John Williams conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra March 24, 2023

[Jay 38,749]

Quote

CSO Special Concert
An Evening with John Williams
Jun 9, 2022

 

Legendary composer and conductor John Williams, whose iconic film scores have captured the hearts of millions of moviegoers over his 70-year career, leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program of beloved works for stage and screen.

 

This performance is part of the CSO’s 31st Annual Corporate Night, a fundraising event presented in partnership by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association the League and Overture Council of the CSOA. Proceeds benefit the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s artistic, education and community engagement programs in Chicago and across the globe.

 

Venue - Symphony Center
Price Range - $79-$229
Schedule - Thursday, June 9, 2022 7:30 PM

Performers - Chicago Symphony Orchestra / John Williams Conductor

 

https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-specials/an-evening-with-john-williams/

[Joe Brausam 216]

It's a shame that this is during the school year, I'd have loved to see him conduct the CSO!

 

[Jay 38,749]

I guess he expects to be done scoring Indiana Jones 5 by early June!  Wow!

[Jurassic Shark 12,781]

Or he's not going to score it...

[Jay 38,749]

Or Indy 5 has been pushed back to the Fall / Winter 2022 release, but they haven't announced so yet

[Jurassic Shark 12,781]

Yeah, I almost wrote that. Sounds likely they need more time for post.

[Doug Adams 494]

33 minutes ago, Jay said:

Or Indy 5 has been pushed back to the Fall / Winter 2022 release, but they haven't announced so yet

I believe he's taken on conducting gigs between stretches of session dates before, so could just be popping out to Chicago for a day or two.

 

Although, if Indy 5 is released on July 28, it's not impossible that the score will be fully recorded before June 9 anyway. Not every director asks for a zillion rewrites. (I know ... some do!)  

 

Jay, are you coming to Chicago? 

[Jay 38,749]

I imagine once he "pops out" to Chicago from LA, he'll fly directly to Italy from there to prepare for the Milan concert that's only 10 days after this one

 

I hope to make it to Chicago, but it doesn't seem likely.  We'll see!

[Sunshine Reger 3,571]

Just now, Jay said:

I imagine once he "pops out" to Chicago from LA, he'll fly directly to Italy from there to prepare for the Milan concert that's only 10 days after this one

The same way he conducted Boston 12 days before the first Berlin concert – a domestic warm-up  

[igger6 913]

Welcome (back to my) home, Maestro!   Does Corporate Night mean it's only for bigwigs, or just that it's priced for bigwigs?

[Matt S. 550]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

I imagine once he "pops out" to Chicago from LA, he'll fly directly to Italy from there to prepare for the Milan concert that's only 10 days after this one

 

I hope to make it to Chicago, but it doesn't seem likely.  We'll see!

 

Or maybe he'll do a Film Night concert in Boston between Chicago and Italy?  He usually splits the Boston concerts with Keith Lockhart or another conductor, and it would cut down on the long-haul flight?  

[JohnnyD 1,272]

Cool!

 

5 hours ago, Doug Adams said:

I believe he's taken on conducting gigs between stretches of session dates before, so could just be popping out to Chicago for a day or two.

 

Although, if Indy 5 is released on July 28, it's not impossible that the score will be fully recorded before June 9 anyway.

 

Exactly. Also, Indy 5 will be released on July 29.

[crumbs 14,584]

9 hours ago, Doug Adams said:

Although, if Indy 5 is released on July 28, it's not impossible that the score will be fully recorded before June 9 anyway. Not every director asks for a zillion rewrites. (I know ... some do!)  

 

In the Eiger Sanction podcast, Mike mentioned "it's on track, schedule-wise, for that scoring to happen after returning from the Carnegie Hall concert."  Presumably he was referring to the scoring sessions, and not the writing, because that concert is April 21.

So assuming he can start writing Indy in January, that gives him about 4 months to finish before Carnegie Hall, leaving all May to record the score before heading to Chicago.

 

Maybe booking himself out for June is an intentional strategy to avoid another Rise of Skywalker-esque nightmare

[Jay 38,749]

Can Williams start writing it in January?  When will principal photography be over?  How long will it take between then and when Mangold has a cut ready he wants Williams to compose to?

And when will Williams write The Fabelmans score?  Is Spielberg even done shooting that?  When will its rough cut be ready?

[Tom 4,946]

I would bet on a Lincoln piece or two for this concert.  The full suite would be nice, but that seems like a low probability.  

[Ian Stouffer 17]

My family is working on arrangements for going to this concert. I can't wait to see the Maestro!

[Will 2,230]

Wow!! Very much hope I'll be able to see the maestro live for a second time. Tickets will surely be much harder to get this time, since he's only doing one concert rather than three. But I should be able to get something. And "Price Range - $79-$229" suggests that despite this being "Corporate Night," prices probably won't be too much higher than usual. 

[mrbellamy 6,633]

They might add concerts. 

