tag:williambolcom.com,2005:/blogs/news?p=13News2023-12-10T20:21:45-06:00William Bolcomfalsetag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/72718782023-09-11T20:59:43-05:002023-10-16T09:49:21-05:00Marc-Andé Hamelin plays Bolcom's Graceful Ghost on NPR Tiny Desk Concert series<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/188311/0dc78545723c54b72efcb4b666c0603ccf9eb711/original/tiny-desk-concerts-logo-svg.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_right border_" />In a performance we can only describe as exquisite, Marc-Andé Hamelin paid homage to one of Bolcom's most beloved compositions, “Graceful Ghost Rag,” in his January 2023 appearance on a <a class="no-pjax" href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/12/1148386555/marc-andre-hamelin-tiny-desk-concert" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">Tiny Desk Concert</a> at National Public Radio in Washington, DC. </p><p>Tiny Desk Concerts is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C.</p><!-- more --><p>Producer Tom Huizenga wrote, "The Boston-based Montreal native is regarded as one of his generation's most technically astounding pianists, but he's no empty virtuoso. His interpretations are probing, precise and warm — keen to bring out humor when necessary. He routinely performs the world's most treacherous repertoire with his characteristic ease. … His limpid rendition of William Bolcom's ‘Graceful Ghost Rag’ (from 1970) emphasizes the bittersweet harmonies with unhurried elegance."</p><p><iframe id="jw_embed" width="600" height="338" src="https://www.npr.org/embedded-video?storyId=1148386555&mediaId=1148398435&jwMediaType=music" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/73174382023-05-12T00:00:00-05:002023-12-10T20:24:09-06:00 Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies honor Bolcom's Birthday<p>Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies honored Bolcom in May with the program “Bill’s Garden: A Celebration of William Bolcom at 85.”</p><!-- more --><p>(Friday, May 12, 2023, New York Classical Review) – Composer Willam Bolcom turned 85 on May 26, 2023. It’s easy to say he is a major classical musician, but he’s simply an American musician, with a range that includes the opera <i>A View from the Bridge</i>, symphonies, concertos, string quartets and other chamber music, as well as superb cabaret songs, musical theater pieces, and wonderful piano rags.</p><p>Thursday night at the Morgan Library in New York City, pianists Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies honored him with the program “Bill’s Garden: A Celebration of William Bolcom at 85.” Playing five pieces—for solo piano, piano four hands, and piano duo—the two covered more than 50 years of Bolcom’s career. </p><p><a class="no-pjax" href="https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2023/05/two-pianists-fete-bolcom-with-wide-ranging-birthday-tribute/" target="_blank" data-link-type="url">https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2023/05/two-pianists-fete-bolcom-with-wide-ranging-birthday-tribute/</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/71882732023-04-12T07:22:05-05:002023-04-12T07:22:05-05:00STEINWAY & SONS releases the world premiere recording Bolcom’s “Suite of Preludes” performed by innovative pianist Jenny Lin<p><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">Bolcom’s </span><i>Suite of Preludes</i><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"> was given its World Premiere in October 2021 at Hudson Hall in Hudson, New York by Steinway Artist Jenny Lin. Composed during the Coronavirus lockdown, this nine-movement suite is comprised of miniatures that reveal the personal side of Bolcom - they contain elements of humor, obscure thematic quotes, jazz chords - all within the European American style for which the composer is known.</span></p><!-- more --><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/s:bzglfiles/u/188311/b9b4f18dfffa4fe76fed993383cf53d45e5aa04e/original/stns30209-frontcover.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><p>“Each Prelude can stand alone while each also suggests the start of something longer and more complex. The 3rd movement, Light Fantastic, raises new questions with almost every measure…the effect is mesmerizing.” — <i>Classical Post</i></p><p>“Lin’s playing expresses every nuance of the musical story... Intelligent piano playing of enormous verve and emotional range.” <i>— Audiophile Audition </i> </p><p>“Jenny Lin is a pianist of the first rank who commands an enviably economical technique and a silvery singing sound that propels music directly to the heart.” <i>— Washington Post</i></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/71231372022-12-14T19:16:17-06:002022-12-14T19:20:35-06:00New York Times: Decades Later, a Composer Revisits the Piano Concerto <p>William Bolcom’s recent work, written for the pianist Igor Levit, is streaming after its premiere earlier this year. </p><!-- more -->
<p>By Seth Colter Walls, Aug. 26, 2022 </p>
<p>It took the composer William Bolcom over 40 years to follow his first piano concerto with a second one. </p>
