John Williams was born in New York (2/8/32) but soon moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1948. There he attended UCLA and studied compositions privately with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. After service in the Air Force, Mr. Williams returned to New York to attend the Juilliard School where he studied piano with Madame Rosina Lhevinne. While in New York he also worked as a jazz pianist in both clubs and on recordings. Again Mr. Williams moved to Los Angeles where he began his career in the film studios working with such composers as Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, and Franz Waxman. He went on to write music for many television programs in the 1960s, winning two Emmys for his work. In January 1980, John Williams was named nineteenth conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra since its founding in 1885. Mr. Williams assumed the title of Boston Pops Laureate Conductor following his retirement in December 1993. 

    John Williams has composed the music and served as music director for more than seventy-five films including The Lost World, Rosewood, Sleepers, Sabrina, Nixon, Schindler's List, Cowboys, Cinderella Liberty, Jurassic Park, Home Alone 2, Far and Away, JFK, Hook, Home Alone, Presumed Innocent, Always, Born on the Fourth of July, Stanley and Iris, Guide For The Married Man, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Accidental Tourist, Empire of the Sun, Jane Eyre, The Witches of Eastwick, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Return of the Jedi, E.T. , Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, Jaws and Goodbye, Mr. Chips. He has received a lot of Academy Award nominations and has been awarded five Oscars(1971, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1993), and seventeen Grammies as well as several gold and platinum records. Mr. Williams' most recent Oscar was for Best Original Score for Schindler's List. Most recently he received Academy Award nominations for his scores for Sydney Pollack's remake of Sabrina, Oliver Stone's Nixon, Barry Levinson's Sleepers and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.

    In addition to his film music, Mr. Williams has written many concert pieces including two symphonies, a bassoon concerto premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1995, a cello concerto premiered by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1994, concertos for flute and violin recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, and concertos for clarinet and tuba. His most recent work, a trumpet concerto, was premiered by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in 1996. In addition, Mr. Williams has composed the well-known NBC News Theme "The Mission", "Liberty Fanfare," composed for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, "We're Lookin' Good!" composed for the Special Olympics in celebration of the 1987 International Summer Games, and the themes for the 1984, 1988, and 1996 Summer Olympic Games (Summon The Heroes).