct advantage of living in London and being a fan of film music who likes going to concerts (when we were allowed to!).  My current list is as follows:
 
Craig Armstrong David Arnold James Bernard Elmer Bernstein Peter Bernstein Ludovic Bource Dirk Brosse John Cameron John Carpenter Stewart Copeland Carl Davis Alexandre Desplat Patrick Doyle Anne Dudley Tan Dun Danny Elfman George Fenton * Anton Garcia Abril Michael Giacchino Philip Glass Nick Glennie-Smith Billy Goldenberg Jerry Goldsmith Harry Gregson-Williams Christopher Gunning Richard Harvey Nigel Hess James Horner * Quincy Jones Trevor Jones Jed Kurzel Michel Legrand Dario Marianelli Joel McNeely Ennio Morricone John Murphy David Newman Thomas Newman James Newton Howard * Michael Nyman John Ottman Carly Paradis Rachel Portman John Powell Andre Previn Steven Price Harry Rabinowitz Max Richter Lalo Schifrin John Scott Howard Shore * Brian Tyler * John Williams Austin Wintory Debbie Wiseman * Gabriel Yared Hans Zimmer  
The ones with asterisks are the ones I have actually met and had a conversation with.  I could probably asterisk Nigel Hess too if "Is anyone sitting there, mate?" while clutching a bowl of soup counts as a conversation.  As you can see, I have numbered them and sorted them alphabetically by surname like an absolute streak of piss.
 

I have been lucky enough to see lots of film composers without much effort really - a distinct advantage of living in London and being a fan of film music who likes going to concerts (when we were allowed to!).  My current list is as follows:
 
Craig Armstrong David Arnold James Bernard Elmer Bernstein Peter Bernstein Ludovic Bource Dirk Brosse John Cameron John Carpenter Stewart Copeland Carl Davis Alexandre Desplat Patrick Doyle Anne Dudley Tan Dun Danny Elfman George Fenton * Anton Garcia Abril Michael Giacchino Philip Glass Nick Glennie-Smith Billy Goldenberg Jerry Goldsmith Harry Gregson-Williams Christopher Gunning Richard Harvey Nigel Hess James Horner * Quincy Jones Trevor Jones Jed Kurzel Michel Legrand Dario Marianelli Joel McNeely Ennio Morricone John Murphy David Newman Thomas Newman James Newton Howard * Michael Nyman John Ottman Carly Paradis Rachel Portman John Powell Andre Previn Steven Price Harry Rabinowitz Max Richter Lalo Schifrin John Scott Howard Shore * Brian Tyler * John Williams Austin Wintory Debbie Wiseman * Gabriel Yared Hans Zimmer  
The ones with asterisks are the ones I have actually met and had a conversation with.  I could probably asterisk Nigel Hess too if "Is anyone sitting there, mate?" while clutching a bowl of soup counts as a conversation.  As you can see, I have numbered them and sorted them alphabetically by surname like an absolute streak of piss.
 

While I have seen John Williams several times now (with David Newman conducting at times) at concerts, had Michael Giacchino respond to a tweet, had John Powell respond to a Instagram comment, chatted on Facebook with Bill Brown and Bruce Broughton, and had e-mails with Benjamin Bartlett... I have only truly met one composer. David Shire, composer of RETURN TO OZ. I went to a signing event when Intrada had their expanded release about 6 years ago now (wow... can't believe it was that long ago).
 
And here, the evidence! Ugh my shirt. Double ugh: my face. I need to work out again someday...
 

 

*content below has a potential to appear twattish and masturbatory but we we have a strict non-refund policy (just in case)*
 
The title is pretty self-explanatory. It's amazing how thing change back when I was a kid I would dream of seeing any of my film music heroes in flesh. Not that I have a particular autograph fetish or anything but it's just nice to realise these people are not just some distant figures and/or celebrities. Most of them seem to be really modest and shy. Whenever I go to any of the festivals they seem really shocked and surprised by the attention they receive. And yeah, while I feel the organisers go a bit overboard with all the glitz and platitudes it is nice to see those hard-working and talented individuals to receive the recognition they rarely receive. When I first started going to these things I really wanted a picture and autographs...and whatever. But after a couple of times I just decided to leave them be. Some of them looked really stressed, bless them.
 
