John Williams returning to Vienna for two concerts, December 7 and 8, 2024 [UPDATE: CANCELLED]

[bollemanneke 3,622]

Would this trigger a DG reaction or should I not hope?

[BB-8 4,047]

3 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Would this trigger a DG reaction or should I not hope?

This 7-LP set was probably the death knell for the release of Vienna 2 - sorry to say.

[bollemanneke 3,622]

But weren't we still getting 'old and new' concerts at that stage+ thing?

[BB-8 4,047]

5 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

But weren't we still getting 'old and new' concerts at that stage+ thing?

Hm, the new stuff likely being Tokyo? They also seem to have merged Vienna 1 & 2 into "The Vienna Concert"...

[Molly Weasley 102]

https://slippedisc.com/2024/08/john-williams-cancels-vienna-on-health-grounds/ ?! 

 

Edit: ok lol I'm late to the game but I didn't see the thread bumped, sorry 🙃

[Nemesis 254]

Oy... guess I should cancel now my flight and hotel 

[JohnnyD 1,330]

On 20/08/2024 at 5:10 AM, MovieMusicMaestro said:

https://slippedisc.com/2024/08/john-williams-cancels-vienna-on-health-grounds/

 

Sad news, but he nonetheless is expected to make a full recovery. Health must come first before anything else. Get well, Maestro.

[Mr. Hooper 3,550]

What else is encouraging is that it says he's looking forward to rescheduling the dates.

[BB-8 4,047]

[Foxfan 134]

On 20/08/2024 at 7:06 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

 

At least now we know. And hopefully it's not due to any new complications, but just a natural part of his recovery (that from what we've heard is supposedly going well). In that case, hopefully he'll be fit again in time for Berlin, and hopefully they'll manage to come up with replacement dates.

 

Yep maybe he'll schedule the Vienna concerts closer to the Berlin ones so it only involves one gruelling trip across the Atlantic?

 

I was already planning to see him in Berlin for the Saturday concert. There's a Bond-themed concert in Leipzig that Friday and then Mahler 3 in Dresden the following Monday, giving me a chance to visit those cities and concert halls as well. If he does Vienna the week after Berlin, that would be an awesome June holiday tour!

 

I really wish the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam would invite him at some point though - for film music that hall would be even superior to the Musikverein IMHO, having heard the acoustics in both.

[mkfantastico 3]

On 26/08/2024 at 10:44 PM, Foxfan said:

I was already planning to see him in Berlin for the Saturday concert. There's a Bond-themed concert in Leipzig that Friday and then Mahler 3 in Dresden the following Monday, giving me a chance to visit those

 

So there are other people that combine Film Music concerts and Mahler? lol. I can't say I've heard Staatskapelle Dresden, I am sure they are decent. I saw Rattle with the BRSO do Mahler 6 the other day and that was ace. It would be an excuse to visit Dresden, at minimum.

Agree than the Concertgebouw is the best sounding hall I've ever been in.

[Marian Schedenig 9,151]

1 hour ago, mkfantastico said:

I can't say I've heard Staatskapelle Dresden, I am sure they are decent.

 

They're not only a first rate orchestra, they're one of the oldest in the world - 476 this year! (Heinrich Schütz performed with them, can you believe that?)

[mkfantastico 3]

14 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

They're not only a first rate orchestra, they're one of the oldest in the world - 476 this year! (Heinrich Schütz performed with them, can you believe that?)

I see they are regularly listed with the European big four (Vienna, Berlin, Concertgebouw, London) with Bavarian Radio just following, all of which I am more familar with, so fair cop.

[GerateWohl 5,159]

On 04/09/2024 at 10:31 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

They're not only a first rate orchestra, they're one of the oldest in the world - 476 this year! (Heinrich Schütz performed with them, can you believe that?)

Unbelievable the players can still hold their instruments. 

[Sunshine Reger 3,609]

On 05/09/2024 at 12:52 PM, mkfantastico said:

I see they are regularly listed with the European big four (Vienna, Berlin, Concertgebouw, London) with Bavarian Radio just following, all of which I am more familar with, so fair cop.

I had the pleasure of hearing most of their season just a few years back. Their playing is energetic, precise, and charismatic, reflecting their regular chamber and opera practice. The Staatskapelle reminds me of a warmer albeit a bit more individualistic, and with less time for drills - less cohesive - George Szell orchestra when they are at their best.

 

Them 28 years ago:

.

Them nowadays:

.

.

 

 

 

 

[Chen G. 4,713]

<Redacted>

[toothless 985]

I dream of John Williams conducting at the Philharmonie de Paris but that will never happen because even though the Paris Orchestra is stunning, it's not even in the top 10 european orchestra.

