The Legacy of John Williams Podcast

Legendary flutist talks her incredible career as a performing artist, the legacy of her own musical family, the phenomenal streak of work as a studio musician in Hollywood and her many collaborations with John Williams on such iconic scores as Hook, Jurassic Park, War Horse and many others.

Flutist Louise Di Tullio is one of the true icons among the generation of musicians performing in the Los Angeles area who came on the scene between the late 1950s and early 1960s. In an amazing career spanning almost six decades, Louise performed both as a world-class classical player and studio musician, often in the position of principal flute, for countless film scores, recording projects and live performances.

A native of Los Angeles, Louise Di Tullio comes from a family of very distinguished musicians who had incredible careers as classical players and studio musicians. Louise started to play flute at a very young age and soon began to take lessons to become a professional musician. Before reaching the age of 20, Louise joined the LA Philharmonic, playing piccolo in the flute section, following in the footsteps of her father and two uncles. After six years with the Philharmonic, she found success in all aspects of the recording world. Louise started to perform in Hollywood studio orchestras, mostly as a piccolo player, and was contracted regularly to play for big name film composers including Alfred Newman, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry and of course John Williams. 

Louise’s first session with John Williams dates back in 1969 for the score for The Reivers. You can hear Louise’s playing, often performing both delicate and virtuosic piccolo parts, on such iconic scores as The Towering Inferno, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Fury, 1941 and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

In 1990, Louise inherited the first chair from Sheridon Stokes as principal flute for John Williams and from this moment onward her career as studio musician became the stuff of legend. As principal flute, Louise Di Tullio can be heard performing on many John Williams’ scores since 1990, including Home Alone 1 and 2, Hook, JFK, Far and Away, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Rosewood, Seven Years in Tibet, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, and The Book Thief.

Besides her work in countless John Williams’ scores, Louise Di Tullio served as principal flute for many other great film composers, including Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, James Horner, Lalo Schifrin, Bill Conti, James Newton Howard, Bruce Broughton, Danny Elfman, among others. Over the course of her extraordinary career, Louise performed on more than 1,200 motion pictures and tv films including some of Hollywood's biggest hits of the last 50 years.

In this conversation, Louise reminisces for the first time since many years about the legacy of her extraordinary musical family, the first steps as a classical player, including performing under Igor Stravinsky. Louise talks extensively about her many years recording film scores with John Williams, from her first experiences playing piccolo on The Reivers and Jaws, to her playing as principal flute on scores like Hook, Jurassic Park and War Horse, recollecting many memories and sharing her point of view about the music and the art of Maestro John Williams.

Visit https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2021/05/28/louise-di-tullio-podcast/ for more informations and the list of the musical excerpts featured in the episode.

The English-born conductor talks about the brand-new recording "Spotlight on John Williams", the debut album of the Swiss-based City Light Symphony Orchestra, a 2-CD collection of some of John Williams' film masterpieces

Spotlight on John Williams presents the City Light Symphony Orchestra conducted by English-born Maestro Kevin Griffiths in a 100-minute musical journey throughout some of John Williams’ movie masterworks, featuring such acclaimed soloists as Valentine Michaud, Reinhold Friedrich and Paul Meyer. The selections include 21 tracks, including music from many of the popular film franchises the composer is associated with – the Star Wars saga is represented by a 4-movement suite from The Force Awakens and the Indiana Jones movies with the riveting “End Credits” suite from The Temple of Doom, while the Harry Potter wizarding world is featured with four selections from The Sorcerer’s Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban. The stirring themes from such beloved film scores as Hook, Jurassic Park, Superman are also represented, but there is space for other Williams’ gems like “Viktor’s Tale” from The Terminal, the patriotic themes from JFK and Born on the Fourth of July, the jazzy 3-movement “Escapades” suite for alto saxophone from Catch Me If You Can, the lively opening credits from The Adventures of Tintin, and the stirring Americana of The Cowboys Overture.

The recording is a real showcase of the City Light Symphony Orchestra’s brilliance – the performance is tight and vigorous, the spectrum of sonorities they bring out is sparkling, full of colours and nuances, but always focused and sharp at the same time.

In this conversation, conductor Kevin Griffiths talks with The Legacy of John Williams about the challenges of recording the album, how the project was put together and how he worked with the City Light Symphony Orchestra to bring out all the marvelous nuances and details of John Williams’ music. He also talks about the differences of conducting live to picture vs. traditional symphonic setting, how the audience’s perception of film music has changed throughout the years, and what John Williams’ music meant for him since childhood, while also reflecting on the legacy of the Maestro.

Spotlight on John Williams is released on Prospero Classical

For more information, visit https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2021/04/09/kevin-griffiths-city-light-interview/