Lexi Anderson
News Editor
Jurassic Park, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, are all iconic films that everyone knows and loves, and all have been brought to life by the same extraordinary composer, John Williams.
Williams, winner of five Academy Awards, seventeen Grammys, three Golden Globes, two Emmys, and five BAFTA awards, has been composing music since 1950. He studied at both UCLA and The Juilliard School, and even worked as a jazz pianist for music legend Henry Mancini. He has provided the music for all of Steven Spielberg’s movies, except for two: The Color Purple and Bridge of Spies. Fortunately, Williams and Spielberg will be collaborating once again in Spielberg's adaptation of Roald Dahl’s whimsical story “The BFG,” coming out in 2016.
Recently, Williams returned to the beloved Star Wars universe with the newest addition to the franchise, The Force Awakens, that hit the theaters December 18 in 2015. “I felt a renewed energy, and a vitality, and a freshness that did not estrange any of the characters or material from the texture and fabric of Lucas’ creation — but revivified it,” says Williams, when asked about scoring the new movie. The new score intertwines themes from the previous films with new breathtaking scores, as seen with “Rey’s Theme,” where hints of the piece, “The Force Theme” linger.
William’s scores do a spectacular job at making any movie come to life. The iconic scenes such as E.T. and Elliot flying across the moon or a T-Rex rampaging across Isla Nublar straight towards Ian Malcolm would simply not leave such a lasting impression if they were not accompanied by such excellent music. There’s nothing quite like the twinge of nostalgia we feel when the opening credits of a film roll and all we hear is the soft melodies of a Williams score. At 83 years of age, Williams still effortlessly comes out with score after score, totaling over 100 (and that’s just movie scores). Let’s hope he has many more to come.