<p>When Bolcom was putting the finishing touches on that first concerto, in 1976, he had already gained fame as part of the era’s ragtime revival. A pianist as well, he interpreted pieces by Scott Joplin and other originators, while also contributing to a new wave of writing for the form, on albums like “Heliotrope Bouquet.” </p>
<p>Milestones came after the concerto’s premiere. Bolcom’s prismatic “Twelve New Etudes for Piano” — which contained a crucial dollop of ragging energy — won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1988. That decade, his expansive and astute setting of William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” was a polyglot achievement, full of music that might take stylistic succor from reggae or Tin Pan Alley, from one minute to the next. <a contents="Read the full story" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/arts/music/bolcom-piano-concerto-no-2.html">Read the full story</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kAsdWmKSXOA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/70529282022-09-04T09:23:28-05:002022-09-04T09:24:49-05:00Fischer Duo releases 2020 VISIONS, featuring Bolcom's Second Sonata<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/46ae4905654161198e1e4b5b6f753e58e4e57bd1/original/nv6444-2020-visions-1200x1200.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />New recording from the Fischer Duo celebrates the piano-cello group’s 50 years of performances together.</p><!-- more -->
<p>The Duo is known for performing music from the likes of Beethoven alongside the works of emerging composers. The pair celebrated the anniversary of their formation in 1971 during the height of the pandemic; though the performance was given virtually, the resulting recording is a declaration of love and resilience. This album features three works commissioned for the Duo including Pulitzer Prize and GRAMMY Award-winning composer William Bolcom’s Second Sonata, as well as three recent compositions from promising new composers. Expressing the pain of loss as well as the hope for a better tomorrow, 2020 VISIONS showcases this duo’s versatility and musicianship.</p>
<p>Listen at: <a contents="navonarecords.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://williambolcom.com/home/blog/7052928/fischer-duo-releases-2020-visions-featuring-bolcom-s-second-sonata-for-piano-and-cello" target="_blank">navonarecords.com</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/69607632022-04-30T13:34:32-05:002022-04-30T13:34:32-05:00Bolcom's Piano Concerto No. 2 premiered in Heidelberg<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/a0a8bcc966c6442c23b4f020d26aeae25bc5fba8/original/piano-concerto.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />On April 20, 2022, The Mahler Chamber Orchestra gave the world premiere of William Bolcom's Piano Concerto No. 2 at their annual residency at the Heidelberger Frühling festival.</p><!-- more -->
<p>The occasion also marked the MCO debuts of conductor Elim Chan and pianist Igor Levit.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/69607402022-04-30T13:11:19-05:002022-09-04T10:55:59-05:00New Release: Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Band<p>William Bolcom’s <em>Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra</em> was commissioned by the PRISM Quartet. A new recording by the PRISM Quartet and Temple University Wind Symphony is now available for streaming and download.</p><!-- more -->
<p>The piece originally premiered with the Detroit Symphony in 2000, and was later recorded by PRISM with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project for innova Records. A concerto grosso is a Baroque-era form involving a small group of instrumentalists, called the concertina, in dialog with the ripieno or large orchestra. </p>
<p>Mr. Bolcom has adapted the work for sax quartet and wind ensemble, which PRISM recorded with the Temple University Wind Symphony under Dr. Patricia Cornett for an April 22, 2022 release on BCM&D Records, the label of Temple University Boyer College of Music & Dance.</p>
<p><a contents="Now available for streaming and download" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://xas.ffm.to/bolcom" target="_blank"><em>Now available for streaming and download</em></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="More information" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.prismquartet.com/recording/concerto-grosso-for-saxophone-quartet-and-band/?ct=t(EMAIL_CAMPAIGN2_4_22_22)&mc_cid=b7067b5073&mc_eid=110ecf9612" style="" target="_blank">More information</a><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/626c76f38f8f5c0ff15f990b2ac71921fd0e264a/original/album-cover.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/67703762021-10-08T17:36:55-05:002021-10-08T17:36:55-05:00Scored by William Bolcom, "Hester Street" re-released in new 4K restoration<p>Originally released in 1975, Joan Micklin Silver's theatrical feature debut <em>Hester Street </em>was re-released in October 2021 in a new 4K restoration from the original negative.</p><!-- more -->
