John Williams Inevitable Themes

"For more than 50 years, John Williams' music has taken us to galaxies far, far away, through adventures here on earth, made us feel giddy joy and occasionally scared us to death."

"He might be the most recognized contemporary composer in the world, but Williams says writing music wasn't what he first set out to do. He wanted to be a concert pianist, and studied at Juilliard with renowned teacher Rosina Lhévinne."

"I played pretty well," Williams says. "I did hear players like John Browning and Van Cliburnaround the place, who were also students of Rosina's, and I thought to myself, 'If that's the competition, I think I'd better be a composer!'"

"Williams moved to Los Angeles, where he became a popular session musician, playing piano on movie and television soundtracks. He began getting jobs arranging music and then composing it. He worked at Universal Studios, writing TV scores."