Williams in attendance for Trumpet Concerto performance at Disney Hall (March 13-15 2026)

[benoitjean 106]

Qui est allé voir le concerto pour trompette hier soir ?
John Williams a assisté à ce concert.

JB

[BachSkywalker 210]

So great that he was able to attend!

[Jay 45,826]

Event details:

 

https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/3723/2026-03-13/john-williams-rachmaninoff

 

Picture:

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWUNPKnlHFW/

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EEikmyizX/

[JohnnyD 1,823]

19 minutes ago, Jay said:

Williams was in attendance for a performance of the Trumpet Concerto last week in LA!

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWUNPKnlHFW/

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EEikmyizX/

 

That's terrific!

[BB-8 6,118]

It looks photo-shopped ;-)

[Steve 700]

That picture was already posted 3 weeks ago. I wondered why nobody paid attention then.

[Jay 45,826]

You could have been the one to post it here when you saw it...

[Ricard 2,540]

It was first mentioned here:

 

[Jay 45,826]

No wonder I missed it, this is what I see there

 

 

[Ricard 2,540]

I found it today after Steve said it was posted 3 weeks ago.

[benoitjean 106]

I searched for information on the topic of the trumpet concerto.
 That's why.

JB

[Ricard 2,540]

What's the source of that photo?

[benoitjean 106]

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1486527600147294&set=pcb.1486527630147291&locale=fr_FR 

 

page facebook thomas hooten 

[Marian Schedenig 11,609]

14 hours ago, BB-8 said:

It looks photo-shopped ;-)

 

it looks like a Renaissance painting.

[Xander Harris 9,568]

JW looks not great, unfortunately. Like Spielberg and Lucas, he’s been in his Grandfather phase for decades. We’ve all seen it. They just basically look the same for years and years in our lifetimes. Then, suddenly, they deteriorate. It’s tough to see or say, frankly. This is a great man. But he’s clearly nearing the end. I wish him the best.

[Tom 6,677]

57 minutes ago, Xander Harris said:

JW looks not great, unfortunately. Like Spielberg and Lucas, he’s been in his Grandfather phase for decades. We’ve all seen it. They just basically look the same for years and years in our lifetimes. Then, suddenly, they deteriorate. It’s tough to see or say, frankly. This is a great man. But he’s clearly nearing the end. I wish him the best.

He has looked like this for over the last year in terms of photographs.  Quite frankly, he looks more lively now than in some from a year ago.  He's old but looks just fine. 

[JohnnyD 1,823]

.

On 2/4/2026 at 7:31 PM, Xander Harris said:

JW looks not great, unfortunately. Like Spielberg and Lucas, he’s been in his Grandfather phase for decades. We’ve all seen it. They just basically look the same for years and years in our lifetimes. Then, suddenly, they deteriorate. It’s tough to see or say, frankly. This is a great man. But he’s clearly nearing the end. I wish him the best.

 

 

On 2/4/2026 at 8:29 PM, Tom said:

He has looked like this for over the last year in terms of photographs.  Quite frankly, he looks more lively now than in some from a year ago.  He's old but looks just fine. 

 

 

[Jill Sandwich 11,045]

You guys are all in denial. He has that same look of imminent death about him that I always used to see on oldies at the nursing home my parents worked at as aged care RNs.

[Xander Harris 9,568]

When Disney put out that fluffy JW doc, there was this weird mishmash of older JW interview footage and clearly more recent off-putting depressing footage where he’d rapidly deteriorated. For those of us who are longtime fans and realistic human beings, it was shocking, really. The kind of thing that would be kept under wraps, but there it was out in the open as if he’d already departed.

[Tom 6,677]

Of course he is going to die in the next couple of years, but it has been almost two years that members have declared him on his deathbed, and in that time he continues to be active, composing concert pieces, a freaking film, and attending all sorts of events, some including flying across the country.  What more do you want?  

[JohnnyD 1,823]

Exactly! I honestly cannot take people who have vile and negative outlooks seriously. Someone shares something positive, and then someone else attempts to put a negative spin on it. Why? Rapidly deteriorating? Are you serious? 

[Rachael Foley 10,031]

This thread is rapidly deteriorating now.

