FROM: AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE 890 Broadway New York, New York 10003 (212) 477-3030 Kelly Ryan
WILLIAM BOLCOM
Named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America, recipient of the National Medal of
Arts in 2006, honored with multiple Grammy Awards for his ground-breaking setting of Blake’s Songs of
Innocence and of Experience, and awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his 12 New Etudes for piano, William Bolcom is a composer of cabaret songs, concertos, sonatas, operas, symphonies and much more.
With his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, he has performed in concert for 35 years throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad. In addition to performing together, Bolcom and Morris have recorded two dozen albums together. Their first one, After the Ball, garnered a Grammy nomination for
Joan Morris. Their most recent recordings include two albums of songs by lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg and
Gus Kahn on Original Cast Records and Bolcom’s complete Cabaret Songs, written with lyricist Arnold
Weinstein, on Centaur, and Someone Talked: Memories of World War II with tenor Robert White and narrator Hazen Schumacher, available in the Fall of 2009 on Equilibrium Records.
Recent premieres include: Canciones de Lorca with tenor Placido Domingo, the Pacific
Symphony Orchestra and conductor Carl St. Clair at the gala opening concert of the Renée and Henry
Segerstrom Concert Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa, California (September
2006); Eighth Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus conducted by James Levine (February 2008); Lucrezia, a one-act opera for five singers and two pianos (March 2008); and First Symphony for Band with the University of Michigan Symphony Band conducted by Michael
Haithcock (February 2009).
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BOLCOM – Page 2
In the Spring of 2007 Bolcom was feted in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, with a two and a half-week festival of his music, including master classes, recitals and concerts of his vocal, organ, and chamber music. Titled Illuminating Bolcom, the festival was highlighted by two performances of Songs of
Innocence and of Experience accompanied by animated projections of Blake’s illuminations. The animations were commissioned by VocalEssence, the festival’s sponsor, and created by projection designer
Wendall K. Harrington, who designed the projections for Bolcom’s opera A View from the Bridge.
Bolcom’s operas, McTeague, A View from the Bridge, and A Wedding, commissioned by Lyric
Opera of Chicago, have also been presented by The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera,
Music Academy of the West, Hagen Opera in Germany, Portland Opera, Indiana University, University of
Houston, and elsewhere.
Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973-2008.
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Source: www.WilliamBolcom.com