Masur Presents John Williams

JOHN WILLIAMS is the preeminent composer of the modern Western world, creating a soundscape to our culture with scores for Star Wars, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and Harry Potter. He's also a longtime mentor and friend of Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra conductor Ken-David Masur. Williams. Now, Masur will present “The Movie Music of John Williams” at a series of MSO concerts in May.

Masur grew up in East Germany, in Leipzig, where American cultural output was scarce. Around the time of reunification (1989-91), his sister invited him to a West Berlin theater where he saw E.T. years after its release, his first exposure to a Williams-Steven Spielberg collaboration. “That to me is still the most moving experience,” he recalls.

Masur met Williams when he bumped into him on the stairs of the allegedly haunted Highwood Manor House, on the grounds of Boston University's music training Tanglewood Institute. Williams was conductor of the Boston Pops. “He was so kind and he asked, ‘Oh, you're a young composer here. What are you writing right now?' The fact that he had this interest in what I was doing – and of course I thought:

What I'm doing is not so important, but what are you writing, John Williams?”

Masur went on to become associate conductor for the Boston Symphony, leading to a stronger bond with Williams. When MSO's Bradley Symphony Center opened in 2021, Masur wanted Williams to be involved in the hall's first season. COVID squashed that, so he appeared at the inaugural concert by video. “His being part of that and sending us a message was very special to us,” says Masur.

May 3-5 at the Bradley Symphony Center, mso.org