John Christopher Williams (born 24 April 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Australian classical guitarist, widely regarded as one of the finest guitarists of his generation. He is a long-term resident of the United Kingdom.
John Williams was born in Melbourne, Australia to an English father, Len Williams, who was later the founder of the London Guitar School and Malaan, an Australian-Chinese mother (a daughter of well known Melbourne barrister William Ah Ket). In 1952, the family returned to England. Williams was taught initially by his father, and educated at the Friern Barnet Grammar School, London.[1] From the age of eleven he attended summer courses with Andrés Segovia at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Later, he attended the Royal College of Music in London from 1956 to 1959, studying piano because the school did not have a guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was offered the opportunity to create such a department. Being such a lover of the instrument, he seized the opportunity and ran it for the first two years. Williams has maintained links with the College (and with the Royal Northern College of Music[citation needed] in Manchester) ever since.
Williams's first professional performance was at the Wigmore Hall in London on 6 November 1958. Since then, he has been performing throughout the world and has made regular appearances on radio and TV. He has recorded almost the entire repertoire for the guitar and has extended it by commissioning guitar concertos from composers such as Stephen Dodgson, André Previn, Patrick Gowers, Richard Harvey and Steve Gray. He has recorded albums of duets with fellow guitarists, Julian Bream and Paco Peña.
John Williams was instrumental in bringing the works of Agustín Barrios back to popularity. Williams has often spoken highly of Barrios' work, even stating that he believes Barrios is the greatest composer of guitar music.[citation needed] He has also worked with contemporary composers from his native Australia, including Phillip Houghton, Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards and Nigel Westlake, to produce guitar works that capture the spirit of his homeland. However he has also the music by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, Cuban composer Leo Brouwer and music from many African countries.
John Williams is a visiting professor and honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music[2] in London.
John Williams has expressed his frustration and concern with guitar education and teaching,[3] if it is too one-sided, e.g. focusing only on solo playing, instead of giving guitar students a better education including ensemble playing, sight-reading and a focus on phrasing and tone production/variation. Williams notes that "students [are] preoccupied with fingerings and not notes, much less sounds"; some are able "to play [...] difficult solo works from memory", but "have a very poor sense of ensemble [playing] or timing". He notes that students play works from the solo repertoire that is often still too difficult, so that the teachers often put more "emphasis [...] on getting through the notes rather than playing the real substance of each note". To encourage phrasing, tone production and all-round musicianship, Williams arranges for students to play together in ensembles, choosing works from the existing classical-music repertoire, such as the "easier Haydn String Quartets".
Williams and his third wife Kathy reside in London and Australia. He has a daughter Kate, now an established jazz pianist, from his first marriage (to Lindy); and a son, Charlie Williams, from his second marriage (to broadcaster Sue Cook). He is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
(sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams )
Bohemian Raphsody by Elgar
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