<p>William Bolcom provided the score for this film, which was described by the <em>New York Times </em>as "A magnificent performance by Carol Kane. An unconditionally happy achievement."</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/1f2276ccff9479b4ae1c6691c2b35c13fea3d6e8/original/hesterstreet-final.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Gitl (Carol Kane in her Academy Award nominated role) and her son arrive on the lower East side of New York in 1896 to join her husband Jake (Steven Keats). While Jake, who has a job in a sweatshop and an English-speaking girlfriend, has completely embraced America, Gitl clings to her old country ways. Jake is embarrassed to be seen with her as he struggles to assimilate by shedding his ethnic heritage. Gitl finds a way to become victor instead of victim.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/70529382021-09-30T00:00:00-05:002022-09-04T10:58:14-05:00William Bolcom named winner of 2021 Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition <p>American composer William Bolcom, National Medal of Arts recipient, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winner, has been awarded the $100,000 Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition from the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Established in 2003, the Nemmers Prize in Music Composition recognizes classical composers of outstanding achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition.</p><!-- more -->
<p>... </p>
<p>“The Bienen School of Music is thrilled to name renowned American composer William Bolcom the winner of the 2021 Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize,” said Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of the Bienen School of Music. </p>
<p>“After the challenges of the past year, it will be especially meaningful for our students and faculty to gather and benefit from Mr. Bolcom’s in-person residencies at Northwestern during the next two academic years,” said Montgomery.</p>
<p><a contents="Read the full story" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2021/07/william-bolcom-named-winner-of-2021-michael-ludwig-nemmers-prize-in-music-composition/" target="_blank">Read the full story</a></p>
<p>Related news: </p>
<p><a contents="April 5, 2022: Bienen ensembles perform works by Nemmers Prize winner William Bolcom&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/04/bienen-ensembles-perform-works-by-nemmers-prize-winner-william-bolcom/" target="_blank">April 5, 2022: Bienen ensembles perform works by Nemmers Prize winner William Bolcom </a></p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/67444902021-09-13T07:34:53-05:002021-09-13T07:34:53-05:00A ghostly "Graceful Ghost"<p>In this age of virtual performances, the saxophone sextet The Moanin' Frogs took a unique approach to filming an elegant, ghostly version of Bolcom's Graceful Ghost. </p><!-- more -->
<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8i1gS9L4BEM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/67238232021-08-22T09:27:51-05:002021-08-22T09:27:51-05:00New recording released! "Album for the Young" with fellow pianist Logan Skelton<p>Composer-pianist William Bolcom fulfills a lifetime passion for Schumann's Album for the Young, pieces designed for young children. </p><!-- more -->
<h2>Album for the Young</h2>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/9ce1cde91a11be07fd588d72e2577fd24919b09e/original/screen-shot-2021-08-22-at-9-26-11-am.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="Bolcom CD Cover - Album for the Young" /></p>
<p><strong>Album for the Young </strong>was composed by Robert Schumann in 1848 for his three daughters. The album consists of a collection of 43 short works. Unlike the <em>Kinderszenen</em>, they are suitable to be played by children or beginners. </p>
<p>Bolcom, one of the most accomplished and decorated musicians of our time, first performed these pieces publicly in the 1940s. </p>
<p>In February 2019, William Bolcom and Logan Skelton performed Robert Schumann’s complete <em>Album for the Young</em> at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, MI, with a plan to record the works the week following the concert. The resulting album features performances bounding with charm and beauty.</p>
<p>The cover photograph of Bolcom as a very young child was taken at his aunt and uncle's house in Mt. Vernon, WA.</p>
<p><a contents="Amazon.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.amazon.com/Schumann-Album-Young-William-Bolcom/dp/B099NWQ6K2" style="" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a><br><a contents="iTunes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/schumann-album-for-the-young/1579779076" style="" target="_blank">iTunes</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/65085832020-12-27T11:53:45-06:002020-12-27T11:53:45-06:002021 Begins with American Composers Orchestra Composer-to-Composer Talk<p>William Bolcom & Gabriela Lena Frank will discuss Bolcom's Symphony No. 9 online on Wednesday, January 13 - live streamed on Facebook and YouTube.</p><!-- more -->
