Star Wars: John Williams Scores Grammy Nomination for Galaxy’s Edge Work

Yesterday the official nominees for the 2020 Grammy Awards were revealed with the likes of Bon Iver, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Lil Nas X, and Lizzo all nabbing nominations for Record of the Year. Hidden within those nominations though was one that shouldn’t surprise anyone, especially if you’ve made the trip to that galaxy far, far away (aka Anaheim/Orlando). Composer John Williams was nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition category for his Symphonic suite from DisneyLand’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park attraction.

The official Star Wars account congratulated the composer on the achievement via Twitter, featuring a new graphic of Galaxy’s Edge. In addition to his nomination for Galaxy’s Edge, Williams was also nominated this year for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for a new arrangement of his famous “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter. This nomination stems from a version completed with with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. These two nominations bring Williams’ total Grammy nominations to 69.

To date Williams has won 23 of his now 69 Grammy nominations. Seventeen (now eighteen!) of Williams’ nominations have come from his work on Star Wars including wins for the original film in 1977, its 1981 sequel The Empire Strikes Back, and for 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Williams has also nominated for his work on Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Revenge of the Sith, The Last Jedi. This marks his first nomination from his work in the franchise not because of music composed for one of the feature films.

“Aside from George Lucas, nobody deserves more credit for the success of Star Wars than John Williams,” Luke Skywalker star Mark Hamill previously told Variety about the composer’s work on the series

“It’s indescribable, how he elevates every scene. He’s got to understand the emotion of the scene, the dynamics of whatever conflict we’re trying to portray, as deeply as an actor does. In a way, that’s even more complex. As an actor, you’re only one person, one instrument in the orchestra. He’s the entire cast.”

Williams’ work on Galaxy’s Edge comes ahead of his retirement from the franchise with the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December. Once the ninth episode of the Skywalker Saga is released it will