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May the Scores be With You! Anne-Sophie Mutter joins forces with John Williams and Q&A's with WFMT

Imagine the scrolling main title of Star Wars or wizards taking flight in Harry Potter without triumphant brass and sweeping strings. These cinematic moments would lose their emotional resonance without the iconic music of John Williams. With 51 Oscar nominations and countless awards, John Williams has defined movie music for a half-century. So what happens when one of the most celebrated film composers teams up with one of today's foremost violinists?

Anne-Sophie Mutter says that she's dreamed of collaborating with John Williams for decades. In the new Deutsche-Grammophon album Across the Stars, Williams conducts Mutter and the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles in selections from some of the composer's most memorable film scores. These short pieces, which Mutter calls "little violin concerti," explore the virtuosic capabilities of the instrument, from the blazing, Paganini-esque rendition of Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter to the contemplative, melancholy interpretation of Sayuri's Theme from Memoirs of a Geisha.

In a recent interview with WFMT: CHICAGO, Mutter discusses her long-time admiration of John Williams' scores, how she convinced the composer to collaborate (it involves some German gingerbread), and her thoughts on the importance of film music. READ THE Q&A