John Williams (guitarist)

John Williams
Williams in concert in Córdoba, 1986
Background information
Birth name	John Christopher Williams
Born	(1941-04-24) 24 April 1941 Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Classical music, progressive rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist, arranger and composer
Instrument	Guitar
Years active	1958 – present
Labels	Sony Classical/SME
Website	johnwilliamsguitarnotes.com

John Christopher Williams AO OBE (born 24 April 1941) is an Australian virtuosic classical guitarist renowned for his ensemble playing as well as his interpretation and promotion of the modern classical guitar repertoire. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music Performance category with fellow guitarist Julian Bream for Together (released in the US as Julian and John (Works by Lawes, Carulli, Albéniz, Granados)). Guitar historian Graham Wade has said that "John is perhaps the most technically accomplished guitarist the world has seen."

Early life

John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in Melbourne, Australia, to an English father, Len Williams, who later founded the Spanish Guitar Centre in London, and Malaan (née Ah Ket), a daughter of Melbourne barrister William Ah Ket. In 1952, the family moved to England where he attended Friern Barnet Grammar School, London. Williams was initially taught guitar by his father, who was an accomplished guitarist. From the age of 11, Williams attended summer courses with Andrés Segovia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Later, he attended the Royal College of Music in London, from 1956 to 1959, studying piano because the college did not have a guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was invited to create such a department. He took the opportunity and ran the department for its first two years. Williams has maintained links with the college (and with the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester) ever since.

Classical guitarist

Williams' 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 extended the repertoire by commissioning guitar concertos from composers such as Stephen Dodgson, André Previn, Patrick Gowers, Richard Harvey and Steve Gray. Williams has recorded albums of duets with fellow guitarists Julian Bream and Paco Peña.

Williams is a visiting professor and honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Williams mostly uses Greg Smallman guitars, after using Spanish Fleta during the 1970s.

Thoughts on guitar education and teaching

Williams has expressed his frustration and concern with guitar education and teaching, that it is too one-sided i.e. 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 and 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 are often 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-around 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".

Other musical genres

Although Williams is best known as a classical guitarist, he has explored many different musical genres. Between 1978 and 1984 he was a member of the fusion group Sky. He is also a composer and arranger. At the invitation of producer Martin Lewis he created a highly acclaimed classical-rock fusion duet with rock guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who on Townshend's anthemic "Won't Get Fooled Again" for the 1979 Amnesty International benefit show The Secret Policeman's Ball. The duet featured on the resulting album and the film version of the show – bringing Williams to the broader attention of the rock audience.

Williams recorded "Cavatina" by Stanley Myers. The piece originally included only the first few measures but, at Williams' request, it was rewritten for guitar and expanded by Myers. After this transformation it was used for a film, The Walking Stick (1970). In 1973, Cleo Laine wrote lyrics and recorded it as the song "He Was Beautiful" accompanied by Williams. The guitar version became a worldwide hit single when it was used as the theme tune to the Oscar-winning film The Deer Hunter (1978).

Personal life

Williams and his third wife, artist Kathy Panama (who married on New Year's Eve 2000), reside in London (Hampstead) and Cornwall. He has a daughter Kate Williams, now an established jazz pianist. He also has a son, Charlie, by his second wife, the television presenter Sue Cook.

Discography

Main article: John Christopher Williams discography

Awards and recognitions

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance

• Julian Bream & John Christopher Williams for Julian and John (Works by Lawes, Carulli, Albéniz, Granados) (1973)

BRIT Award for Best Classical Recording

• John Williams for Portrait of John Williams (1983)
• Edison Award lifetime achievement award (2007)

British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors

• BASCA Gold Badge Award (2012)

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1980, and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 1987 Australia Day Honours, "For service to music".

See also

• Sky (band)

Further reading

• Michael O'Toole, "John Williams: An Evaluation of his Impact Upon the Culture of the Classical Guitar". Doctoral thesis, Technological University Dublin, 2018. doi:10.21427/D70129

• Interview (1983), by Paul Magnussen