<p>This event at 5 pm ET is free but registration highly encouraged. Registrants will receive links to listen to recordings of the featured music in advance of the event. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a contents="REGISTER NOW" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://americancomposers.org/events/composer-to-composer-talks-william-bolcom-gabriela-lena-frank/" style="" target="_blank">REGISTER NOW</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/8d575d4d710e6430849700ee28387d94edd7cdd7/original/x-1024x819.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_" />American Composers Orchestra’s <strong>Composer to Composer Talks</strong> feature major American composers in conversation about their work and leading a creative life. The intergenerational discussions will begin by exploring a featured work, with the composers interviewing each other. Tune in to gain insight into the genesis, sound, and influence on the American orchestral canon of the featured work, and have the opportunity to ask questions of the artists. </p>
<p>Composer to Composer Talks are live-streamed on ACO's Facebook and YouTube channels. If you register, you will receive the featured recordings in advance as well as the direct links to join the event. </p>
<p>On January 13 at 5pm ET, Gabriela Lena Frank talks with William Bolcom about his Symphony No. 9, from 2012, of which Bolcom writes, “Today our greatest enemy is our inability to listen to each other, which seems to worsen with time. All we hear now is shouting, and nobody is listening because the din is so great. Yet there is a ‘still, small voice’ that refuses to disappear…I pin my hope on that voice. I search for it daily in life and in music – and possibly the ‘Ninth Symphony’ is a search for that soft sound.” </p>
<p>Join us for this one-hour conversation, during which the composer will guide us through this masterwork -- complete with extensive listening examples. </p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/65085812020-10-19T11:40:00-05:002022-09-04T10:58:14-05:00Iris named after "Graceful Ghost"<p>Horticulturist Robert Hollingworth wrote us to share a photo of the Graceful Ghost Iris, which he hybridized and named after Bolcom’s beloved ragtime piece.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/2d5967a8a434febc6d7b5d570d2db20e6ac6d661/original/graceful-ghost-iris.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsImxhcmdlIl1d.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>GRACEFUL GHOST </strong><br>Registered by the American Iris Society</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">(Robert Hollingworth, R. 2006) Sdlg. 00M18A2. SIB, 34" (86 cm), ML </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Standards and style arms light silvery blue, style arms floretted, upright; Falls light silvery blue, violet infusion at haft, eyelash dark veining. Blackberry Jubilee X 97C10B4, Galadriel sib. Windwood Gardens. 2006. </em></p>
<p>Mr. Hollingsworth writes: “The name indeed came from the ragtime piece that Prof. Balcom wrote. I’ve always had a weakness for the ragtime genre and piano music in general. I have other irises named Ragtime Dance and Heliotrope Bouquet - both ragtime pieces. In that context, the name came to mind because of the silvery blue color of the iris made me think of small ghosts floating over the garden in the evening. And it is graceful. It is among my top ten favorites among the 100 or so we have named and that are in commerce. They seem to like it in the UK too. A really nice, reliable garden plant.”</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/64472582020-10-01T17:30:19-05:002020-10-01T17:30:19-05:00University of Arizona MUSIC + FESTIVAL 2020 presents works of Gershwin, Reich, Bolcom<p>From October 10-12 the <strong>2020 Music+Festival: George Gershwin, Steve Reich, and William Bolcom</strong> will present the lives and music of these three composers within a rich and broad humanistic framework. All events will be online, free admission and open to the public. </p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/577021b735b0bf423f0c30cf7ee4e3479187d08d/original/screen-shot-2020-10-01-at-4-39-35-pm.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="MUSIC+FESTIVAL Poster" />The festival consists of a film about Gershwin, a symposium providing the historical and artistic context in which the three composers lived and live, as well as what to listen for in this music; three concerts: one chamber music and song, one all-piano, and another all song; and finally and new for our festival format, a presentation by our visiting composer. The festival features faculty members and students of the Fred Fox School of Music, as well as guest artists, scholars, and performers. </p>
<p>The three composers in this festival have one great commonality: they all, in their own way, bridge the worlds of classical music and vernacular, or popular, music. Barriers are broken down, and the vista of what classical music can be, is vastly widened.</p>
<p>Links will be available at music.arizona.edu (one week prior to the events).</p>
<p><a contents="Download a festival poster (high res .jpg)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://wpu.cfa.arizona.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/09/18233549/PosterMusicFestival2020-scaled.jpg" target="_blank">Download a festival poster (high res .jpg)</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/64330922020-09-14T08:17:08-05:002020-09-14T08:17:08-05:00New Video - Glimmerglass Glimpse: From the Diary of Sally Hemings <p>A story of love, conflict and profound depth, Alyson Cambridge's powerful performance is captured in a beautifully designed and recorded video. </p><!-- more -->
