John Williams to Conduct Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Celebration of Steven Spielberg, 6/4

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) today announced that five-time Academy Award-winning composer John Williams will conduct the BSO in a special benefit concert on Tuesday, June 4 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, appearing at the personal invitation of BSO Music Director Marin Alsop. Williams, celebrating 40 years of collaborating with legendary director Steven Spielberg, will conduct the BSO in selections from some of his most popular film scores. Furthermore, Williams is donating his services for this important fundraising concert for the BSO musicians' pension fund.

This one-night-only program will showcase a variety of Williams' movie scores, including music from Star Wars, Schindler's List, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and the Indiana Jones and Harry Potter films among others. Selected clips will be projected above the Orchestra during portions of the performance.

In a career spanning five decades, John Williams has become one of America's most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage, and he remains one of our nation's most distinguished and contributive musical voices. He has composed the music and served as music director for more than 100 films, including all six Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, Superman, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Memoirs of a Geisha, Far and Away, The Accidental Tourist, and Home Alone. His 40-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood's most acclaimed and successful films, including Schindler's List, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones films, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse and Lincoln. His contributions to television music include scores for more than 200 television films for the groundbreaking, early anthology series Alcoa Theatre, Kraft Television Theatre, Chrysler Theatre and Playhouse 90, as well as themes for NBC Nightly News ("The Mission"), NBC's Meet the Press, and the PBS arts showcase Great Performances. He also composed themes for the 1984, 1988 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He has received five Academy Awards and 48 Oscar nominations, making him the Academy's most-nominated living person and the second-most nominated person in the history of the Oscars. He has received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), 21 Grammys, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and numerous gold and platinum records. In 2003, he received the Olympic Order (the IOC's highest honor) for his contributions to the Olympic movement. He received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor in December 2004. In 2009, Mr. Williams was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and he received the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the U.S. Government.

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