The first biographer to crack the famously private world of John Williams is coming to Newport Beach.
Author Tim Greiving will discuss his book "John Williams: A Composer's Life" at Witte Hall, 998 Avocado Ave., on Thursday, Aug. 13, as part of the Library Foundation of Newport Beach's Library Live Author Series, according to the city's event calendar. The talk falls during the city's inaugural Art Week, which runs Aug. 9–15.
Greiving, a Los Angeles-based arts journalist who contributes to NPR, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, spent five years writing the 640-page biography, published by Oxford University Press in September 2025. He conducted 175 interviews, including conversations with Steven Spielberg, Hans Zimmer, Yo-Yo Ma and Williams himself.
Getting Williams to participate was the hardest part. The composer, who holds more Oscar nominations than any individual in Motion Picture Academy history, had turned down every previous biographer. Greiving started the project in 2020 without Williams's blessing. In a September 2025 interview with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Greiving described his approach: "I foolishly, just brazenly, decided to do it once Oxford University Press expressed interest and said that his participation wasn't a deal-breaker for them."
Williams eventually agreed to sit down with Greiving in late 2022, ultimately giving him between 20 and 25 hours of interviews over 18 months. One discovery helped seal the deal: Greiving uncovered that Williams's biological grandfather, Thomas Nagle, had arranged and conducted music for silent films in Canada. Williams had not known the man existed.
The event marks one of the first major author talks at Witte Hall, the $23.4 million, 10,000-square-foot auditorium at Newport Beach's Central Library that opened in July with a ribbon-cutting led by Mayor Lauren Kleiman. The hall seats 299 and was designed by Robert R. Coffee Architect + Associates, with a curved roof inspired by seashells found along the city's beaches. It was funded through a public-private partnership, with the city covering half the cost and donors contributing the rest. Bill Witte and Keiko Sakamoto, for whom the hall is named, donated $4 million.
Tickets for the Aug. 13 Library Live event are $35 for Library Foundation members and $40 for non-members. They are available at libraryfoundationnb.org/programs/librarylive/.
Art Week events:
- Aug. 9–15: Newport Beach's inaugural Art Week, organized by the City Arts Commission
- Friday, Aug. 14: Literary Tea with author Nicola Harrison at The Resort at Pelican Hill ($95 per person)
- Saturday, Aug. 15: Exhibition and concert at Gallery Sonder in Corona del Mar; 59th Annual Newport Beach Art Exhibition at the Civic Center