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="bipRIc2haY0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/bipRIc2haY0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bipRIc2haY0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This dramatic song cycle by William Bolcom and Sandra Seaton imagines the experience of Sally Hemings, who was enslaved by Thomas Jefferson, through fictional diary entries. Sung in first person with piano, the piece tells Hemings’ story from age 9 until Jefferson’s death. With Djordje Nesic, pianist </p>
<p>Glimmerglass Glimpses is a series of offerings to celebrate song, story, and community — from the safety of home.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/57690932019-05-26T14:53:53-05:002019-05-26T14:53:53-05:00Trombone Concerto featured on New York Philharmonic album<p>William Bolcom's Trombone Concerto with Joseph Alessi, trombone now available on iTunes, Apple Music</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/79122858f789f384844c2010b1acc64a4251d515/original/newcd.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" />This compilation includes William Bolcoms's Trombone Concerto with Joseph Alessi, trombone; New York Philharmonic, Bernard Labadie, conductor. A Decca Gold Release. Released: May 17, 2019 on iTunes, Apple Music. <br><a contents="https://music.apple.com/us/album/trombone-concerto/1460702838?i=1464007513" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/trombone-concerto/1460702838?i=1464007513">https://music.apple.com/us/album/trombone-concerto/1460702838?i=1464007513</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/56056992019-01-21T13:08:21-06:002019-01-21T13:09:24-06:00Wexford's Dinner at Eight nominated for "Best Opera Production"<p>The Irish Times announces its nominations for its 22nd annual theatre awards, and <em>Dinner at Eight </em>is among those recognized</p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/the-irish-times-irish-theatre-awards-all-this-year-s-nominees-1.3761254" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/the-irish-times-irish-theatre-awards-all-this-year-s-nominees-1.3761254" style="" target="_blank">https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/the-irish-times-irish-theatre-awards-all-this-year-s-nominees-1.3761254</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/5d8e789a876dcd54b40407daec1bf37d8b526884/original/screenshot-2019-01-21-13-01-22.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/56055792019-01-21T12:29:12-06:002019-05-26T15:10:24-05:00In conversation with Chamber Music Society<p>CMS of Lincoln Center has been celebrating various composers' 80 years of experience, craft, and skill. They recently sat down with William Bolcom to learn more about his illustrious career, his influences, and his landmark works.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/a7d27c1acfadda9ed8219d411534b990ee37aaf8/original/screenshot-2019-01-21-12-23-00.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><em>Would you divide your work into “periods”? Have there been certain “landmarks” that you would say marked new compositional styles? </em></p>
<p>I suppose so. My earliest works were influenced by Bartók and Roy Harris quartets, especially the landmark of Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite, whose music got me to write 12 string quartets from age 11 (the year I heard the Berg done by the Juilliard Quartet) to age 79. (I don’t play any string instrument.) My next big influence in my teens was Beethoven and my early quartets show this. Written just before my 21st birthday, my 6th quartet is the landmark of my finding my own language, helped along by the encouragement and open attitude of Darius Milhaud, with whom I studied at Aspen in 1957 and later at the Paris Conservatoire. Ives (whom I’d also discovered at 10) became a larger influence, as well as my exposure to Boulez and Luciano Berio in Paris; these enter in my first Fantasy-Sonata for Piano in 1961, another landmark work. </p>
<p>As with so many other composers, I was pulled into the total-chromatic style of the 1950s through the 80s. Eventually I found this restrictive and began about 1967 to rediscover tonality and explore ways of linking simple tonality with more complex music in the outer reaches of tonality, which I am still practicing, and incorporating American classic popular music in the mix, possibly starting with my discovery of ragtime. </p>
<p>My growing interest in ragtime, mostly of Joplin (whose music I had a hand in discovering for the classical music world) pulled me out of any vestige of academic peer pressure. The landmark work of this stance is my full-evening setting of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience,in which whatever musical style suggested to me in each particular poem dictated the resulting songs' setting-styles. This would be the fruit of 25 years’ work, which had never been animated by the notion of seeing how many styles I could use, as some have accused I’ve done. I just went with where the poem took me, sometimes into areas I’d never guessed (country & western for “The Shepherd” for example, which I fought with at first until I realized it wouldn’t go away). </p>
