The Music of Hans Zimmer & John Williams

None other than Max Moor could be won over for the international production "The Music of Hans Zimmer & John Williams - The Original London Production". The popular TV presenter will go on a major tour of Germany and Austria in 2024 together with a 60-piece orchestra. He will be bringing unforgettable melodies from the greatest Hollywood films with him, penned by the two exceptional composers Hans Zimmer and John Williams.

Passau, 02.06.2023.
Who hasn't heard of classic films such as Jaws, ET, Star Wars, The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean and Schindler's List? All of these global successes have one thing in common: the film music was composed by Hans Zimmer or John Williams. Hits that were made to be performed live in front of an audience by a large orchestra. With over 60 musicians and an impressive laser show, the original production from London provides emotionally charged moments. The violinist Bogdana Pivnenko, known in specialist circles as the "Ukrainian Pagagnini", was invited to perform as the soloist. The premiere took place in the sold-out Royal Albert Hall in London and received standing ovations. After further stops in Singapore, Brussels, Rotterdam and Geneva, this production is now coming to Germany and Austria for the first time. The evening will be hosted by film admirer Max Moor, who can hardly bear to watch films with bad music and is all the more enthusiastic when the music drives the story forward, completes and enhances it. Which is definitely the case with these two composers. The film scores by Hans Zimmer and John Williams have now become timeless classics that transcend generations.

Hans Zimmer & John Williams - giants of film music
Hans Florian Zimmer, born on September 12, 1957 in Frankfurt am Main, has an impressive CV: as a child he learned to play the piano at home, although he only had a piano teacher for a short time as he did not want to submit to his discipline with regard to the basic rules for a pianist. When asked whether he had music lessons, he replied: "Yes, I had them for a week. It was like, either I would have killed the teacher or he would have killed me." He went to the Taunusgymnasium in Königstein, later took his A-levels at the English boarding school Hurtwood House in Dorking, Surrey and played the synthesizer as a pupil. Zimmer was expelled from a total of eight schools in Germany and Switzerland for breaches of discipline, among other things. He did not undergo any academic musical training.

Zimmer became known in the early 1990s primarily for his innovative combination of orchestral and synthesizer sounds. With Ridley Scott's "Black Rain" and Ron Howard's "Backdraft", he created a new style of scoring action films. Backdraft" in particular is considered a milestone in the history of film music: Zimmer's decision to score the film with a so-called "wall-to-wall score", i.e. to underlay the majority of the film with music, created the prototype for many action film scores that were subsequently produced in Hollywood. The style, which is roughly based on a powerful main theme, rhythmic action motifs and more gentle passages for the two main characters, can be found in numerous later film scores.

His best-known works include the original film scores for "Dune", "Thelma and Louise", "The Lion King", "Gladiator", "Last Samurai", "The Dark Knight", "Inception" and "Pirates of the Caribbean". The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph described Hans Zimmer as one of the most important film music composers in the world. In 2018, Hans Zimmer was nominated for an Oscar for the eleventh time. In 2022, he received the Golden Globe and the Oscar for the soundtrack to "Dune".

John Towner Williams, born on February 8, 1932 in New York, is considered the favorite composer of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, composed "Stars Wars", "Jaws", "E.T.", "Indiana Jones", "Jurassic Park", "Superman", "Schindler's List" and the first three films of the Harry Potter saga, among others.

John Williams was born the son of an orchestral musician in the New York borough of Queens. He learned to read music at the age of three. He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1948, where he attended the University of California and studied composition. After completing his military service in the US Air Force, Williams moved back to New York. There he attended the Juilliard School, where he studied piano. His first piano sonata was published in 1951. Other classical works followed. In the following years, he also worked for US television and various Hollywood productions, initially under the name Johnny Williams.

From October 14 to 16, 2021, John Williams made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. This made him the oldest debutant at the conductor's podium at the age of 89. It was his very first visit to Berlin. In February 2022, Williams reached number one in the German album charts for the first time with the recording of the concerto.

John Williams was nominated 53 times for the Oscar, winning five; six times for the Emmy, winning three; 25 times for the Golden Globe, winning four; 68 times for the Grammy, winning 24. He received the British Academy Film Award seven times. With 53 nominations, he holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a living person.

Max Moor
Born in Switzerland, he became famous as the presenter of the VOX magazine "Canale Grande". In 2009, the former Dieter Moor wrote his first book "Was wir nicht haben, brauchen Sie nicht", which sold over half a million copies. This was followed by four more titles published by Rowohlt Verlag.
Since 2007, Max Moor has hosted the ARD culture program "ttt - titel, thesen, temperamente" and reports on the Berlinale, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Salzburg Festival and the Venice Biennale in addition to the weekly program as part of specials. He presents and moderates a variety of cultural events, including the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn's discussion series "Max Moor and Art", the SWR Doku Festival and "Planet Earth - Live in Concert". Due to his regular presence at film festivals, Max Moor has accumulated a broad, cross-genre knowledge in this area over the years, which he skillfully applies to "The Music of Hans Zimmer & John Williams - The Original London Production".

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