John Williams to Bring Premiere to SFS

As might be guessed, the Wikipedia page for the List of compositions by John Williams is a long one, dominated heavily by film scores, the earliest of which was composed for a film promoting Newfoundland tourism in 1954. The most recent will be for the latest Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is currently in post-production for release next year. Nevertheless, the list also includes a generous number of concert works, many of which were written for celebratory occasions; and Williams has been composing concertos since 1969, the earliest being a flute concerto given its first performance in 1981 by Peter Lloyd performing with Leonard Slatkin conducting the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Williams’ most recent concerto is his second violin concerto, which was given its world premiere on July 24, 2021 at Tanglewood with Williams conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The soloist was Anne-Sophie Mutter. Next year Williams will offer this concerto as a Valentine’s Day present to San Francisco. He will again lead Mutter in a performance with the San Francisco Symphony. The remainder of the program will then be devoted to selections from his film scores.

Anne-Sophie Mutter and John Williams with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood at the performance of Williams’ second violin concerto (from the Deutsche Grammophon album cover)

Because this concert will be given only one performance in Davies Symphony Hall, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 14, it should come as no surprise that this is a sold-out event. Nevertheless, it is likely that the Box Office will account for any tickets that are returned prior to the performance, making them available for purchase. As a result, those interested in such tickets should consider calling the Box Office at 415-864-6000 to find out how this situation is being handled. Alternatively, they may wish to consult the Amazon.com Web page for the Deutsche Grammophon recording made at the same time as the Tanglewood debut.