Williams to Conduct Nashville Symphony in September

[Will 2,388]

https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/tickets/concert/2017-an-evening-with-john-williams

 

Quote

An Evening with John Williams & the Nashville Symphony

Featuring Music from Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter & More

 

Saturday, September 9, 2017, 8:00 p.m.

SCHERMERHORN SYMPHONY CENTER

 

FIRST-EVER NASHVILLE APPEARANCE – Composer of some of the most beloved music ever written, the legendary John Williams conducts your Nashville Symphony. The program opens with Maestro Giancarlo Guerrero conducting Williams' concerto for orchestra and bassoon entitled The Five Sacred Trees, featuring principal bassoonist Julia Harguindey. The second half will feature John Williams conducting the orchestra as they perform highlights from some of his more than 100 film scores, including music from Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Harry Potter™ & more.

 

Tickets go on sale to the general public on July 21. 

 

Man, JW is really getting around! I guess this is how it usually is but in my whole time as a fan prior to this year he has a had a very limited concert schedule (Boston and Tanglewood only). Wow, 85 and still going strong!

[mrbellamy 7,734]

Very cool!

 

I keep thinking back not too long ago to 2015 when we had so much concern for his health. He was cancelling things left and right, looking and sounding a little frailer than usual. I was definitely coming to terms with the idea that he may be about ready to quit conducting by 2016, and keeping my fingers crossed that the same wouldn't be true about composing.

 

Two years later, look at him. Not just physically, but mentally he continues to have the endurance and enthusiasm to multitask that has always inspired me. What are the odds that somebody with that much talent would ALSO have pretty much unlimited monster success leading to the greatest musical resources at his fingertips AND a variety of opportunities and projects to utilize them AND blessed with longevity in life AND a passionate work ethic that has kept him even wanting to give music to the world in his "retirement years" AND an amiably grounded and humble attitude throughout it all?

 

Seriously, what the fuck? I can't help but think about Jerry, James, Basil, Kamen, and too many others who died too soon. Elliot Goldenthal, Don Davis, Bruce Broughton et al who should be working more with better film opportunities and aren't. Thank god Ennio's still going strong, of course it'd be nice if he were a little more high-profile but who's complaining?

 

And then there's John Williams. Every year he's looking more and more like some miracle man. A superhuman! But in a way that cheapens the remarkable career achievements and life's blessings on this sweet, unassuming man, and the struggles that he's had like anyone else. At any rate, he is rather special and I've been feeling grateful to call myself a fan lately. When I was 10 years old, one of my favorite things to daydream about on the bus and in school was the new John Williams CD coming out. Now I'm 26 and it's one of my favorite things to daydream about in the car and at work. 

 

Man I just love this guy! John Williams is awesome.

 

Anyway

 

[crumbs 15,797]

Great post, @mrbellamy. Certainly echos a lot of my feelings.

 

What a legend. 85 years old and filling up his free time with concert performances.

[Red 75]

I will be going to this concert. If possible, I'll get something signed. This is a once in a lifetime event for me. 

[moltke44 3]

Long time lurker ... first time poster. My excitement over the Nashville announcement made me boil over in comment. To those praising his health and giving the man ironman status I say hush! Don't jinx the man! I hope to finally be able to see him at one of the 2017 shows, and again in Chicago in 2018! Fan for a lifetime but finally have the means and schedule to try and see the legend.

[Smeltington 1,821]

I'll probably go, it's only a 4-hour drive for me! Wooohoooo! Good to see JW is keeping up his multi-year tour of the US.

[Mari 279]

The Nashville Symphony has updated their web page with the program listing:

 

https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/tickets/concert/2017-an-evening-with-john-williams

 

Looking at the list, I am reminded that The Five Sacred Trees was performed at the first JW conducted concert I attended in 2003.  

[Will 2,388]

Oh wow! Great program!

 

Quote

PROGRAM

 

Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The Five Sacred Trees

Flying Theme from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 

Flight to Neverland from Hook 

A Child’s Tale: Suite from The BFG 

 

Three Selections from Harry Potter 

 

Hedwig’s Theme

Fawkes the Phoenix

Harry’s Wondrous World

 

Three Selections from Star Wars 

 

Scherzo for X-Wings

Rey’s Theme

Throne Room & Finale

 

Notice that The BFG suite finally has a "real" name! It's a good one IMO. Hope the number of recent performances means he'll perform that when he comes here!

