Dudamel Conducts LA Phil in John Williams Celebration - Full

Natalie Portman hosts Dudamel Conducts a John Williams Celebration with the LA Phil on Great Performances Friday, July 24 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Itzhak Perlman is the special guest in a gala opening night concert paying tribute to the prolific film composer. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel conducts.

John Williams composed the score to "Catch Me If You Can" (2002), directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The film dramatizes the swindles of a real-life con man. Before the LA Philharmonic performs "Escapades" from the score, Gustavo Dudamel and Williams discuss the mystery the music creates. From "Dudamel Conducts a John Williams Celebration with the LA Phil."

Watch the great composer John Williams at work at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA, recording the theme song he wrote for Great Performances. The theme won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and has been heard on Great Performances broadcasts since its debut on King Lear, starring Ian McKellen, March 27, 2009.