[rpvee 1,086]

No one here can truly know what’s going on beyond their own speculation, and rumors of a couple strokes a couple years ago. The only clear facts are:

 

Good:

 

-He can still compose new works, including an entire Spielberg film score, and reportedly has been conducting at least some of that score as well.

 

-He can still fly across the entire continent for appearances, even to just be somewhere for a day or two.

 

-He still seems very mentally alert, sharp, and aware when interacting with people.

 

-While people note he’s looking older these days - which is undeniably true - we were all also only just getting used to his lack of glasses not long before the strokes, and I genuinely wonder if he’d look more like “himself” to us if he was wearing glasses in any photos of him from the last year or two.

 

The Not So Good:

 

-He’s now largely wheelchair bound, but can still be energetic (including turning to look around, scooting himself back, doing big gestures). I believe we’ve had a couple reports of him briefly standing as well. But alas, yes, he’s very dependent on a wheelchair now.

 

-He appears to wear some kind of bib when eating, and has some kind of medical monitoring equipment in his home.

 

-He hasn’t conducted publicly in over two years, or even spoken publicly outside of short videos and statements.

 

-As mentioned, yes, he generally looks older.

 

 

Clearly there’s been “deterioration”, for lack of a better and kinder word, but I certainly don’t think he’s on death’s door like some doomsayers here are trying to say. He’s still doing more in life than some people 5-10 years younger than him are able to do.

[Chen G. 6,064]

13 hours ago, Tom said:

Quite frankly, he looks more lively now than in some from a year ago.

 

That was my impression as well.

[mrbellamy 8,078]

6 hours ago, rpvee said:

I certainly don’t think he’s on death’s door like some doomsayers here are trying to say.

 

Back when Force Awakens was coming out, it wasn't an unrealistic concern that he wouldn't live to score the next two films, and those were 2-4 years away when he was 83. The good news is we're a decade past that, and the bad news is we're a decade past that. 

 

Mortality is part of being a fan of an elderly person. It's also part of having a friend or family relationship with someone at that age. And part of being alive in the first place. 

 

As someone here once wisely pointed out, there's an average life expectancy for every age, and Williams is now in a zone where it's always gonna be under 3 years, even if he lives another 10 years. 10 years younger, he would have been expected to live 5-6 more years. I myself am expected to live until 76, and I won't be expected to live to 80 until I'm in my early 60s, if I make it that far. So nothing really makes sense. It's annoying to pre-mourn or pre-celebrate his 100th birthday. 

[Once 1,081]

14 hours ago, Xander Harris said:

When Disney put out that fluffy JW doc, there was this weird mishmash of older JW interview footage and clearly more recent off-putting depressing footage where he’d rapidly deteriorated. For those of us who are longtime fans and realistic human beings, it was shocking, really. The kind of thing that would be kept under wraps, but there it was out in the open as if he’d already departed.

To me it sounds like you had very unrealistic expectations of how footage of a 91 year old man should look.

[Marian Schedenig 11,609]

Here's Kirk Douglas at 100:

(Source)

 

He had suffered a severe stroke at age 79 and lived to be 103.

[mrbellamy 8,078]

I wasn't old enough to be aware of Kirk Douglas until after his stroke and I always loved when he'd show up at an awards show or something, he was great and his personality shined through. That was like a whole new era for him as a celeb even though he pretty much stopped acting (but not entirely until 2008.)

 

[Mr. Hooper 8,671]

There go the provocateurs, again. And people taking the bait, again.

[Arnaud2 84]

These discussions about JW’s life expectancy are pointless and there’s nothing shocking about the way he looks. No one knows how old he’ll live just like no one knows how long they’ll live. Why speculate? Enjoy each new day for the gift it is. The fact is that plenty of people a lot younger than the Maestro will die before him - perhaps even members of these boards - just like plenty already have.

[Mr. Hooper 8,671]

43 minutes ago, Arnaud2 said:

The fact is that plenty of people a lot younger than the Maestro will die before him - perhaps even members of these boards - just like plenty already have.

Now there's a consolation.

[Xander Harris 9,568]

That’s just complete cynicism and frankly sinister. I understand people being protective of JW and I’d love for him to live on and on, but he’s very old and many of us have seen this time and time again. I don’t know how old you guys (there are no females here) are, but anyone who’s had a Father, Grandfather or Figure in their lives long enough has seen the deterioration toward the end, and it isn’t pleasant. 

