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John Williams
A true legend and arguably the greatest guitarist in the world
gives his first ever performance in Portland!
Friday, October 22nd, 2010 at 8 PM
Concert Venue: Rolling Hills Community Church
Press release
www.johnwilliamsguitar.com
On Youtube
Born in Melbourne, Australia, John Williams can be regarded as a foremost ambassador of the
guitar. He was taught by his father and later attended summer courses with Segovia at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and the Royal College of Music in London.
By the early 1960's he had performed in London, Paris, Madrid, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.; he has since toured the world playing both solo and with orchestra, and
regularly on radio and television.
Amongst his collaborations with other musicians, those with Julian Bream, Itzhak Perlman, Andre Previn, Cleo Laine and John
Dankworth, and Daniel Barenboim are particularly important. His other musical activities have included the groups SKY, John Williams and Friends, Attacca, collaborations with
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra with Paul Hart, Paco Peņa, the Chilean group Inti-Illimani, and various collaborations with Richard Harvey.
John Williams maintains a
wide-ranging interest in contemporary music. Examples have included his recording of music by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu with the London Sinfonietta, an album
featuring the music of Peter Sculthorpe and Nigel Westlake called "From Australia" and his CD of music by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, called "The Black
Decameron", which includes Brouwer's Fourth Concerto. His many other recordings include several of Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”, concertos by
Richard Harvey and Steve Gray, “Vivaldi Concertos”, “The Great Paraguayan”, “John Williams plays the Movies”, “The Guitarist”
(which includes his own “Aeolian Suite” with string orchestra) the “Arpeggione” sonata by Schubert, and “Concerto, Op. 30” by Giuliani with
the Australian Chamber Orchestra, in which he plays an 1814 Guadagnini guitar. The highly successful “Profile” and “The Seville Concert”, both directed
by David Thomas for London Weekend Television’s South Bank Show, are particular examples of John Williams’ enthusiasm for communicating music on television.
In 2001 Sony Classical released his CD entitled “The Magic Box” in which his group “John Williams and Friends” presented adaptations of African
music. This includes music from Senegal, Cameroon, Zaire, South Africa, Madagascar and Cape Verde. The group toured the U.K., United States, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia,
Germany, Spain, and Italy. Other recent releases by Sony Classical include his solo CD entitled “El Diablo Suelto”, a collection of Venezuelan music by composers
including Figueredo, Sojo, Lauro, Fernandez and Gutierrez; “The Ultimate Guitar Collection” and duo CD “Places Between” with jazz guitarist John
Etheridge, recorded live in Dublin. John Williams’ most recent release is a solo CD “From a Bird”, of his own pieces.
John Williams’ duo with
Richard Harvey has seen them travel throughout the U.K., Europe, and the Far East with their “World Tour” program. His “Together & Solo” program
with John Etheridge includes solo sets from each of them and together, with original compositions from both artists as well as music from Africa and the U.S. guitarist and
composer Benjamin Verdery. During the 2008-09 season, this duo tours the UK and Europe and John Williams gives solo recitals in the U.K. and U.S.
In 2007 he was
presented with an Edison Lifetime achievement award.
John Williams plays often for films, such as "The Deerhunter" (Cavatina) and "A Fish Called
Wanda", and also plays tennis (badly), badminton (average), chess (quite good), table tennis (better) and likes talking (about anything). He lives in London.
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