A love of John Williams' music is a great thing to have in common with other people. It can link you to fans of anything from Star Wars to Home Alone. The fandom gets even more intense if you talk to people in a certain area who remember seeing John at the head of the Boston Pops from 1980-1993. Now, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced its new schedule, and Williams will be bringing a long-rumored piece of music to the world in 2025.
What do we know about John Williams' piano concerto?
This article has been three months in the making, and it's a delight to finally discuss the topic.
I live a few miles from Symphony Hall in Boston, and just two months after the release of the documentary Music by John Williams on Disney+, I happened to overhear a Boston Symphony Orchestra staff member say that he was working on the 2025-2026 season announcement that would include John Williams' piano concerto.
This pricked my ears since I remembered the 2022 article from Symphony that said article mentioned that Willaims "is devoting himself to composing concert music including a piano concerto." He also said that "Turning 90...has... 'given me the ability to breathe, the ability to live and understand that there's more to corporal life.'" It was fantastic to hear that this was nearing completion and somewhat painful to wait for confirmation from January to April.
Per the April 10, 2025, press release, "To celebrate one of America's greatest and most expansive composers, Nelsons leads an all-John Williams program... with pianist Emanuel Ax performing the Boston premiere of Williams' Piano Concerto, which is scheduled for its world premiere at Tanglewood on July 25." This mention of the Tanglewood Music Festival recalls to mind how Williams debuted "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter series in that same location. Tanglewood is a long drive for most people in Massachusetts, but always worth the trip during the summer season.
For those who can't get tickets to Tanglewood, the January program. "An All-John Williams Program with Emanuel Ax and Gil Shaham | E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One" will include some of the composer's film scores. "The Float" from Catch Me if You Can will open the program, and after the Piano Concerto, violinist Gil Shaham will play the haunting and evocative Theme from Schindler's List. He will also recur as the soloist for Williams' 2000 composition, Treesong, which "was inspired by dawn redwood trees in Boston's Public Garden and Arnold Arboretum." The triumphant and imaginative Suite from Close Encounters of the Third Kind will close the program.
If you are too impatient to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra play John Williams' music next season, check out the Boston Pops' Star Wars: The Story in Music on May 15. For the rest, keep an eye out for tickets as they become available at BSO.org.