In my own head I don't think I've seen that many but recently I got through a list of concerts and things like that and turned out there were more of them than I thought. And for the sheer majority of those guys I have nothing but a huge respect:
 
John Williams
Ennio Morricone
James Horner
Hans Zimmer
Danny Elfman
Alexandre Desplat
Wojciech Kilar
Elliot Goldenthal
David Arnold
Michael Giacchino
Ramin Djawadi
Alberto Iglesias
Don Davis
Patrick Doyle
Howard Shore (technically, I didn't meet him in flesh but we spoke for half an hour on Skype)
Joe Kraemer (also a Skype interview)
Abel Korzeniowski (had a chance to meet and interview him on Skype)
Cliff Martinez
Dario Marianelli (also meet him in real life and had a chance to interview)
Krzysztof Penderecki
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
David Newman
Austin Wintory
Tom Tykwer
Reinhold Heil
Trevor Morris
Garry Schyman
Daniel Licht
John Lunn
Jeff Beal
 
I'm sure there were some more... some video game composers especially...but I don't remember their names. And some more obscure names as well who composed scores for smaller documentaries and things like that.
 
What were your encounters like?
 
Karol

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2021/01/18/sheridon-stokes-podcast/

Those who attended the 'not John Williams' LSO concert at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2018 will remember Katy Woolley's flawless performance of the opening horn solo in Jurassic Park.  I have also seen her slay the exposed horn part at the beginning of the Love Theme from Superman with the Philharmonia at Watford Colosseum.  Completely randomly (and nothing to do with the subject at hand), she was sitting directly in front of me with one of her pals at one of the last concerts I attended before lockdown, when the LSO played Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives under Sir Simon Rattle at the Barbican last February.
 
Principal double bass Dominic Seldis, another Brit in the Royal Concertgebouw, has played on film soundtracks such as The English Patient and Harry Potter, so would have actually worked under the baton of John Williams himself.  He is also a regular member of the John Wilson Orchestra so has played tons of film music, including pieces by John Williams (you can glimpse him in a YouTube clip of Harry's Wondrous World from the 2019 Proms, for example).

The very first Star Wars suite was published by Fox Fanfare Music, Inc. in 1977, with five movements:
 
I. Main Title
II. Princess Leia’s Theme
III. The Little People
IV. The Battle
V. The Throne Room and End Title
 
This version used the original ending, without the throne quote, in both spots. This is the version used for the National Philharmonic/Gerhardt recording, though this recording also includes ‘Here They Come’, which was not part of the original suite.
 
The following year (1978), a revised suite was published, expanded to seven movements:
 
I. Main Title
II. The Little People
III. Here They Come
IV. Princess Leia’s Theme
V. The Cantina Band
VI. The Battle
VII. The Throne Room & End Title
 
This version retained the ending as originally written, but the final movement introduces the revised ending with the throne room quote. This is the version used for the Los Angeles Philharmonic / Mehta recording, though they did not record ‘Here They Come’. This is also the version used for the Return of the Jedi end credits, taken straight from this published version.
 
In 1997, Hal Leonard published a third version of the Star Wars suite, once again five movements, but swapping in two selections from The Empire Strikes Back, which were a part of its now out-of-print suite:
 
I. Main Title
II. Princess Leia’s Theme
III. The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)
IV. Yoda’s Theme
V. Throne Room & End Title
 
This version uses the throne room ending in both places. I believe the first recording to use this version was the Skywalker Symphony/Williams recording, so it may have been a change made at the sessions that was then incorporated when the Hal Leonard suite was first published.

