Legacy Conversations: Mark Graham

Head of Music Preparation and Librarian for John Williams talks about his many years of close collaboration with the composer in a key role. Hosted and Produced by Maurizio Caschetto

Mark Graham is Hollywood’s first-call “music prep man” and a name trusted by the entire community when it comes to the preparation and the recording of film scores, having worked as orchestrator, conductor, head of music prep, librarian and copyist on literally thousands of film and television projects. The head of music preparation is one of the most important member of the team that creates a film soundtrack and, together with the music editor, is often the composer’s right-hand person. He started to collaborate with John Williams in the late 1990s as part of the music prep team, taking the mantle from Williams' longtime trusted music preparator and librarian JoAnn Kane (who founded JoAnn Kane Music Service in the mid-1980s, the leading music preparation company for virtually the whole industry). Graham inherited JoAnn Kane Music Service and became the owner of the company, becoming Williams’ right-hand man for music preparation of all of his works. During all these years, Mark collaborated very closely with Williams in a key position, seeing first hand his working method and becoming a trusted colleague who ensured that everything would always go smoothly and efficiently.

In addition to his work for John Williams, Graham also worked as orchestrator and conductor for such composers as Alan Silvestri, John Debney, Alexandre Desplat and Theodore Shapiro. As head of music preparation, he worked on an impressive series of successful films, including such all-time box office hits as Avengers: Endgame and Avatar: The Way of Water.

Mark sits down for a rare conversation with The Legacy of John Williams to talk about the path that led him to become the leading music preparator in Hollywood and to his collaboration with John Williams, telling stories and anecdotes about his three decades of work for the Maestro and sharing the unique insight he collected over the years by being one of Williams’ closest and most trusted colleagues.

For more information, read at https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2025/09/30/mark-graham-podcast/