[Tom 6,677]

10 hours ago, Xander Harris said:

but anyone who’s had a Father, Grandfather or Figure in their lives long enough has seen the deterioration toward the end, and it isn’t pleasant. 

So, with as much sincerity as I can muster, if this is your view, why draw attention to Williams's frailty at all?  Can't a picture just go without a comment on how bad he looks?  Sometimes the unpleasant aspects of life are readily apparent and don't need anyone being captain obvious concerning the decline.  My grandparents did look rough at in their later years.  I never felt the need to announce that to people who could clearly see the decline.  

[Xander Harris 9,568]

I will remain silent. Neither I, nor my wife Lara, will leave Kryptin.

[Remco 709]

In any case, he looks a lot better than last summer in Tanglewood (I saw him come on the stage just a few meters from me).

[Chen G. 6,064]

Yeah, he looks better than other recent appearances, not worse.

[Richard P 5,247]

On 03/04/2026 at 3:59 AM, JohnnyD said:

Exactly! I honestly cannot take people who have vile and negative outlooks seriously. Someone shares something positive, and then someone else attempts to put a negative spin on it. Why? Rapidly deteriorating? Are you serious? 

 

There's positive overload as well as negative.

 

DD has created a perfect storm of epic secrecy around a project, and a composer most of us fully expected to be enjoying a well-earned retirement. I look forward to hearing his score, but I'm not sure how much it really helps to be endlessly repeating the minor tidbits we are getting, such as 'an original, substantial score'. I don't think we've learnt anything new about his score in months, and I think most people would just accept that vacuum, wish JW the best of health, and talk about other stuff for a bit.

[Ricard 2,540]

2 hours ago, Richard P said:

I'm not sure how much it really helps to be endlessly repeating the minor tidbits we are getting, such as 'an original, substantial score'.

 

Well, that's been the core of this site since day one...

[Luke Skywalker 2,364]

11 hours ago, Tom said:

So, with as much sincerity as I can muster, if this is your view, why draw attention to Williams's frailty at all?  Can't a picture just go without a comment on how bad he looks? 

Problem is, maybe, there are always comments on how good he looks…

[Mr. Hooper 8,671]

Alright. Henceforth, if anyone wants to comment about how "good" John Williams looks, make sure to add "all things considered" so not to stir any more controversy. 

[Tom 6,677]

1 hour ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Problem is, maybe, there are always comments on how good he looks…

Why is that a problem?  Compliments are the norm in relation to anyone you love and/or respect.  

[Luke Skywalker 2,364]

I find obviously false or wrong compliments to be offensive.. or sarcastic-mocking.

 

[Rachael Foley 10,031]

2 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

I find obviously false or wrong compliments to be offensive.. or sarcastic-mocking.

 

You are a skilled metalworker.

[Jay 45,826]

[Luke Skywalker 2,364]

19 hours ago, Rachael Foley said:

You are a skilled metalworker.

How wude!

[Mr. Hooper 8,671]

Anyway, I feel that all the comments about Williams' appearance and everything that might indicate—whether stated tactfully or not—is just everyone's way of dealing with the situation.

 

We all have different coping strategies, and they won't always mesh.

[MSM 194]

36 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Anyway, I feel that all the comments about Williams' appearance and everything that might indicate—whether stated tactfully or not—is just everyone's way of dealing with the situation.

 

We all have different coping strategies, and they won't always mesh.

Hail this. Let’s not let speculation about his health dominate every other thread. Let’s celebrate the fact he is still with us and even amongst us!

[BB-8 6,118]

On 02/04/2026 at 10:43 AM, BB-8 said:

It looks photo-shopped ;-)

 

On 03/04/2026 at 1:16 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

 

it looks like a Renaissance painting.

[Tom 6,677]

20 hours ago, MSM said:

Hail this. Let’s not let speculation about his health dominate every other thread. Let’s celebrate the fact he is still with us and even amongst us!

Maybe we can centralize into a subforum with three threads:

One: Williams has never looked better. He will live forever. 

Two: Williams looks his age, oh well.  

Three: Williams looks like a decaying corpse, even my mom says so.