John Williams was a pupil in California of Castelnuovo-Tedesco and a piano pupil of Rosa Lhévinne at the Juilliard School in New York. He then became a studio pianist in Hollywood, where he worked with leading film composers Herrmann, Newman and Waxman. He himself has won an outstanding reputation as a composer of film music, and has also written works for the concert hall.

Film Music
Williams has written successful scores for a large number of films, including episodes of Star Wars and the Harry Potter films. Other films include Robson’s 1974 Earthquake, Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), E.T. (1982), Schindler’s List (1993) and War of the Worlds (2005), and Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of a Geisha (2005).