Oscar winner John Williams among 19 new members of American Academy of Arts and Letters
By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Oscar-winning composer John Williams has joined a new academy: the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The academy announced Thursday that Williams was among 19 inductees voted into the honorary society for musicians, authors, artists and architects that was founded in 1898. Members over time have ranged from Mark Twain and Toni Morrison to Leonard Bernstein and Alice Neel. Others elected this year include another prominent film composer, Terence Blanchard, the jazz musician who has provided scores for many Spike Lee films, prize-winning novelist Alice McDermott and the multimedia artist Matthew Barney.
