LA Philharmonic Opening Night Gala Honors John Williams’ 90th Birthday – The Hollywood Reporter

“That was sick,” exclaimed a guest in his twenties as the Los Angeles Philharmonic gave its electrifying opening night performance of the composer’s 90th birthday gala. John Williams on Tuesday, September 27. The LA Phil, led by Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamelhad just surprised those in attendance by playing Williams’ famous Star Wars :Main Theme” track as an encore. It capped off an evening that also featured selections from his memorable scores for ET the alien, Schindler’s List (played by acclaimed violinist and guest artist Anne-Sophie Mutter), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusadeplus ‘Princess Leia’s theme’.

Williams, who turned 90 in February, took the stage himself to conduct Mutter and the LA Phi with his original Violin Concerto No. 2, a piece written especially for the violinist.

“This music is for eternity,” said Dudamel in welcoming remarks at the beginning of the gala concert, which marks the beginning of the LA Philharmonic season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Noting that he places the composer right in the musical pantheon with “Mahler, Strauss, Mozart and Bach,” Dudamel said of Williams’s music, “It transcends.”

The opening event in downtown Los Angeles raised more than $3.5 million in support of the LA Philharmonic’s music learning programs benefiting youth in Los Angeles. The crowd of 650 guests included actor Christoph Waltz, Herbie Hancock (the LA Phil’s creative chair for jazz), composer Kris Bowers (Bridgerton, Dear white people), Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg and Frank Gehry, the designer of Walt Disney Concert Hall.

After the concert – which also included Williams’ composition “Just Down West Street” – guests enjoyed a dinner created by Chef José Andrés, seated outside on a section of Grand Avenue that had been closed for the night. Speaking to the meeting, Chad Smith, the CEO of the LA Phil, noted that Williams had first conducted the orchestra in 1978: “You stepped in for a sick Arthur Fiedler…and you’ve had this orchestra almost every year since. You conducted this orchestra 122 times. You conducted for an audience of 2.2 million live people.” Taking into account that night’s performance, he added that the LA Philharmonic audience heard the end credits of: Star Wars played 130 times so far.

And Dudamel added that the music always feels fresh. “Again, I think I can fly,” he said of the feeling he gets when he listens to Williams’ compositions.

After dinner, the guests went to an after-party for desserts and dancing in the new Conrad Los Angeles hotel, designed by Gehry and with a food and drink program supervised by Andrés.

Scroll on for more photos from the evening: