When we say John Williams, we may be mentioning a number of people with that name. It’s almost like saying “Juan Rodríguez” in Spanish.
When we talk about John Williams and music, the number of possibilities decreases but the value increases. The John Williamses I know are great people when it comes to music, and music of different kinds and origins.
We will talk about two of whom the reader will undoubtedly know something about their works, their performances, their respective fame in the fields of music, cinematography and musical career.
JOHN TOWNER WILLIAMS – Simply known as John Williams, born in New York in 1932, he is a composer, conductor, pianist and trombonist.
As a composer for film and television, he is known as the author of the music for the films Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jaws, Catch Me If You Can and ET, among others., the Extra-Terrestrial, Superman, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, The Burning Colossus, The Poseidon Adventure and Home Alone. He composed the music for almost all of Steven Spielberg’s films, various Olympic Games, television series and classical music concerts, which he also wrote.
His music has received the following awards:
Oscar: 5 awards and 53 nominations.
Golden Globe: 4 awards
Bafta: 7 awards
Grammy: 23 awards.
Princess of Asturias: excellent.
Great Britain: Knight Commander of the British Empire.
The Star Wars soundtrack was voted the greatest musical work in American cinema in 2005.
He is also known as the chief conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. This orchestra, which was directed for many years by another great, Arthur Fiedler, who used it to popularize classical music and gave free open-air concerts on the promenades of the city of Boston, was appointed director by John Williams after Fiedler’s death, which continues the same line of popularizing classical music. In addition to this are performances with the choir and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He regularly conducts concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
JOHN CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS – Also known as John Williams, born in 1941 in Melbourne, Australia, is a classical guitarist, composer and teacher.
Photo: Wikipedia – Public Domain
The great maestro Andrés Segovia – one of his teachers – described him as the “Prince of the Guitar”.
His repertoire is not only classical, but he has also recorded many different styles of music. He has played music for films, some classical jazz pieces, also from the repertoire of the group The Who, and folklore of the group Inti-Illimani, as well as Greek and Paraguayan folklore.
He has received the following awards: Grammy, Brit Award, Officer of the Order of the British Empire and Officer of the Order of Australia.
Both John Williams continue to delight our ears as we listen to recordings of one as director and the other as director and guitar soloist, and both are putting their age aside to continue performing in person and composing more music.
Mauricio Aliskevicius