 

In any case I'll try to make it to the Berlin or Vienna concerts. It it happens that's great, if it doesn't at least I saw him in Berlin last time. In the meantime, I'm seeing Desplat at the Philharmonie in January.

[Bayesian 1,435]

2 hours ago, toothless said:

I dream of John Williams conducting at the Philharmonie de Paris but that will never happen because even though the Paris Orchestra is stunning, it's not even in the top 10 european orchestra.

 

In any case I'll try to make it to the Berlin or Vienna concerts. It it happens that's great, if it doesn't at least I saw him in Berlin last time. In the meantime, I'm seeing Desplat at the Philharmonie in January.

As a Francophile, this is my never-to-realized dream too. Why is it that France doesn’t have a history of top-performing or top-ranking orchestras, anyway? I mean, France has produced some of world’s best-known conductors and has an incredibly rich and beloved legacy in every major musical form. Seems like an unusual area for a country to have let go unremedied for so long. 

[BB-8 4,047]

A true JWFan logs onto the website of the Musikverein shortly before 9:00 CEST, refreshes the ticketing page every 5 seconds over one hour just in case the cancellation is cancelled. And he will only believe the show has been postponed when JW appears on stage some time in the future.

 

[BB-8 4,047]

Konzert | Musikverein Wien

 

Home - Imperial Philharmonic Austria

 

 

[WilliamsStarShip2282 321]

On 10/09/2024 at 3:18 AM, Bayesian said:

As a Francophile, this is my never-to-realized dream too. Why is it that France doesn’t have a history of top-performing or top-ranking orchestras, anyway? I mean, France has produced some of world’s best-known conductors and has an incredibly rich and beloved legacy in every major musical form. Seems like an unusual area for a country to have let go unremedied for so long. 

 Because France, considering things before covid, has/had many many orchestras, mainly financed by the government and some local sponsors. Being the case, there are a lot of orchestras that play seldom, instead of a few orchestras that play/played often and therefore very well. Paris alone has more than can be counted. There are a few exceptions, like l'ensemble intercontemporain, which has strong backing and was Boulez passion project for a very very long time, which was established by Pompidou. Being a smaller group they can get away with many performances, but alas they only perform the most "contemporary" music, which is not for everyone.

France has produced many many incredible composers, conductors, soloists, and musicians, however most of them sustained their careers outside of France.

[toothless 985]

Interesting ! Thanks

[mkfantastico 3]

On 07/09/2024 at 4:48 PM, Sunshine Reger said:

less cohesive - George Szell orchestra when they are at their best.

Szell/Cleveland back in the day was dynamite.

[ocelot 554]

It's a possibility that he makes a full recovery, but I wouldn't be surprised if next year is cancelled.

[Mr. Hooper 3,550]

9 hours ago, ocelot said:

It's a possibility that he makes a full recovery, but I wouldn't be surprised if next year is cancelled.

You're popping in and making vague and ominous statements again, @ocelot... And since you're in the biz and hear things through the grapevine, I'm now feeling less confident about perhaps going to Berlin next year.

[Sunshine Reger 3,609]

11 hours ago, ocelot said:

It's a possibility that he makes a full recovery, but I wouldn't be surprised if next year is cancelled.

[ocelot 554]

I'm sorry guys. What happened is serious. the second one anyway that stemmed from the first. He's the only living idol I have left, you think I don't want him to recover and live till 345? I truly hope he does (recover). I've seen him in London and I've seen him here in LA more times than I can count. I would love to still see him conduct. 

 

Just remember, injuries that we sustain when we are younger are different to the same ones we sustain when we are older, let alone in one's 90s. What kept him and any other person his age going is the body's ability to walk and do things and his brain to be stimulated by writing and playing. When all of that goes out of the window the body starts collapsing and other things happen.

 

I truly hope what I heard from the inside sources is wrong, but do you guys think that having the premiere of "Music by John Williams"  be in our hometown of LA and the fact that Williams could not simply come and sit in the audience but instead it was his daughter Jenny there... Do we not think that as telling at all? 

 

Bear in mind, this came second hand to me, so I cannot 100% guarantee what happened but one of the people in the chain was Jenny Williams.....

 

But also, that does not mean he will not recover, right? So I'm hoping for the best but getting ready for the worst.

 

UPDATE: OK, I made a call. I know some of you will think I am making this up but trust me, ask any longtime member including Ricard, I am not. So I called my friend and he didn't have any new info but then he said let me make a call. He just called me back, he IS doing better. 

[King Mark 3,730]

1 hour ago, ocelot said:

He just called me back, he IS doing better, he is teaching himself things he has to learn again and there is an improvement of sorts

Hmm did he have a stoke?

The last few months have been eerily silent concerning JW.

[John Dutton 7,502]

He's canceled appearances, disappeared from the public eye, a seemingly unreleasable first Spielberg collaboration score was released out of nowhere and a documentary about his life has now been released...

