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Spain: Composers Williams, Morricone honoured for film scores

Last Updated Jun 5, 2020 at 8:44 am MDT

FILE - In this file photo dated Wednesday, June 16, 2010, composer and conductor John Williams leads the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra during the grand opening celebration at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort theme park in Orlando, USA. The jury that decides the Spanish foundation Princess of Asturias Awards have awarded Friday June 5, 2020, one of the country’s most prestigious awards to composers Ennio Morricone and John Williams for their film work that have “enriched hundreds of films with their talent.” (AP Photo/John Raoux, FILE)

MADRID — A Spanish foundation on Friday awarded one of the country’s most prestigious awards to composers Ennio Morricone and John Williams for their film work.

The jury that decides the Princess of Asturias Awards said the Italian and American composers “have enriched hundreds of films with their talent.”

The pair “demonstrate complete mastery of composition as well as narrative, building emotion, tension and lyricism at the service of cinematographic images.”

Williams, 88, has scored movies such as “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” the “Indiana Jones” series and the first three “Harry Potter” films.

Morricone, 91, has over the past seven decades created more than 400 scores for cinema and television.

The 50,000-euro award ($56,700) is the first of eight prizes, including in the arts, social sciences and sports, handed out annually by a foundation named for Spanish Crown Princess Leonor.

The Associated Press