 

I wonder if that means a signature edition could be coming soon. Not that I care too much since I can't read music, of course. 

[Jax 0]

Does anyone know if the VIP ticket would include the opportunity to get an item signed or a picture with Mr. Williams? The symphony website only says "appearance by", but I was hoping it might also include the chance to meet him!

[nightscape94 968]

Quite a hefty program too.  Nice inclusion of the bassoon concerto.

[Jay 44,274]

Fawkes The Phoenix is always wonderful live, as is Flight To Neverland

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,367]

You must have heard Neverland in concert at least 8 times now, lol

[Disco Stu 15,516]

Does that make it no longer wonderful?  It's like seeing a popular band you love play live, there are always going to be same core set of songs that are always going to be played so just come to terms with it and hope for a couple of cool deep cuts.

[SpaceCoyote 151]

Has anyone here bought tickets to this they'd like to sell? Tickets go onsale to the public next Friday, July 21, and the website says there are under 275 tickets left. The lower priced tickets are gone, and all that's left are $275 tickets and $750 VIP tickets. I'm probably going to grit my teeth and pay the $275 (over $600 for two tickets and hefty fees) but wanted to check here first. So far the only resell website selling these is Vivid Seats, and there's only two sellers asking $300-$400 per ticket.

[Jay 44,274]

On 4/27/2017 at 0:39 PM, Disco Stu said:

Does that make it no longer wonderful?  It's like seeing a popular band you love play live, there are always going to be same core set of songs that are always going to be played so just come to terms with it and hope for a couple of cool deep cuts.

Indeed.

[stuttersteps 1]

On 7/14/2017 at 11:12 AM, JDSollie said:

Has anyone here bought tickets to this they'd like to sell? Tickets go onsale to the public next Friday, July 21, and the website says there are under 275 tickets left. The lower priced tickets are gone, and all that's left are $275 tickets and $750 VIP tickets. I'm probably going to grit my teeth and pay the $275 (over $600 for two tickets and hefty fees) but wanted to check here first. So far the only resell website selling these is Vivid Seats, and there's only two sellers asking $300-$400 per ticket.

 

I just bought two tickets front row orchestra left for the $275 price!  Been trolling the seat map all week and tonight I saw these suddenly available so had to scoop them up before the public sale tomorrow (I did the subscriber option and bought two other concerts to go to).  My wife's out of town that night so I might be looking for a JWFan in the area.  I'm stoked as I've only seen the Maestro in concert once back in '92, the highlight of which was the Far & Away suite--looking forward to Rey's Theme live!

[Smeltington 1,821]

I just bought two tickets, $275, last row. HA. They went fast, it was only slightly less stressful than trying to buy BSO Film night tickets, but at least it was all over quickly 

 

I'm looking forward to this! And I'll be happy to meet up with any other JWFans in attendance.

[Mari 279]

https://brentwoodhomepage.com/movie-composer-williams-nashville-symphony-debut-will-be-broadcast-live-streamed/

 

Quote

John Williams’ first-ever Nashville appearance on Sept. 9 at Schermerhorn Symphony Center will be broadcast live by Nashville Public Radio’s 91Classical, giving fans of the legendary composer the chance to experience the sold-out concert on the radio, online and via mobile app.

 

[SpaceCoyote 151]

So... any chance there's someone who needs to sell two tickets? I'm close to Nashville but couldn't buy in time, and no resell sites have them. I'll take them off your hands.

[Will 2,388]

Just remembered that this is tomorrow. Hope we get some videos!

[crumbs 15,797]

Anyone know the exact time PST this is being broadcast live?

[Will 2,388]

12 hours ago, crumbs said:

Anyone know the exact time PST this is being broadcast live?

 

Oh right, forgot it was being broadcast! 

 

Just checked and it's being broadcast at 8 p.m. U.S. central time. 

 

http://nashvillepublicradio.org/topic/classical-911-fm

 

[nightscape94 968]

Just tuned into "The Five Sacred Trees", sounds pretty good.

[Tom 6,117]

Love the addition to the Daisy Ridley story: "I was infatuated with her...and she is younger than my youngest grandchild."  Dirty old man with class and grace--life seldom gets better. 