[Tom 5,148]

Old age sucks. 

 

However, we have literally volumes and volumes of music from him to listen to.  He has given his all, and we are all grateful.  I think the piano concerto will be the career apex--as I am sure it will be in his less accessible concert mode, it will not be appreciated as such by mass audiences.  But, his instrument of choice, his timeframe, his vast composing experience in one final massive work-it is a storybook ending.

 

But, yes, like everyone else, I hope he lives and writes for years to come.  

[mrbellamy 6,795]

17 hours ago, ocelot said:

I know some of you will think I am making this up but trust me, ask any longtime member including Ricard, I am not. 

 

I never doubted that you were hearing legitimate information about his condition. I think the frustrating thing about your posts earlier this year was that you respectfully did not want to go into details about what you'd heard because of his privacy and because you were only hearing things down the line of communication, but it also meant you hesitated to be very forthcoming about exactly what you did and didn't know. So despite the official line that we could expect recovery, it looked like you were trying to signal to us that he was in fact comatose without spelling it out. That's why it felt unhelpful. 

 

I appreciate the longer explanation and having Mike Matessino and Tim Greiving share that they've still been in touch with him and he has stuff he wants to do next year, whether or not it'll work out, that's good enough for me as a dumb fan, it's none of my business. We all want the best for him. 

 

15 hours ago, John Dutton said:

He's canceled appearances, disappeared from the public eye, a seemingly unreleasable first Spielberg collaboration score was released out of nowhere and a documentary about his life has now been released...

 

I think approving Sugarland, a documentary, and a biography are sadly a little suspicious in a way, but I also think that's just him changing his attitude regardless on these kinds of things since he turned 90. 

[Marian Schedenig 9,151]

7 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

I think approving Sugarland, a documentary, and a biography are sadly a little suspicious in a way, but I also think that's just him changing his attitude regardless on these kinds of things since he turned 90. 

 

And I'm pretty sure all three of these approvals happened *before* the "health concern".

[Jurassic Shark 13,360]

It's all about the money anyway. 

[Marian Schedenig 9,151]

[Andy 5,215]

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.

.

[Davis 3,135]

19 hours ago, ocelot said:

I'm sorry guys. What happened is serious. the second one anyway that stemmed from the first. He's the only living idol I have left, you think I don't want him to recover and live till 345? I truly hope he does (recover). I've seen him in London and I've seen him here in LA more times than I can count. I would love to still see him conduct. 

 

Just remember, injuries that we sustain when we are younger are different to the same ones we sustain when we are older, let alone in one's 90s. What kept him and any other person his age going is the body's ability to walk and do things and his brain to be stimulated by writing and playing. When all of that goes out of the window the body starts collapsing and other things happen.

 

I truly hope what I heard from the inside sources is wrong, but do you guys think that having the premiere of "Music by John Williams"  be in our hometown of LA and the fact that Williams could not simply come and sit in the audience but instead it was his daughter Jenny there... Do we not think that as telling at all? 

 

Bear in mind, this came second hand to me, so I cannot 100% guarantee what happened but one of the people in the chain was Jenny Williams.....

 

But also, that does not mean he will not recover, right? So I'm hoping for the best but getting ready for the worst.

 

UPDATE: OK, I made a call. I know some of you will think I am making this up but trust me, ask any longtime member including Ricard, I am not. So I called my friend and he didn't have any new info but then he said let me make a call. He just called me back, he IS doing better, he is teaching himself things he has to learn again and there is an improvement of sorts so he can get back to hopefully composing and maybe at some point conducting. That to me is amazing.

 

I will say that hopefully we get the new piece he was supposed to conduct when all this happened right before the recording and it's a piece for YoYo Ma and an expanded orchestra (not full) but like 12 celli, 12 flutes, 12 harps for example. The piece was still recorded without him and it's for a Museum. You know how he loves trees, now think of the biggest trees not on land.....

Thanks so much for the information.

 

Could one of his injuries be femoral neck fracture, a common injury among elderly people that makes them immobile for a long time? 

 

 

18 hours ago, King Mark said:

Hmm did he have a stoke?

He may have gotten a stroke in 2018 in London. He was already doddering in Vienna in 2020. 

[BB-8 4,047]

There is also a more general thread to dicuss (the potential causes of) recent cancellations:

 

 

[BB-8 4,047]

On 02/11/2024 at 1:10 AM, King Mark said:

Hmm did he have a stoke?

The last few months have been eerily silent concerning JW.

Stroke was my first association...

