John Towner Williams
Biographie John Towner Williams
John Williams
He was born in Melbourne Australia in 1941 and he still performs although if you take a look at his website (which is a bit outdated) the latest performance dates are for 2008. So, I am not exactly sure if he is actually still performing.
His first official public performance was at Conway Hall in London in 1955 and his official debut was at london's Wigmore Hall in 1958. He studied under Andres Segovia from 1957 to 1959. He also attended the Royal College of Music in London but studied Piano because they didn't have a guitar department. They later offered him the opportunity to create a guitar department at the College and he did just that - running it for the first two years.
Some Interesting things about John: He has toured the world from Europe, Japan, Asia, United States and just about everywhere and his discography is enormous - well over 100 CD's. And something that is lesser known about him is that he isn't just a traditional classical guitarist even though this is where he has made his mark. He has performed in a wide variety of styles and even had his own rock fusion band called Sky. And he has collaborated in a very diverse range of areas such as working with The Who's Pete Townshend ona a version of Won't Get Fooled Again,, and he also had a group called "John Williams and friends who performed adaptations of African music. This can be heard in the CD "The Magic Box" which is difficult to get.
He has also performed for film and his most popular work is probably the Cavatina for the Deer Hunter which was composed by Stanley Myers. This song was a worldwide hit.