<p><em>Going further with that, you have had several influences - you mention the importance of great American singer/song-writers (such as Irving Berlin) and pop music, you mention that you were influenced early on by French music, and obviously your duo with your wife, Joan, would have some impact on how and what you write. Could you discuss a bit more about how you have incorporated some of these things into your output? </em></p>
<p>What working with Joan has enabled me to do is study prosody — word-setting — American style, particularly Berlin, whose solutions influenced the whole field of songwriting from both a composer’s and a performer’s points of view. My study has resulted in a style of prosody rooted in the classic American songmasters. I seek links between the various musics I know in search of a larger unity. </p>
<p>My love and knowledge of French music came from my piano teacher from age 8 on, Mme. Berthe Poncy Jacobson at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle who, as a friend of Poulenc’s, was sent scores of his piano music; I would take them home. (At the time most conservatories and music schools were Austro-German-music oriented, and French music was thought inferior.) </p>
<p>From age 11 until my graduation from high school at 17 I spent every Thursday in piano and composition lessons where I studied harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration at the University of Washington; my principal teacher in composition was John Verrall who had been at the London Royal Academy of Music and had worked with Kodály. (I never worked with the music programs in US public schools.) </p>
<p><em>Do you have a “ritual” or a “process” each time you compose? </em></p>
<p>Not that I’m aware of. </p>
<p><em>Are there certain things you need in order to work? </em></p>
<p>Time, mostly, and as much tranquility as possible (though in my theater-music days I'd often have to compose “on the fly”). I don’t use a piano. </p>
<p><em>Obviously a significant part of your career has been as an educator. In your 35 years at the University of Michigan, was there sort of a “universal message” that you wanted your students to come away with? </em></p>
<p>First, get your skills (counterpoint, harmony) and study the music of the last millennium so that you can write fluently. Second, to find your style it is not a question of patenting one in order to “establish your brand” as some may try to do, as you’ll risk boxing yourself in. If you follow your interests, your style will find you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/chambermusicsociety/playlist/5fVYy9JvCyHUCbPsUjL948" width="300"></iframe></p>
<p><em><strong>View Bolcom's Three Rags for String Quartet - Recorded live by the Escher String Quartet in Alice Tully Hall on May 21, 2017.</strong></em></p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/274953054" width="640"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55959662019-01-14T20:38:11-06:002019-01-14T20:55:27-06:00William Bolcom's "Dinner at Eight" served up at Wexford Festival Opera<p>Critics from around the world came to Ireland to weigh in on the opera's European Premiere in October</p><!-- more -->
<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/2417fc948c0876388b1732f45bcf7181d9e7c327/original/screenshot-2019-01-14-20-35-50.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_" />William Bolcom's <em>Dinner at Eight</em> served up at Wexford Festival Opera</strong><br>"Musically, the work blurs the lines between opera and musical theatre; we hear jazz in the score, and more than an echo of Thomas Adès, especially in the vocal lines of the recitatives. ... Bolcom's score is cinematic to a very high degree, both in the sense that it recalls old movies scores and that it underlines the action with very descriptive passages." -- Pia Maltri, <strong><a contents="bachtrack.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://bachtrack.com/review-dinner-eight-bolcom-agler-dunleavy-wexford-festival-opera-october-2018" style="" target="_blank">bachtrack.com</a></strong>, October 22, 2018 </p>
<p><strong>The party has to go on </strong><br>"Bolcom's music is a colorful mix of tunes between jazz, Broadway show and Gershwin echoes that, with small atonal interruptions, reveal the cracks behind the facade in society. Bolcom finds a suitable musical characterization for every single figure. Millicent's tone is met very well, for example, which, in addition to the light-sounding theme of<em> Dinner at Eight</em>, presents a socially required and friendly non-obligation in a light waltz rhythm." --Thomas Molke, <strong><a contents="Online Musik Magazin" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele2018/WEXFORD-2018-dinner-at-eight.html" style="" target="_blank">Online Musik Magazin</a></strong> (translated from the German) </p>