[ricsim88 255]

I really want to go to that one. Since I first started to study trumpet, the Chicago symphony has always been a reference orchestra for me. Hearing this orchestra with Williams conducting would be amazing. 

[Ian Stouffer 17]

Since I got tickets to see the Maestro in my home city of Pittsburgh, I am not going to the Chicago concert.

[igger6 913]

I'll be there!  I had some pandemic credit built up from the original cancelled Jurassic Park concert, so I finally ponied up for the entire CSO at the Movies series, which then enabled me to buy tickets for the Williams show (while seeing JP and Return of the Jedi to boot).  I've never spent so much on tickets for anything at one pop before, but every accessible Williams show becomes more valuable with each passing year.

[Andrej 51]

Chicago concert canceled

 

 

An Evening With John Williams, scheduled for June 9, 2022, has been canceled due to an unexpected schedule conflict for conductor John Williams. According to a statement from his management, “John Williams greatly regrets that due to a scheduling change in a prior film commitment, he will be unavailable to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on June 9. He very much looks forward to reuniting with the orchestra and rescheduling this concert as soon as possible.”

 

[crumbs 14,584]

12 minutes ago, Andrej said:

An Evening With John Williams, scheduled for June 9, 2022, has been canceled due to an unexpected schedule conflict for conductor John Williams. According to a statement from his management, “John Williams greatly regrets that due to a scheduling change in a prior film commitment, he will be unavailable to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on June 9. He very much looks forward to reuniting with the orchestra and rescheduling this concert as soon as possible.”

 

Oh wow! So it might be the Indy 5 sessions getting delayed a month or two (originally planned for post-Carnegie Hall), either due to Ford's injury or perhaps JW tackling Fabelmans first (due to the release date shift). If the latter, I suspect he's already writing Fabelmans.

 

Wonder if this also affects his concert in Milan? Maybe it was too much conducting in a short time-span.

[Jay 38,749]

WOAH.  Bombshell.

 

"a scheduling change in a prior film commitment" has to be either The Fabelmans or Indy 5........... OR we have a Book Thief situation here, where he's scoring a surprise film!!!

 

That seems more likely to me, since The Fabelmans opens Nov 23 2022 and Indiana Jones 5 opens June 30 2023, so you'd think he wouldn't need to record either score until after Italy.  But hey, what do I know.

[crumbs 14,584]

Imagine JW scoring 3 new film scores in his 90th year! What a dream...

[Jay 38,749]

Here's the source of the text above: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-specials/kelli-o-hara-sings-broadway/

 

(please always provide this yourself when posting news, @Andrej)

[Andrej 51]

17 minutes ago, Jay said:

Here's the source of the text above: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-specials/kelli-o-hara-sings-broadway/

 

(please always provide this yourself when posting news, @Andrej)

yes, my bad. I copied it from the e-mail memo I've received...

[Jay 38,749]

Ah, that makes sense

[JohnnyD 1,272]

2 hours ago, Andrej said:

An Evening With John Williams, scheduled for June 9, 2022, has been canceled due to an unexpected schedule conflict for conductor John Williams. According to a statement from his management, “John Williams greatly regrets that due to a scheduling change in a prior film commitment, he will be unavailable to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on June 9. He very much looks forward to reuniting with the orchestra and rescheduling this concert as soon as possible.”

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Jay said:

WOAH.  Bombshell.

 

"a scheduling change in a prior film commitment" has to be either The Fabelmans or Indy 5........... OR we have a Book Thief situation here, where he's scoring a surprise film!!!

 

The Fabelmans opens Nov 23 2022 and Indiana Jones 5 opens June 30 2023.

 

It could be either of those three cases. Regardless, it is VERY exciting. As to the concert with the CSO, it'll be re-scheduled. All is well.

[Jay 38,749]

I think it will be rescheduled too, and not outright canceled entirely, but the makeup date will probably be in 2023 so it makes sense to label it as a cancelation now 

[Tom 4,946]

I would assume Indy or Fablemans.  While I would love a third score, this is not really evidence.  Production schedules for both dictate scoring sessions more than the release of the movie itself.  However, it does look more and more likely Williams will score Fablemans, though I await an official confirmation.  

[Not Mr. Big 4,719]

3 hours ago, crumbs said:

Imagine JW scoring 3 new film scores in his 90th year! What a dream...

Definitely Indiana Jones and the Men of Fables

[Jay 38,749]

I was actually thinking about it, and I think it's Indy 5.

 

I think when the film was being shot and supposed to open in July 22, Williams was probably going to wrote the score starting nowish, and record before Carnegie Hall. 

 

When Ford got hurt, and there was other production delays, and they decided to push the release date back to June 2023, that likely changed the post production schedule, into such a state that now Mangold wants the score recorded by Juneish instead of Aprilish. 

 

The note does say "due to a scheduling change in a prior film commitment", and he was officially and publicly announced as the composer. 

 

The Fabelmans will probably take a lot less time to write and record than Indy 5, and can probably be more easily slotted in between JW's commitments. 

[crumbs 14,584]

I don't see why JW wouldn't do Fabelmans right now and record it early next year.

