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John Wilson is a JW fan


Omen II

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I liked this photo (taken by LSO percussionist and JWO regular David Jackson) of my two favourite musical JWs meeting backstage at the John Wilson Orchestra's recent concert at Royce Hall in Los Angeles. I knew that John Wilson was a big fan of John Williams and it seems as though the admiration is mutual. Larry King photo bombs too, which is nice.

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Any chance that the John Wilson Orchestra will do an all-Williams concert at the BBC Proms next time? I saw them again at the Royal Festival Hall this week and they were brilliant as ever.

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JW SHOULD be a JWfan and reading this board and answering some of us

We don't even have our special website theme like the Japanese fan club has

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  • 1 year later...

John Wilson will be conducting the RTE Concert Orchestra in a couple of concerts of John Williams music in Dublin this coming August. Details are at the link below:

https://www.nch.ie/Online/RTECO-John-Williams-Collection-Aug15

A treat for JW fans in the Emerald Isle, to be sure.

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My first all Williams concert was John Wilson conducting the Halle in Bridgewater Hall. John Wilson spoke very highly of John Williams as I recall.

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My first all Williams concert was John Wilson conducting the Halle in Bridgewater Hall. John Wilson spoke very highly of John Williams as I recall.

I saw John Wilson conduct the CBSO in an all-Williams programme in Birmingham a few years ago and remember him saying that he had one of those E.T. bedside lamps as a child! Any film music concert with his name attached is guaranteed to be a winner. Before his breakthrough performance at the BBC Proms with his own John Wilson Orchestra, he conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra in a concert of British film music in 2007 - this selection includes John Williams's Harry's Wondrous World and Eric Coates's Dambusters March.

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  • 9 months later...

It looks like The John Wilson Orchestra will include music from Star Wars in its UK tour later this year!  I have seen John Wilson conduct music by John Williams with other orchestras such as the LPO and CBSO, but I am not sure if he has ever performed selections by Williams with his own orchestra.  Tickets for the final concert of the tour in London are available already, but there will be plenty of other opportunities to see this around the country before then.

 

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/john-wilson-the-john-wilso16-94353?dt=2016-12-03

 

If you like golden age film music and have never seen the John Wilson Orchestra, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  The wonderful suite from Tom and Jerry that he premiered at the BBC Proms a couple of years ago is also included.

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2 hours ago, loert423 said:

I love John Wilson for the sole reason that his orchestra performed some of Scott Bradley's "Tom and Jerry" music at the BBC Proms:

 

Nice to know he's a fan of JW too! 

 

I was in the audience for that one - the ovation at the end doesn't necessarily come across on the video, but you could tell that everyone in the hall absolutely loved it.  By the way, David Jackson (the LSO percussionist responsible for the photo in the original post) is the one playing the bubble wrap and firing the gun.

 

John Wilson mentions John Williams in a recent article for the Gateshead Chronicle:

 

Quote

I catch up with John as his mind is focused on horizons even further away than Bohemia (nowadays a region within the Czech Republic) and Russia.

He’s on a London bus on his way to see the new Star Wars film at the cinema. See – he may be a big cheese in the world of classical music but he’s just an ordinary bloke from Low Fell at heart.

Ah, but is he?

“I met John Williams once,” says the bus passenger.

“He came to see a concert of mine in Los Angeles. It’s always a big thrill to meet one of your heroes.”

Williams composed the famous 1977 Star Wars theme which, in 2005, was chosen as the greatest American film score of all time by the American Film Institute.

It was a Top 25 list and Williams was the only composer to feature on it three times (Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial earned his other placings, at number six and number 14 respectively). And this film music giant voted with his feet and went to see our John Wilson perform.

 

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Wilson is an outstanding conductor, and he really does a magnificent work with film music and musicals.

 

Also, is the only conductor I know who really knows how to wear his full evening dress. A sartorial delight!

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My very first live orchestral experience ever was John Wilson conducting the Halle in Bridgewater Hall (2008), a full John Williams Program. Opened with the Star Wars Theme, it took my breath away!

 

He is a fantastic conductor. 

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  • 5 months later...

I was lucky enough to meet John Wilson after his fantastic Proms concert devoted to the music of George and Ira Gershwin on Saturday.  He seems like a top bloke.  I took the opportunity to ask him what John Williams was like and he said he is "such a lovely man", which although is no surprise to anyone here was another nice affirmation from someone 'in the business', so to speak.

 

Don't worry, I also made sure I suggested that the John Wilson Orchestra devote its Proms concert next year to the music of John Williams!

 

:john:

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  • 3 months later...

I went to see the John Wilson Orchestra again at the Royal Festival Hall this evening.  They played a wonderful selection of music from the golden age of Hollywood, including The Adventures of Robin Hood, Tom and Jerry and Gone with the Wind.  Believe it or not, the two percussionists on plate smashing / saucepan banging duties were actually called Tom and Jerry!

 

The final encore was Princess Leia's theme from Star Wars, as fine a performance of the piece as I have seen.

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  • 2 years later...

The grand finale of the John Wilson Orchestra's final concert of its 2018 UK tour at the Royal Festival Hall yesterday evening was a spellbinding performance of Adventures On Earth from E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (stopped horns with bells pointing skyward at the end and all).  Every time I see the orchestra they just seem to get better and better.  John Wilson also had some nice things to say about the score in the programme:

 

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John Wilson declares John Williams' score for E.T. to be "One of the greatest achievements of music in cinema.  It's exhilarating and thrilling" says Wilson, "but, more importantly, there is something wonderfully moving about this music.  He captured a deep bond of affection.  I saw the film when I was ten and it has never lost its potency for me.  His suite contains most of the significant scenes and themes: it's a marriage of all the elements.  It's almost like a potted aural version of the film: you should be able to see it in your mind's eye."

 

The concert also included a lengthy suite from Max Steiner's Oscar-winning Now, Voyager score.  Apparently it is John Wilson's absolute favourite score and he transcribed the score to create the suite.

 

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  • 7 months later...

It seems that John Wilson has included John Williams's Harry's Wondrous World in the programme for the BBC Proms concerts with the John Wilson Orchestra this Friday 9th August.  The evening concert will be broadcast on TV the same evening, so those of you with the means should be able to catch it live or on iPlayer or at least listen to it live on BBC Radio 3.

 

The concert will also include some brilliant stuff from other Warner Brothers films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, The Old Man and the Sea, Auntie Mame and The Constant Nymph.

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On 12/19/2018 at 2:21 PM, crumbs said:

So wait, Williams is a member here? 

 

ASM emailed him the link to the forum.

 

A more serious thought: What are the chances that ASM has stopped by here at least a few times?

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