Incidentally, don't know if anyone else watched the Pops 2020 Holiday special, but JW is present for a very short cameo reading a line ("And laying his finger...") from A Visit from St. Nicholas. 
 
It's $30 to view the concert, but def. worth supporting this institution. Well done all around.
 

You may remember this legendary thread from back in the day.
 
Well imagine my pleasant surprise to open the free Metro newspaper on the train to work this morning and read this from the 60 Seconds interview with DJ Edith Bowman on page 14:
 
 
I cannot find a link so have typed it out verbatim.  Good lass!
 

Bowman is at it again like a dog with a bone!  I picked up the Metro on the way to work this morning and there she is on page 14 with another Sixty Seconds interview, fangirling over OscarTM nominee John T. Williams as is only right and proper.
 
Sixty Seconds with Edith Bowman
 
 

I love Steiner's scores! He doesn't seem to get enough airtime in these parts.

You are so, so right.  This might be Spielberg's masterpiece.  Like Coppola did in Apocalypse Now, Spielberg put his heart and soul into this film and this sequence encapsulates why the film and score are perfect. 
 
One of my favorite memories was on my flight back to Los Angeles after a wonderful experience performing with Marin Alsop and the amazing musicians and friends in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  My instrument wouldn't fit in the overhead, so had to fly in a seat.  Evacuation rules required it was the first row window seat to not block any passengers in case there was an evacuation.  So my instrument and I were boarded first and in the front row.  Next were a group of 20 senior citizens that were all part of the Honor Flight Network (a non-profit organization whose mission is to transport Veterans to Washington DC to visit memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice).  
 
This was one of the most enjoyable flights I had ever taken making the five-hour flight feel more like 30 minutes it was over so quick.  The man sitting next to me was known as the “kid” because he was the youngest one at 87.  He was a rear gunner on a B-17 bomber.  I told him I was a pilot which excited him as we began talking aviator to aviator about what he saw and experienced flying dozens of dangerous missions, the fright of the Luftwaffe, friends he lost, and the incredible randomness of great tragedies.  He almost started tearing up recalling a routine mission with several of his friends where all on board died because the plane simply flew into a mountain.   
 
I could feel the cold, noise, smell, fear, cramping, claustrophobia inside the rear and belly turret of these long missions over enemy terrain.  He said the introduction of the P-51 Mustang was a game changer because they would now have armed escorts on their dangerous missions who were as agile (probably more so) than the Luftwaffe.  They frequently didn't even know what happened to their friends.  After difficult missions, they simply returned and noticed airplanes missing.  No word of what happened to their friends...are they now POW?  Did the plane ditch in the sea?  Were they survivors hoping to be rescued?  They had no answers, just an empty bunk where their friend used to be.  How terrifying it must have been to fly these missions before the P-51 where it must have felt like they were a large sitting duck!  Now at least, they had a chance.
 
Half way through the flight, many of these men had to go the bathroom so my front row chair became a rotating door of great stories from these incredible veterans.   One consistent story I heard was how much they all revered one of the passengers on the flight above all else.  Finally, he made his way to the front row seat awaiting the bathroom.  When he sat next to me, we started talking and I saw his cap "101st Airborne Screaming Eagles" Infantry division.  My jaw dropped.  He was a paratrooper on D-Day who jumped from a glider behind enemy lines in the middle of the night during the Invasion of Normandy.  Against incredibly bad odds, he survived the battle telling me that night, he lost half his company.  Just imagine, in a 24-hour period losing one out of two people you trained and bonded with.  Since this was 2014, I recall he was 92.  That would make him 98 now.  I don't know his name or if he is still alive.  I will never forget him and I knew him for maybe a minute.  
 
They are true heroes. It was incredibly humbling to meet these heroes and I was reminded of them seeing interviews from Normandy on the 75th anniversary and think of them every time I see Saving Private Ryan.  I will never forget meeting them and hearing their experiences first hand.

