Five-Time Oscar-Winning Composer John Williams Premieres His Official Theme For The 2002 Olympic Winter Games on Sony Classical's 'American Journey' - The Official Album of The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games

Williams To Conduct 'Call of the Champions' With Utah Symphony and Mormon
         Tabernacle Choir At Opening Ceremony on February 8, 2002

                     CD Released on January 15, 2002

NEW YORK, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Classical's "American Journey" presents the first recording of composer and conductor John Williams' official theme for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002, as well as seven other concert works written by the five-time Oscar-winner. Before a worldwide television audience on February 8, 2002, Williams will conduct "Call of the Champions" during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The CD will be released on Tuesday, January 15, 2002.

Williams has been writing official music for Olympic celebrations since the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. His 1996 Sony Classical recording "Summon the Heroes" featured the official music he composed for the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta. "Call of the Champions" was recorded in Salt Lake City with more than 360 members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

The title work on "American Journey" is a six-movement suite that describes the common experience of American life in the 20th century. The individual movements are titled "Immigration and Building," "The Country at War," "Popular Entertainment," "Sports and Celebrities," "Civil Rights and The Woman's Movement" and "Technology and Flight." The recording also features Williams' first recordings of "Jubilee," "Song for World Peace," "The Mission Theme" (Theme for NBC News), "For New York" (Variations on Themes of Leonard Bernstein), "Sound the Bells," "Hymn to New England" and "Celebrate Discovery."

With his scores for the recent "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and the upcoming "Star Wars Episode II," John Williams reaffirms his place as the dean of the film industry's composers. With 39 Oscar nominations to his credit, he has won the Academy Award five times -- for "Schindler's List," "E.T.," "Star Wars," "Jaws" and "Fiddler on the Roof" -- and has also won 16 Grammys, four BAFTA awards, three Golden Globes and two Emmys. In addition to the Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park films, Williams has written acclaimed scores for "The Patriot," "Angela's Ashes," "Saving Private Ryan," "Amistad," "Sleepers," "Nixon," "Sabrina," "JFK," "Hook," "Home Alone," "Born on the Fourth of July," "The Accidental Tourist," "Empire of the Sun," "The Witches of Eastwick," "The River," "Yes Giorgio," "The Towering Inferno," "Cinderella Liberty," "The Poseidon Adventure," "Valley of the Dolls' and many more.

Williams has recorded extensively for Sony Classical. In the spring of 2002, the label will release a recording of Williams' music for cello with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist. "Yo-Yo Ma Plays The Music of John Williams" will be released on February 19, 2002. Williams' most recent Sony Classical releases are the soundtrack recordings of "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace™" (SK/SM 61816) and "Angela's Ashes" (SK 89009), as well as a two-disc retrospective of his career in films (S2K 51333).

John Williams' American Journey will be featured on http://www.johnwilliamscomposer.com/, the composer/conductor's domain on Sony Classical's Web site at http://www.sonyclassical.com/. Sony Classical.com is an online resource for exploring the label's entire catalogue of recordings, and includes sound clips, track listings, cover art and other information about the recordings. The site also features an online radio show, album supersites, multimedia, artist biographies, tour schedules and discographies for all Sony Classical artists, as well as special promotions, and much more.

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SOURCE: Sony Classical

Contact: Carol Della Penna, +1-212-833-7479,
carol_dellapenna@sonymusic.com, or Kristen Foster, +1-212-833-8229,
kristen_foster@sonymusic.com, both for Sony

Website: http://www.sonyclassical.com/
http://www.johnwilliamscomposer.com/