Los Angeles Unified School District officials held a grand opening ceremony Wednesday for a new performing arts center at North Hollywood High School named in honor of alumnus and famed film composer John Williams.
The 35,000-square-foot John Williams Performing Arts Center replaces the school’s original 1927 auditorium and is part of a $320 million campus modernization project timed to coincide with the school’s 100th anniversary, according to LAUSD officials.
The event Wednesday at the campus, 5231 Colfax Ave., included the unveiling of a 75-foot mural depicting films scored by Williams, along with performances by the school’s marching band and student dancers.
Williams took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony welcoming students into the new space.
“I’m overwhelmed and full of joy because this place, the couple of years I spent here like you are doing have been, for me, formative in my thinking, in my professional work and so on,” he said.
Williams attended North Hollywood High School in the late 1940s. He developed his musical skills at an early age, studying piano and performing in jazz ensembles while still a teenager.
“There are few moments in public education quite like this one,” Acting Superintendent Andres Chait said in a statement.
“John Williams walked the halls of North Hollywood High, and today those halls lead to a world-class performing arts center that bears his name. This building is a message to every student who steps onto that stage — that their dreams are worth investing in, and that greatness can begin right here in a Los Angeles Unified classroom.”
Williams later studied at UCLA and Juilliard before launching a career as a studio musician, performing on scores for composers such as Henry Mancini and Leonard Bernstein, then transitioning into composing his own film music.
Williams became one of the most celebrated composers in film history, known for movie scores including “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and the “Indiana Jones” series.
Over a career spanning more than six decades, he has won five Academy Awards and received more than 50 nominations.