 

Indy 5 is still shooting and there's no rush for Williams to start scoring before they wrap production, which was seemingly the plan before its delay (in order to meet the July 2022 release date).

 

If he starts on Indy in February or March, he'll be able to score a proper cut instead of individual reels or sequences. 

[Jay 38,749]

Well that's the point, I don't see the need for either film to record in June 2022 based on their release dates. But here we are. 

[crumbs 14,584]

They'll just finish post production early and the finished film will sit on a hard drive for months until the release date. 

 

Every day in post costs money so they can't necessarily hold off scoring until closer to the release date. The sound mixing team would all be booked on other projects, so they need the score finished to finalize their work on the film. 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,453]

Very sorry for those who were expecting this concert.

The only recomfort is that Williams will be scoring a movie (I hope it's the Spielberg one)

[Sunshine Reger 3,571]

I wonder if the La Scala event is also in danger

 

Even if it's not cancelled outright, Williams will likely have to travel much less leisurely to Europe. Instead of flying to Chicago in advance traversing a few time zones, then resting on the West Coast, and finally completing the final leg of the journey with no hurry, he might now need to depart directly from L.A. and studio work.

[crumbs 14,584]

5 minutes ago, Fabulin said:

Even if it's not cancelled outright, Williams will likely have to travel much less leisurely to Europe. Instead of flying to Chicago in advance, traversing a few time zones, resting on the West Coast, and then completing the final leg of the journey with no hurry, Williams might now need to fly directly from L.A.

 

Doesn't he usually relocate to Tanglewood for a few months each year? If so, he wouldn't have to fly all the way from the west coast.

 

From memory he wrote most of the newer Star Wars films while staying over there (after starting in LA and presenting his sketches to the directors).

[Sunshine Reger 3,571]

4 minutes ago, crumbs said:

 

Doesn't he usually relocate to Tanglewood for a few months each year? If so, he wouldn't have to fly all the way from the west coast.

 

From memory he wrote most of the newer Star Wars films while staying over there (after starting in LA and presenting his sketches to the directors).

Possibly, but how does that help if he has to go back to L.A. ro record in early June? He will be on the other side of the globe relatively to Italy.

[crumbs 14,584]

Hmm, good point. I guess it depends what the actual conflict is. 

 

I remember he reduced conducting commitments while writing the final Star Wars, to conserve his energy for conducting the sessions. Maybe there's an element of that at play here. He probably wants to keep Milan but something else had to give. 

[Tom 4,946]

Or maybe he is having flashbacks to Al Capone.  

 

And, yes, they overlapped for 15 years--the dude is old.  

[mrbellamy 6,633]

I definitely would have gone and was just waiting for when tickets would be available to purchase, so not too bummed that it got cancelled before it was even really an option. I'm glad that it's because he'll be too busy with a score. I wanna see him as much as I can while he's out there doing it, but if I were given the choice between a new soundtrack or getting to see him in concert a fourth time, I'd want the former.

[eitam 368]

I feel for the people who were looking forward to this concert, but at least it's cancelled for a good cause ! 

[Muad'Dib 1,848]

A third surprise film would be awesome, but it's probably Indy or Fabels, as mentioned above.

 

Give me a super small score for Fablemans! Like 90% solo piano with three or four other solo instruments. And just that, no big orchestra. Make it super intimate

[Not Mr. Big 4,719]

42 minutes ago, Muad'Dib said:

A third surprise film would be awesome, but it's probably Indy or Fabels, as mentioned above.

 

Give me a super small score for Fablemans! Like 90% solo piano with three or four other solo instruments. And just that, no big orchestra. Make it super intimate

Clarinet

[Jay 38,749]

I want the kid in the film to be a clarinet player, and all the source music of him playing is composed and conducted by JW, with Spielberg as the featured soloist 

[BB-8 3,799]

I hope this isn't causally linked to La Scala and the two Riccardos.

 

Riccardo Muti faces ban for life at La Scala - Slipped DiscSlipped Disc | The inside track on classical music and related cultures, by Norman Lebrecht (slippedisc.com)

 

[Thor 8,078]

7 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

I hope this isn't causally linked to La Scala and the two Riccardos.

 

Riccardo Muti faces ban for life at La Scala - Slipped DiscSlipped Disc | The inside track on classical music and related cultures, by Norman Lebrecht (slippedisc.com)

 

Weird. I don't believe the article says anything about the reasons for Muti's outrage. Do you know?

[BB-8 3,799]

1 minute ago, Thor said:

 

Weird. I don't believe the article says anything about the reasons for Muti's outrage. Do you know?

 

Here are some suggestions...celebrity gossip, I suppose:

 

Latest: The Muti shitstorm continues - Slipped DiscSlipped Disc | The inside track on classical music and related cultures, by Norman Lebrecht (slippedisc.com)

 

We know that JW attended Verdi's Requiem played by the CSO under Muti in Vienna just before his own debut with the VPO (see above photo).