‘Star Wars’ Composer John Williams Hospitalized With Illness

Legendary movie composer John Williams is currently in the hospital in London, pulling out of a concert with the London Symphony Orchestra set to take place this Friday.

A statement from the Royal Albert Hall, where the concert was taking place, notes that Williams is suffering from a last-minute illness. It also indicates that he’s receiving care for the sickness at the hospital.

Williams’ management also issued a statement on the cancellation, indicating that he is on the road to recovery:

“John is so sorry that an illness prevents him from conducting Friday’s concert, and he’s grateful to his friend Maestro Dirk Brass for taking the podium in his place. He so wishes he could be with everyone, and the knowledge that 5,000 of his friends will be joining together to celebrate his music is a great comfort to him as he recovers. He wishes everyone a very joyous evening of music.”

Williams has composed many iconic scores and themes, including the Star Wars theme. His music for the franchise has earned him legions of fans. Williams is set to return to the galaxy far, far away and compose the score for Star Wars: Episode IX. The 86-year-old composer has created the music for all of the main Star Wars films, and even contributed a theme for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Williams has worked in the movie industry for over sixty years, creating the music films such as Jaws, the Indiana Jones franchise, Jurassic Park, the first three Harry Potter movies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Home Alone, and many, many more.

While his compositions have become embedded in many fans’ brains, he has recently scaled back his work on movies though he continues to score the Star Wars franchise. Earlier this year, Williams teased that he would be retiring from the franchise, and possibly from film work, after finishing the newest trilogy.

“J.J. Abrams is preparing [Episode IX] that I will hopefully do next year for him,” said Williams. “It will round up the series of nine that will be quite enough for me. Disney will take it further and they will probably continue on to do Star Wars for decades. So I think it’s all good.”

Hopefully Williams has a speedy recovery and is back in good health very soon.