For generations of Los Angeles residents, summer at the Hollywood Bowl meant John Williams on the podium with lightsabers glowing in the crowd as he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic through “Star Wars,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “Indiana Jones.” Now 93 and with his baton all but laid aside, Williams still looms over the Bowl every summer, his music echoing through the amphitheater played by the orchestra he helped make synonymous with Hollywood.
This pledge was formalized.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will announce it will name a stage for Williams, the first time in the Bowl's 103-year history that its stage has been dedicated to an artist.
It's hard to imagine a more suitable choice. Only a few composers left behind a deeper mark in Hollywoodor from the collective imagination of the people who occupy the seats in the Cup. Williams' five Oscars and 54 nominations (second only to Walt Disney himself) span a career that defined cinematic blockbusters. His work with George Lucas on Star Wars created perhaps the most recognizable film theme ever written. More than 29 films and almost half a century of Williams collaboration with Steven Spielberg wrote music for the films “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Schindler’s List.”
The honor was celebrated Sunday morning in a private ceremony at the Bowl attended by Williams, Spielberg, Lucas and Los Angeles Phil music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel. The orchestra's brass ensemble performed the composer's “Music for Brass,” violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and pianist Joan Pierce Martin performed his “Theme from Sabrina,” and speakers recounted Williams' six-decade partnership with the orchestra and the Bowl. A short tribute video chronicles his influence on generations of musicians and audiences around the world.
John Williams conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in 2013.
(Los Angeles Times)
Addressing the crowd at Sunday's event, Dudamel recalled first hearing Williams' music as a boy in Venezuela, going back and forth to watch films like “Star Wars” and “Jurassic Park” just to listen to the music. Years later, he said, when he met Williams at 24, he finally understood the connection between the composer's music and his character: “The generosity I heard in the music was the generosity of this man.”
Speaking on behalf of the Philharmonic, Dudamel said it was an honor to honor the composer who guided and inspired generations of musicians. “Today this wonderful relationship becomes everlasting,” he said. “This is your stage, John, and it has been like this for 46 years.”
Williams first took the Bowl podium in 1978, quickly replacing ailing conductor Arthur Fiedler during a hiatus from production of “Superman.” according to journalist Tim Gravingauthor of a recent biography of Williams. This single performance became a summer tradition that lasted for decades, with sold-out weekend crowds of approximately 18,000 people per night and helping make orchestral film scores a central part of the Bowl's identity.
His summer concerts became civic rituals: family picnics, fans swinging lightsabers to the beat of the Imperial March, and Williams walking out each night to a standing ovation more often reserved for rock stars. In 2023, during one of his last performances, he even playfully sparred on stage with Dudamel in a comic lightsaber duel that brought the audience to their feet.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Spielberg paid tribute to Williams' transformative influence on cinema, saying: “Without John Williams, bicycles don't truly fly, like brooms at Quidditch matches and men in red capes. There's no Force, dinosaurs don't walk the Earth. We don't wonder, we don't cry, we don't believe.”
Charitable support for this dedication came from friends and collaborators, including the Spielberg and Kate Capshaw Hearthland Foundation, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, Seth MacFarlane and the Katie McGrath and JJ Abrams Family Foundation.
At Sunday's ceremony, Williams expressed gratitude for the recognition, which he said was beyond anything he could have imagined when he first took the Bowl stage nearly half a century ago.
“It is unprecedented and unparalleled in its generosity that the Los Angeles Philharmonic family—my family—has made this dedication,” he said. “I want to thank all of the funders of this effort who proudly support and applaud the work of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the world's greatest orchestras. The uniqueness of this honor is certainly unheard of, and I thank you all.”
