{"id":62956,"date":"2025-11-05T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/?post_type=lecture&#038;p=62956"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:41:16","slug":"john-williams","status":"publish","type":"lecture","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"John Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"wp-block-umw-hero alignfull umw-custom-block umw-hero umw-hero--dark-text umw-hero--white umw-hero--with-no-media\"><div class=\"umw-hero__inner\"><div class=\"umw-hero__media\"><\/div><div class=\"umw-hero__title\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"umw-hero__title__wrapper\"><div class=\"umw-hero__eyebrow\">great lives lecture series<\/div><h1 class=\"umw-hero__title__header\">John Williams<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-umw-hero-ctas alignfull\"><div class=\"umw-hero__links\"><div class=\"container\"><div class=\"umw-hero__links__wrapper\">\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-vivid-red-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-3cffe0fac67cf0543317e701da597b7c\"><strong>Weather Update:<\/strong>\u00a0Due to inclement weather, the Great Lives lecture on\u00a0<strong>John Williams<\/strong>, presented by Tim Greiving and originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, has been\u00a0<strong>rescheduled for Tuesday, March 31<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-lecture-date-march-31-2026\">Lecture Date: March 31, 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-john-and-linda-coker-lecture\">The John and Linda Coker Lecture<\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-62951\" style=\"width:276px;height:auto\" title=\"\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png 678w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams-199x300.png 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>John Williams is one of the most important film composers of all time, having almost singlehandedly revived the Hollywood symphonic scoring tradition and helped restore the livelihood of American orchestras through the popularity of film music programming. Williams wrote the memorable scores and hummable themes for a staggering number of popular touchstones across multiple generations\u2014among them&nbsp;<em>Star Wars<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Indiana Jones<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Jaws<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>E.T.<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Jurassic Park<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>, and&nbsp;<em>Harry Potter<\/em>\u2014and earned more Oscar nominations than any individual artist in the history of the Motion Picture Academy. In&nbsp;<em>John Williams: A Composer\u2019s Life<\/em>, the first biography of the composer, author Tim Greiving offers an engaging account of a man whose body of work is well-known but whose personal life has consistently remained very private. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-speaker-tim-greiving\">Speaker: Tim Greiving<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-63016\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim.png 400w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim-300x300.png 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim-150x150.png 150w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim-50x50.png 50w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/08\/greiving-tim-75x75.png 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Tim Greiving is the author of&nbsp;<em>John Williams: A Composer\u2019s Life&nbsp;<\/em>(Oxford University Press). He is an arts journalist and historian in Los Angeles who specializes in film music; he regularly writes for the&nbsp;<em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>, and has contributed to NPR, the&nbsp;<em>Washington Post<\/em>, the&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>, Criterion, and many other outlets. He has written program notes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Albert Hall, and liner notes for more than a hundred soundtrack albums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"season":[1263],"class_list":{"0":"post-62956","1":"lecture","2":"type-lecture","3":"status-publish","5":"season-1263","6":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>John Williams - Great Lives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Williams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Weather Update:\u00a0Due to inclement weather, the Great Lives lecture on\u00a0John Williams, presented by Tim Greiving and originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, has been\u00a0rescheduled for Tuesday, March 31. Lecture Date: March 31, 2026 The John and Linda Coker Lecture John Williams is one of the most important film composers of all time, having almost singlehandedly [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Great Lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T20:41:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"678\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/\",\"name\":\"John Williams - Great Lives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/8\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Williams.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T00:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-01T20:41:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/8\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Williams.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/8\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/Williams.png\",\"width\":678,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/john-williams\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lectures\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/lecture\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"John Williams\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/\",\"name\":\"Great Lives\",\"description\":\"University of Mary Washington\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatlives\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Williams - Great Lives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Williams","og_description":"Weather Update:\u00a0Due to inclement weather, the Great Lives lecture on\u00a0John Williams, presented by Tim Greiving and originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 27, has been\u00a0rescheduled for Tuesday, March 31. Lecture Date: March 31, 2026 The John and Linda Coker Lecture John Williams is one of the most important film composers of all time, having almost singlehandedly [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/","og_site_name":"Great Lives","article_modified_time":"2026-04-01T20:41:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":678,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/","name":"John Williams - Great Lives","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png","datePublished":"2025-11-06T00:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T20:41:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/11\/Williams.png","width":678,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/john-williams\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lectures","item":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/lecture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"John Williams"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/","name":"Great Lives","description":"University of Mary Washington","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lecture\/62956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lecture"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lecture"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/season?post=62956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}