Downey Symphony to celebrate music of film composer John Williams
Via John Williams’ Facebook
DOWNEY – The music of John Williams is the perfect choice for the Downey Symphony Orchestra’s Pops in the Park Concert July 27.
“It’s Williams’s 90th birthday,” said Downey Symphonic Society’s Music Director Sharon Lavery, “and this is to honor his works.” Sharon has been a colleague of Williams at USC’s Thornton School of Music where she teaches and has prepared the orchestra when Williams comes to conduct.
Hearing just two notes, duunnn dunnn, everyone can identify the chilling motif that Williams composed for the movie “Jaws.” Williams described the theme, performed on the tuba, as “grinding away at you, just as a shark would do, instinctual, relentless, unstoppable.” Think of that while you sit on the grass at the concert and enjoy the hot dogs and delectable desserts sold by the Downey Rose Float Association.
Unsurprisingly, Williams is the most Oscar-nominated person alive today.
Williams has been nominated for 51 Academy Awards, six Emmys, 25 Golden Globes, 67 Grammys and 15 Baftas. He received his first Oscar nomination in 1967 for his “Valley of the Dolls” score, and his first win in 1971 for “Fiddler on the Roof.” From “Harry Potter” to “Star Wars,” Williams has created some of the most iconic film scores of all time.
Williams is known especially for his lush symphonic style, which helped bring symphonic film scores back into vogue after synthesizers had started to become the norm. A real symphonic orchestra brings to a concert the String Section, the violins, cellos and bass fiddles, and that adds another dimension to the evening’s experience.
The park concert is part of the DSS’s outreach program for the Downey community. Unlike the other musical groups that the City pays to play in Furman Park, the DSS itself pays the musicians, with the help of grants from the City of Downey and the Kiwanis Foundation. A summer concert for an orchestra modified for the Furman Park mobile stage costs about $17,000 to produce, said DSS President Anthony Crespo, and is offered free every year.
In addition to celebrating Williams, as always the Downey Symphony Orchestra will perform patriotic songs like the “Salute to the Services,” a medley of Armed Services anthems. That gets many standing in tribute to their own service or that of a family member, both men and women. The audience is always moved to applaud these veterans, and remember those who used to join in and now are gone.
The traditional finale to the orchestra’s concert is the invitation to all the children in the audience to come up and have their 30 seconds of fame conducting the orchestra in a rousing Souza March. Because of Covid considerations, the youngsters will get to use their arms instead of a baton, a tradition made famous by conductors like Leopold Stokowski and once in a while Leonard Bernstein. Bring your camera to catch them in action.
“In my music,” Williams has said, “there is always something to interest the ear.” There are so many works for Sharon to choose from, from “Jurassic Park” and “Schindler’s List” to “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” In 2017, Williams even scored the animated short film “Dear Basketball,” based on a poem by Kobe Bryant.
It’s Williams’s 90th birthday this year and no finale in sight. Come to Furman Park on July 27 at 7 pm and join the celebration.