[JTGL 176]

On 8 December 11.00 am, instead of John should have had his second gig with the Wiener Philharmoniker, there will be now an interesting film music concert in the Musikverein. Not with the Wiener Philharmoniker but the Imperial Philharmonic. The concert programme is interesting though:  https://www.musikverein.at/konzert/?id=0006a650

 

 

 

[Thor 8,504]

28 minutes ago, JTGL said:

On 8 December 11.00 am, instead of John should have had his second gig with the Wiener Philharmoniker, there will be now an interesting film music concert in the Musikverein. Not with the Wiener Philharmoniker but the Imperial Philharmonic. The concert programme is interesting though:  https://www.musikverein.at/konzert/?id=0006a650

 

Nothing terribly out of the ordinary in that programme, so I'm not sure how much of a "consolation prize" it is for those who had looked forward to a Williams concert with the man himself. But hey -- as long as film music keeps its banner high in Vienna, that's a good thing, especially now that the Hollywood in Vienna event seems to be on indefinite hold.

[bespinGPT 8,853]

I don't know who is responsible for scheduling so many concert dates for him, often six months in advance. If it's his agent, he isn't being very helpful to his client. John Williams must feel completely devastated when he's forced to cancel performances.

[BB-8 4,047]

1 hour ago, JTGL said:

On 8 December 11.00 am, instead of John should have had his second gig with the Wiener Philharmoniker, there will be now an interesting film music concert in the Musikverein. Not with the Wiener Philharmoniker but the Imperial Philharmonic. The concert programme is interesting though:  https://www.musikverein.at/konzert/?id=0006a650

 

 

 

At least nothing by Zimmer...

[Davis 3,135]

No one can decide his program but Williams. He isn’t thinking about dying, so he schedules his concerts in advance and hopes to attend. But life catches up to him eventually and he can’t do anything about it. Of course he feels bad, who wouldn’t, but it has nothing to do with his agent. 
 

Would I do these concerts if I were his age? Of course not. Is it a responsible thing to do to so many people who make plans, buy tickets, hotel rooms, plane tickets and use up their vacation hoping that he will be there and then he cancels? No. But John is John, and if he wants to book so many concerts in advance hoping he can make it, it’s his decision. Just like it’s our decision to go or not on a 50-50 chance.

 

I myself was done after his 2020 Vienna concerts. No more stress if he can make it or not .

3 hours ago, bespinGPT said:

I don't know who is responsible for scheduling so many concert dates for him, often six months in advance. If it's his agent, he isn't being very helpful to his client. John Williams must feel completely devastated when he's forced to cancel performances.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 10,523]

92 year old man (let that sink in, a minute) cancels concert 8,000 miles from where he lives.

No biggie.

[Manakin Skywalker 5,364]

On 02/11/2024 at 11:09 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

And I'm pretty sure all three of these approvals happened *before* the "health concern".

 

Correct, they are not related.

[Marian Schedenig 9,151]

3 hours ago, Davis said:

Is it a responsible thing to do to so many people who make plans, buy tickets, hotel rooms, plane tickets and use up their vacation hoping that he will be there and then he cancels? No.

 

It's perfectly usual for conductors and soloists to have concerts booked months in advance, even if they are at an advanced age, as long as they're still active. Herbert Blomstedt, who is now 97, has concerts scheduled until at least next May.

[Naïve Old Fart 10,523]

This means that the last UK concert that JW did, is still July 4, 1998.

Smug mode 

[Luke Skywalker 1,968]

Damn, i hadnt read this thread in a while. So he may have suffered one or two strokes (ictus?). I hope he makes a good recovery and he may continue having a good life and at least continues composing if that continues making him happy. One of my granparents had one at about 80 something and he lived about 10 years more and more or less recovered at 90%, unfortunately dementia got him in his later years.

 

😞

 

 

[Miguel Andrade 1,381]

18 hours ago, JTGL said:

On 8 December 11.00 am, instead of John should have had his second gig with the Wiener Philharmoniker, there will be now an interesting film music concert in the Musikverein. Not with the Wiener Philharmoniker but the Imperial Philharmonic. The concert programme is interesting though:  https://www.musikverein.at/konzert/?id=0006a650

 

 

 

Actually, third gig.

18 hours ago, bespinGPT said:

I don't know who is responsible for scheduling so many concert dates for him, often six months in advance. If it's his agent, he isn't being very helpful to his client. John Williams must feel completely devastated when he's forced to cancel performances.

Classical artists schedule is often done years in advance. Why would you think it would be any different with Williams?

[TownerFan 5,257]

1 hour ago, Miguel Andrade said:

Classical artists schedule is often done years in advance. Why would you think it would be any different with Williams?

 

This. Booking is made years in advance as schedules of both artists and venues are sometimes very dificult to get aligned. The first Vienna concert was years in the making before actually happening. Of course dealing with an aging artist can be tricky sometimes exactly for these type of situations, but I guess everything is planned with tutelage of health as one of the main concerns.