JOHN WILLIAMS AND ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER JOIN THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY IN A PROGRAM OF WILLIAMS’ CONCERT AND FILM MUSIC, FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Program features Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2, written expressly for Mutter, and a selection of Williams’ beloved film music

One-night-only concert marks Williams’ first performance with San Francisco Symphony in nearly 10 years

Tickets go on sale on Friday, September 16, at 10am (PT) at sfsymphony.org

Renowned composer and conductor John Williams and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter join the San Francisco Symphony on February 14, 2023, for a one-night-only performance of Williams’ beloved concert and film music.

Williams—who celebrated his 90th birthday in 2022—returns to perform with the San Francisco Symphony for the first time in nearly a decade. His last appearance with the Orchestra took place in September 2013 in a special concert hosted by his longtime artistic partner Steven Spielberg. Mutter last performed with the San Francisco Symphony in February and March 2015 and was Artist-in-Residence during the Orchestra’s 2019–20 season.

The centerpiece of the program is John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2, written especially for soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter and premiered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2021. Williams and the Orchestra open the program with Sound the Bells!—a fanfare Williams wrote in 1993 while on tour in Japan to commemorate the wedding of Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito and Masako Owada (now Emperor and Empress of Japan).

The second half of the concert is dedicated to Williams’ world-famous film music, including selections from the composer’s scores to Hook, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Wars. Anne-Sophie Mutter returns to perform special adaptations of three film classics—“The Duel,” from The Adventures of Tintin; “Nice to be Around,” from Cinderella Liberty; and “Hedwig’s Theme,” from Harry Potter.

Williams and Mutter have been frequent collaborators since she performed the world premiere of his composition Markings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2017. They’ve recorded three albums for Deutsche Grammophon: Across the Stars (2019), John Williams in Vienna (2020), and Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes (2022).

In a career that spans five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. He has served as music director and laureate conductor of one of the country’s treasured musical institutions, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and he maintains thriving artistic relationships with many of the world’s great orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Williams has received a variety of prestigious awards, including the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Olympic Order, and numerous Academy, Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards. He remains one of our nation’s most distinguished and contributive musical voices.

Tickets for concerts at Davies Symphony can be purchased via sfsymphony.org or by calling the San Francisco Symphony Box Office at 415-864-6000. Tickets for John Williams with Anne-Sophie Mutter are priced $75–250 and go on sale Friday, September 16, at 10am PT.