As the classical critic and reporter for the Boston Globe from 1976–2006, Richard Dyer became one of John Williams’ most ardent champions and advocates in the classical world, and the primary scribe who recorded the history of Williams as it was being written.
Richard Dyer, in his own words, “made a fool of himself” in 1979. He was the classical critic for the Boston Globe (a post he held from 1976 to 2006), and as the Boston Symphony Orchestra was holding auditions for a new music director of the Boston Pops throughout that summer, Dyer went to sample concerts conducted by 12 of the 13 candidates. But “I didn’t go to John Williams,’” he told me, “because I thought, like everyone else: why on earth would he be interested in this?”
Dyer may have started his relationship with John Williams as a skeptic (though never a snob)—but he very quickly became one of Williams’ most ardent champions and advocates in the classical world, as well as the primary scribe who recorded the history of John Williams as it was being written. Dyer died on Friday, September 20th, at the age of 82. The cause was multiple strokes.
Farewell Richard Dyer: Influential Advocate, Historian, and Friend of John Williams, by Tim Greiving (The Legacy of JW)