Manny & John

EMANUEL AX PREMIERES JOHN WILLIAMS' NEW PIANO CONCERTO

By Dr. Joshua Sherman

Two towering figures of modern classical music will converge in a greatly anticipated premiere at Tanglewood at the height of summer: Renowned pianist Emanuel Ax will perform a new piano concerto composed for him by the legendary John Williams. The concert, taking place on July 26 at the Koussevitzky Music Shed, will be conducted by Andris Nelsons. Mahler's Symphony No. 1 will round out the evening, but the unveiling of Williams' piano concerto promises to be one of the defining moments of this Tanglewood season. 

Maria Tipo, Emanuel Ax, and John Williams performed Mozart's Triple Piano Concerto at the August 2, 1994, Tanglewood on Parade. The BSO was conducted by Seiji Ozawa. (Walter Scott)

Ax has garnered eight Grammy® Awards over a career spanning more than five decades. His collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, and other luminaries have produced definitive recordings of Beethoven and Brahms, while his commitment to contemporary music has introduced new audiences to works by composers like John Adams and Joseph Schwantner. 

Williams, whose name is synonymous with cinematic music, boasts a truly unparalleled musical catalog. With 54 Academy Award nominations—more than any living individual—and five wins, his compositions for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, as well as Jaws, Superman, Schindler's List, and many more, have become cultural touchstones. Beyond the Oscars, Williams has secured 26 Grammy® Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTAs. His contributions have been recognized with honors such as the Kennedy Center Honor, the National Medal of Arts, and an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. The convergence of these two larger-than-life talents is not merely a concert, but a historic collaboration that bridges the realms of classical and contemporary music. It marks the culmination of a musical connection decades in the making. 

The Berkshires is integral to their artistic lives. Ax and Williams hold Tanglewood close to their hearts—a veritable “home base” for both of them. Ax made his debut at Tanglewood in 1978 and has returned many seasons since, performing masterworks from the classical canon and curating innovative recital programs. Williams, who has served as a music director and Laureate Conductor for the Boston Pops, has premiered many of his most important concert works at Tanglewood, including Cello Concerto (1994), TreeSong (2000), Highwood's Ghost (2018), and Violin Concerto No. 2 (2021). 

“It's been just the most magnificent and memorable experience every year,” Williams said about his time at Tanglewood during an interview three years ago with Berkshire Magazine. ”There's a very definite spiritual aspect to that place. Its history is part of it—the luminaries have been there and contributed so greatly, at least for me. Like the trees, it’s almost palpable. You can feel the spirit of the place. Its goal seems to be to serve beauty and to serve truth. On the corporeal physical side of it, just simply to walk on around the campus for me is one of the great pleasures.” 

According to Ax, he and Williams first collaborated during a Tanglewood on Parade concert in 1994. "We performed a piece by Mozart, the three-piano concerto, with Maria Tipo, myself, and John as the third pianist, with Seiji Ozawa conducting," Ax recalls. "That was the first time I had any kind of real interaction with John. He's just a wonderful person." 

The idea for the new piano concerto composed specifically for Ax first took root after “Manny” (as Ax’s friends call him) read an interview with Williams in celebration of his 90th birthday. In that interview, Williams expressed interest in writing a new piano concerto. 

"I just took the bull by the horns and wrote John a letter," says Ax. "I told him, 'If you really want to write one, I would be so thrilled to perform it.'” Williams wrote back to Ax quickly and told him that he wanted to do it. 

Williams planned to start writing the piano concerto for Ax after finishing the score for the fifth and final Indiana Jones film. Williams spoke during our interview in 2022 about that. “I want to write a concerto for Manny,” Williams said. “He’s one of the world's greatest pianists and most wonderful people. I just mentioned that I was wanting to write a piano concerto, and he said, ‘Oh, well, I'd love to do it. Let me have it.’ So I told him when I finished with it, I'm going to submit it to him, and it will be my greatest, greatest, greatest honor if he would be willing and have time in his schedule to play it …. Any minutes that I can spend with Emanuel Ax is a great life joy.” 

While early reports and rumors suggested the piece was inspired by the musicality of three iconic American jazz pianists—Art Tatum, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson—Ax is quick to clarify. "It doesn't sound exactly like them," he says. "The second movement has a lot of Bill Evans in it—that dreamy thing he was so great at. The first is quite hard, and the third movement is very fast, like Oscar Peterson, lots of notes to practice." 

Despite Williams' playful remark in a 2024 interview that composing the piece for Ax took "chutzpah" on his part, Ax turns the compliment back toward the composer himself. "He's a very great man and a great composer," he says. "I'm so glad I wrote to him. It's a privilege." The concerto itself is a far cry from Williams' best-known film scores. "It's quite thorny, harmonically," said Ax. "It's not like the music for the movies. It's very strong, very compelling concert music." 

While Ax, ever humble and grounded, said that he was still "hacking away" at the piece in preparation for the July premiere, he was already looking ahead to reprising the work in January 2026. Ax will perform the concerto once more with the BSO at Symphony Hall in Boston as part of an all John Williams program. That concert will also feature violinist Gil Shaham performing TreeSong, alongside selections from Schindler's List, Catch Me if You Can, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Ax sees Williams not just as a legendary cinematic composer, but also as a vital voice in contemporary classical music. "I'm very impressed with this piece," he says. "It's not easy. It's not what people might expect. But it's really, really good." 

As for Williams' cinematic work, Ax's favorite score is an unexpected one. "I have a soft spot for Sabrina," he admits. "There's a beautiful piano solo that I really like a lot." But, Ax was quick to add, "Of course, his score to Schindler's List is magic. That's maybe the greatest. It's irresistible." 

With this new concerto, Ax becomes part of Williams’ compositional legacy. For Ax, the journey began with a brave letter. For Williams, it began with a leap of faith and inspiration. For audiences at Tanglewood, it will begin with the downbeat of what promises to be a truly unforgettable premiere.

Ax performs Mahler Symphony No. 1 and  John Williams' Piano Concerto (world premiere) with Andris Nelsons conducting the BSO, Saturday, July 26, 8 p.m., in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. bso.org/tanglewood