- Title: ENGLAND: Composer John Williams unveils official theme for Atlanta Olympic Games
- Date: 20th March 1996
- Summary: WATFORD, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 20, 1996) (REUTERS) WIDE OF COMPOSER JOHN WILLIAMS AND LONDON'S PRO ARTE ORCHESTRA WILLIAMS COUNTING ORCHESTRA IN / ORCHESTRA PLAYING THE 1996 OLYMPIC THEME "SUMMON THE HEROES"
- Embargoed: 4th April 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WATFORD, NEAR LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA50AEADX67LLL9TR40XCG3VQ0J
- Story Text: Oscar winning composer John Williams on Wednesday (March 20) unveiled the new official Olympic theme for the Atlanta games in July this year.
"Summon the Heroes" -- a six-minute celebration of strings, brass and timpani -- was commissioned by the Atlanta Committee for the summer games and will be heard during the games' opening ceremony in Atlanta on July 19.
More than five billion people are expected to watch the official start of the games.
Williams recorded the theme in January with the Boston Pops Orchestra and on Wednesday put the score through its paces with London's Pro Arte Orchestra.
Williams' many credits include the theme for the 1984 Olympic Games and 33 Academy Award nominations. The composer was nominated in this week's Academy Awards for his film scores for "Nixon" and "Sabrina" but was beaten by Luis Bacalov who clinched the award for his score for "The Postman".
In all, Williams has won five Oscars, one British Academy Award and 15 Grammies.
"I have tried to capture the essential spirit of the Olympics, the coming together of humanity," Williams said of his latest work.
"The inspiration would be the athletes themselves, the heroism in what they do that we all feel, this quest for making the highest jump, the quickest race. There's something greatly inspiring in that for all of us." The music opens with a gladiatorial thunder of brass, slowly gives way to quieter strings and closes with crashing cymbals and booming drums.
"Occasion music such as this has to be attention-grabbing. But I've also sought to give it a sense of the quest for the highest jump, the fastest mile," Williams said.
"I've called it "Summon the Heroes", heroes in the kind of mythological sense of Gods or demi-Gods that reside in the mountains that might come down if we summon them with our trumpets and they perform great feats for us," he added.
Shorter 30-second "snaps" will be played during the games' award ceremonies.
The long version will be released by Sony this spring on an album to include tracks such as the Parade of Charioteers from "Ben Hur", Leonard Bernstein's 1981 "Olympic Hymn" and Vangelis's "Chariots of Fire". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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