[crumbs 15,797]

Geez this is an amazingly fast performance of Scherzo for X-Wings! Surely the fastest he's ever conducted it! It sounds brilliant at this tempo.

 

Also, sounds like The Last Jedi is finished. Williams said they locked the print master last week! Interesting timing with the Trevorrow announcement.

 

1 minute ago, Tom said:

Love the addition to the Daisy Ridley story: "I was infatuated with her...and she is younger than my youngest grandchild."  Dirty old man with class and grace--life seldom gets better. 

 

Loved his updated version of the anecdote. Now it's Rian Johnson who asked him to compose TLJ (not Kennedy) and he didn't even finish the question before John blurted out, "yes!" 

[Disco Stu 15,516]

Did I miss it?

[crumbs 15,797]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

Did I miss it?

 

In the middle of the SW suite now. Beautiful performance of Rey's Theme currently:

http://nashvillepublicradio.org/topic/91classical#stream/1

 

John conducts this piece better than anyone.

[nightscape94 968]

He's killin' it on the mic tonight.

[crumbs 15,797]

He's very lively tonight! Wicked sense of humour, JW has.

[Will 2,388]

Hopefully a replay gets posted in a few days. Very cool that TLJ has locked picture so early! Presumably the sound mix is still being finished up, however (aka the chopping up of the score ). 

[crumbs 15,797]

1 minute ago, Will said:

Hopefully a replay gets posted in a few days. Very cool that TLJ has locked picture so early! Presumably the sound mix is still being finished up, however (aka the chopping up of the score ). 

 

 

Seemingly not. JW said the film's print master was locked last week.

[nightscape94 968]

For the curious, the encores were:

 

With Malice Toward None

Theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark (complete with audience wooting at the beginning)

Imperial March (the standard concert capper)

 

[Jay 44,274]

32 minutes ago, Tom said:

Love the addition to the Daisy Ridley story: "I was infatuated with her...and she is younger than my youngest grandchild."  Dirty old man with class and grace--life seldom gets better. 

 

LOL

[Xander Harris 8,648]

It's gone from cute to kind of creepy.

[Miguel Andrade 1,633]

7 hours ago, Will said:

Hopefully a replay gets posted in a few days.

 

WFCL 91.1 never make past concerts available on-demand. Either you heard it live or wait for a rebroadcast later in the season (that happened a few times, this one being such a high profile concert, is likely to be treated to a rebroadcast.)

 

Anyway, it was completely worth to stay up until nearly 5 a.m. Just wish that WFCL would invest on a higher bitrate stream. They are stuck on that 96Kb one for ages now.

[crumbs 15,797]

35 minutes ago, Miguel Andrade said:

WFCL 91.1 never make past concerts available on-demand. Either you heard it live or wait for a rebroadcast later in the season (that happened a few times, this one being such a high profile concert, is likely to be treated to a rebroadcast.)

 

Wish I knew that, I would've recorded it!

[Miguel Andrade 1,633]

Keep an eye on the broadcast list of the Nashville Symphony.

http://nashvillepublicradio.org/programs/nashville-symphony-broadcasts#stream/0

Maybe you get that chance later in the season.

 

[Will 2,388]

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

 

Seemingly not. JW said the film's print master was locked last week.

 

Oh, OK, yeah, didn't realize the print master included the sound mix. 

[crumbs 15,797]

He basically said the film is locked, so post-production has wrapped.

 

In all likelihood they had a final screening for crew (including John's music editor) after finishing the sound mix, where crew could raise any issues before locking the picture. Maybe JW attended?

[Dzadza 90]

of course - I missed it...
here's the only video I found so far (approx 15 secs of Imperial march..)
 

 

[Red 75]

I was just able to get a floor ticket for $275. Nashville has become a chaotic sea of tourists on weekend nights and it was a nightmare wading through all that to get the hall. But it was worth it. It was a great concert. And more than that, a great moment in my life. Just being in the same building as the man. Hearing his voice. Seeing him in all his soft spoken candor on the stage. A really strong set list as well, mixing stuff I wasn't as familiar with with the classics. The highlight for me was the Throne Room suite at the end (prior to the three encores; in all there were about six standing ovations). Full on tears at the force theme. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,367]

Why do tourists come to Nashville?

