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[email protected] Press materials: http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/ Website: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GreatPerformances Twitter: @GPerfPBS Natalie Portman Hosts Dudamel Conducts a John Williams Celebration with the LA Phil On THIRTEEN’s Great Performances Friday, July 24 at 9 p.m. on PBS Itzhak Perlman is the special guest in a gala concert paying tribute to the prolific film composer By any standard, John Williams is one of the greatest film composers of all time; his 49 Academy Award nominations are second only to Walt Disney himself. And Williams and Walt Disney Concert Hall have gone hand in hand since Williams opened the Hall’s inaugural gala in 2003 with the world premiere of his concert work “Soundings.” The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s gala celebration of Williams’ peerless achievements reunites Williams with master violinist Itzhak Perlman , who performed on the composer’s original score for “Schindler’s List,” which earned both Oscars and Grammys. This gala opening night performance, hosted by Natalie Portman and featuring Music and Artistic Director 2 Gustavo Dudamel, airs on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances , Friday, July 24 at 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.) The musical program is interspersed with a conversation between Williams and Dudamel, as well as archival interview footage, as the composer reminisces about his life and career. The son of a musician in New York’s CBS Orchestra in the 1930s and 40s, Williams remarks, “I thought when you grew up you became a musician, that’s the only kind of adult I knew… I grew up in the ambience of music.” The broadcast also features soloists Dan Higgins , Glenn Paulson and Michael Valerio , the U.S.