On February 8, John Williams turns 94. It’s always very exciting to celebrate our beloved Maestro for his birthday and this year The Legacy of John Williams has prepared a gigantic tribute in the form of a 2-part podcast special that will hopefully engage and entertain you for a whole weekend of John Williams-themed festivities.

The special is titled Words and Music by John Williams and that’s what you’re going to experience: over the course of two episodes you’ll hear a hefty selection of pieces from John Williams’s immense catalogue interjected with quotes from the Maestro himself, continuing a tradition that The Legacy of John Williams started since its early days. During the course of several decades, John Williams gave countless interviews to the press, sharing his wisdom, knowledge and also his wit on many occasions, illustrating his working process, elaborating on his ideas on music and reflecting on his incredible life journey. John Williams’ words are often as inspiring as his music and his thoughts and ideas speak more eloquently than any commentary one could put together.

The selection you’ll be listening to in this 2-part special contains a wide variety of compositions by Maestro Williams for both film and the concert hall. It has been assembled to avoid the usual greatest hits collection that you can easily find elsewhere, but mostly to offer a broad look at the Maestro’s oeuvre and casting a spotlight on his chamelon-like ability in writing in many different styles while always sounding unmistakeably like himself. It’s not meant to be a chronological overview nor it has pretensions of being exhaustive. It’s curated to create a flowing and emotional musical journey: Take it as a sort of personal playlist that The Legacy of John Williams is sharing with all of you.

Part 1 is available here.

The full track listing available at https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2026/02/06/john-williams-birthday-special/