[Disco Stu 15,516]

It's supposed to be quite a lovely city.  My parents went a couple of years ago.

[Remco 693]

Fantastic to see Williams still so lively and full of energy at this age - but the short Imperial March clip did show one problem with his conducting recently, and it's that he seems to have difficulty keeping a stable tempo from the beginning to end, and this really becomes apparent in his recent performances of march-like pieces (the 1941 march or the recent performance of ToD parade). Even the OST version of Scherzo for X-wings slows down a lot. I guess when he's on the click track of a film there's no problem though, so there's no need for William Ross to take over the recording sessions fortunately...

 

 

[crumbs 15,797]

1 hour ago, Remco said:

the short Imperial March clip did show one problem with his conducting recently, and it's that he seems to have difficulty keeping a stable tempo from the beginning to end, and this really becomes apparent in his recent performances of march-like pieces (the 1941 march or the recent performance of ToD parade). Even the OST version of Scherzo for X-wings slows down a lot. 

I noticed the inconsistent tempo with Parade of the Slave Children, but I think that's separate to JW's conscious tempo changes like Scherzo for X-Wings. I think he occasionally reconsiders track tempos after finishing film scores. We've seen Adventures of Mutt and Parade of the Slave Children noticeably slowed down (well, the OST counterpart of the latter, that is), while Scherzo for X-Wings and Theme from Jurassic Park have been drastically sped-up.

 

1 hour ago, Remco said:

 I guess when he's on the click track of a film there's no problem though, so there's no need for William Ross to take over the recording sessions fortunately...

 

I'm sure I read that JW hates using a click track; he considers it a distraction from the energy of the orchestra's performance. When he's conducting actual film scores though, he still uses video with sync points so he can maintain the correct tempo.

[Disco Stu 15,516]

So does Williams have any more concert engagements between now and December?

[crumbs 15,797]

He's got about 10 at the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in November.

 

[Disco Stu 15,516]

So does Williams have any more concert engagements not recording sessions between now and December?

[Remco 693]

31 minutes ago, crumbs said:

I noticed the inconsistent tempo with Parade of the Slave Children, but I think that's separate to JW's conscious tempo changes like Scherzo for X-Wings. I think he occasionally reconsiders track tempos after finishing film scores. We've seen Adventures of Mutt and Parade of the Slave Children noticeably slowed down (well, the OST counterpart of the latter, that is), while Scherzo for X-Wings and Theme from Jurassic Park have been drastically sped-up.

 

That's true, they are seperate things. But even with the already slower tempo, Scherzo on the OST actually slows down gradually (albeit slightly), and the same goes for any recent performance of the Imperial or the 1941 March. On the other hand, when I watch Princess Leia's theme at the recent SW celebration, a piece where the tempo constantly fluctuates, he still does a wonderful job as there is always a direction where it's going. It's only the pieces with a stable tempo that start to drag at some point. Which is a bit sad, since the orchestras don't really need someone just to keep time.  I guess it's the age... 

 

Quote

 

I'm sure I read that JW hates using a click track; he considers it a distraction from the energy of the orchestra's performance. When he's conducting actual film scores though, he still uses video with sync points so he can maintain the correct tempo.

 

Yes exactly - I meant the sync points that dictate the tempo so he doesn't have to rely on his 'inner' metronome, so to speak.

[crumbs 15,797]

3 minutes ago, Remco said:

Which is a bit sad, since the orchestras don't really need someone just to keep time.  I guess it's the age... 

 

Well yes, unfortunately that's a reality of getting older. In the future he may need to pull back on his conducting duties and start sharing them with William Ross or Gustavo Dudamel. In the interim, he looks remarkably energetic for an octogenarian.

 

But to still be writing, orchestrating and conducting so much music, which is as complex as anything he's ever written, is quite remarkable. I believe Williams even conducted Follow Me and The Falcon, which are filled with rhythmically challenging, shifting time figures throughout.

 

He's even orchestrating more of his scores now than ever before, whereas previously he used orchestrators to copy out his sketches into full orchestral sheet music (with Eddie Karam & Conrad Pope on the prequels for example, while Williams orchestrated the entirety of TFA and TLJ himself). It's as if he's getting to the stage where he has such a specific vision of how he hears the music in his head, he needs to see it through from conception to recording.