And no one stopped you for getting into the hall? A very covert approach.  I like it.

Yes, the dialogue and sound effect track was audible during the rehearsal.  To get in, I made an educated guess as to what time the orchestra would be rehearsing, booked a cheap tour of the Royal Albert Hall to coincide and got lucky.  Simples.

I was a lucky sod this afternoon.
 
I had the tremendous good fortune to be able to catch a little of the rehearsal for the world premiere of Jurassic Park at the Royal Albert Hall.  I saw the orchestra rehearsing the scene with the car in the tree and the subsequent T-Rex / jeep chase, as well as the Remembering Petticoat Lane scene with Dickie Attenborough and Laura Dern from later in the movie.  The orchestra sounded fantastic, so I am sure this will be brilliant (I am going to tomorrow evening's performance).  The red carpet was being laid out, so there will no doubt be some special guests of some description attending the premiere this evening.
 
Although I was not allowed to take any photos while the orchestra was actually playing, during a break I was able to take this photo showing the set-up of the orchestra.  As you can see there is a huge percussion section and a synthesiser which was practising some of the shakuhachi bits.  You can see the synthesiser player just behind the pianist; he is obviously doubling on celeste.
 
   
 

Yes.  Williams conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Filmharmonic on 30th October 1976, having attended the Royal Albert Hall the previous year to get a few tips when Jerry Goldsmith was one of the conductors.  The programme in 1976 included such wonderful selections as The Eiger Sanction, The Poseidon Adventure, Heidi, Cinderella Liberty, Jane Eyre, Earthquake and others.
 
Williams returned to the Royal Albert Hall less than two years later to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra this time in a concert entitled LSO In Space on 16th February 1978, famously sharing conducting duties with C3PO.  The concert featured music from Star Wars and "other great space music."
 
His next appearance at the venue was again at Filmharmonic, conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra on 18th October 1980 as seen in the video to which you linked above.  As well as the music seen in the clip, Williams also conducted two elections from The Empire Strikes Back at the same concert - Yoda's Theme and The Imperial March.
 
The most recent appearance (but hopefully not the last...) at the Royal Albert Hall was with the LSO again at Filmharmonic on 16th November 1985.  I believe that @Naïve Old Fart was at that one, no doubt having it large.

What a marvellous find!  Thank you for posting this, @Steve.  I remember reading that FILMHARMONIC NINETEEN EIGHTY was broadcast on TV at the time and wondered if any footage would ever resurface.  The concert took place on 18th October 1980 at the Royal Albert Hall in London (which always looks so dark in videos from the 1970s and 1980s!) and I believe that conducting duties were shared between John Williams, John Addison and Geoff Love.
 
The man introducing Williams at the start of the clip is the actor Donald Sinden, a stalwart of British sitcoms back in the day.  On a point of order, the orchestra is actually the National Philharmonic Orchestra, not the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  It is fascinating to see that relatively recently - we are talking only forty years ago - most orchestras had very few, if any female musicians.  Nowadays most of the best orchestras in Britain have at least as many women as men in their ranks.
 
This was the third of four occasions to date on which Williams has conducted his music at the Royal Albert Hall.

Since I found no topic on that, I thought this would be a nice place to post new YouTube videos with the maestro himself either conducting, playing the piano or being interviewed.
Note: Please only post videos with Williams himself in it

I'll start with some recently posted videos, both that I've never seen before.
 
1980 Filmharmonic - Conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra:
 
Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony with John Williams playing the piano on "The Tennis Game" from "The Witches of Eastwick". Ozawa also conducts "Flying Theme".
 
Olympic Spirit performed in the studio:
 
Williams conducting "Olympic Spirit" with the Boston Pops:
 

All source cues, from EARTHQUAKE, would be nice (they're aren't that many on the Disaster box, so I believe).