<p><strong>William Bolcom's "Dinner at Eight" skillfully mimics Hollywood nostalgia </strong><br>"You have to rely on nostalgia, roaring twenties, jazz brooms, art deco and good jokes to help this slightly yellowed character comedy on the dramatic jumps. Bolcom and his librettist Mark Campbell have succeeded, giving the impression, with a lot of tonal camouflage and literary quotation, that Stephen Sondheim wrote a Cole-Porter-musical and Fred Astaire is dancing around the corner." -- Manuel Brug, October 23, 2018, <strong><a contents="www.welt.de/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://klassiker.welt.de/2018/10/23/zweite-festival-premiere-in-wexford-william-bolcoms-dinner-at-eight-imitiert-gekonnt-hollywood-nostalgie/" style="" target="_blank">www.welt.de/</a></strong> (translated from the German)</p>
<p><strong>"Production values at Wexford are always high,</strong> and this pays terrific dividends in Bolcom’s stylish comedy <em>Dinner at Eight,</em> set in Depression-era New York and based on a George S Kaufman and Edna Ferber Broadway play of 1932. Here too, sets and costumes are full of style and conviction. And operas about dinner parties – Bolcom is following Hindemith and Lennox Berkeley along this seam – have the built-in advantage that they invariably involve a rich mix of contrasted characters, domestic dramas, farcical possibilities and ensemble opportunities.... Bolcom’s music, efficient and light in touch, is matched by a high-quality libretto by Mark Campbell in which every word is clear." -- Martin Kettle, <strong><a contents="The Guardian" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/30/wexford-opera-festival-2018-leoni-giordano-mercadante-bolcom" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>,</strong> October 30, 2018 </p>
<p><strong>"Composer William Bolcom joined the curtain calls </strong>for his piece <em>Dinner at Eight,</em> an entertaining musical version of a depression era play in which preparations for a high-society dinner party go awry. The sumptuous art deco sets framed in a 3-D skyline were a visual feast. Costumes recalled the glamour of the 1930s. Irish singers Sharon Carty and Maria Hughs joined the American cast. The orchestration with prominent reeds and saxophone underscored the big band mood evoked by the Festival Orchestra under David Agler in his penultimate season as artistic director." -- Cathy Desmond, <a contents="Irish Examiner," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/culture/review-wexford-festival-opera-878617.html"><strong>Irish Examiner,</strong></a> October 23, 2018 </p>
<p><strong>"Bolcom's music is readily accepted by the public,</strong> and his songs give their interpreters the opportunity to shine. With a great libretto, the resulting opera is truly appealing to all." -- José M. Irurzun, <strong><a contents="Opera World" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.operaworld.es/dinner-at-eight-de-bolcom-un-buen-espectaculo-en-wexford/">Opera World</a>,</strong> October 31, 2018 (translated from the Spanish) </p>
<p><strong>"Bolcom’s score is a skillful medley of varied pastiches, </strong>played by a Broadway-tinted band that can swell with symphonic sumptuousness in-between-scenes, and withdraw to sensitively support the aria-numbers allotted to each of the struggling protagonists". -- Claire Seymour, <strong><a contents="Opera Today" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.operatoday.com/content/2018/10/wexford_festiva.php" style="" target="_blank">Opera Today</a></strong>, October 24, 2018 </p>
<p><strong>"A light-hearted work, with a dark underside,</strong> very entertaining and wonderfully presented." -- Alan Neilson, <a contents="estival Diary: Wexford Festival Opera 2018, Day 2&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://operawire.com/festival-diary-wexford-festival-opera-2018-day-2/" style="" target="_blank"><strong>Festival Diary: Wexford Festival Opera 2018, Day 2</strong></a></p>
<p><strong>"Bolcom uses an eclectic range of styles </strong>in his score, including Broadway musical numbers, jazz, blues and modernist vocal lines. The work is essentially a hybrid, part Broadway musical and part opera. As the opera progresses, Bolcom gives all the main characters arias which are tightly constructed.... The performers did an excellent job throughout and I was particularly impressed with the clarity of the diction and the shaping and phrasing of Bolcom’s vocal lines. The standout performance of the evening was Mary Dunleavy in the role of Millicent Jordan. Her vocal lines were delivered with power and dynamism and the scene at the end of Act I where she complained about the lobster in aspic being dropped was a<em> tour de force</em>." -- Robert Beattie, <strong><a contents="seenandheard-international.com&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://seenandheard-international.com/2018/10/wexfords-european-premiere-of-william-bolcoms-dinner-at-eight/" style="">seenandheard-international.com </a></strong></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55958002019-01-14T18:36:36-06:002019-01-14T18:38:59-06:00Bolcom/Corigliano 2018 Birthday Tribute - "An Unforgettable Experience"<p>January 11 concert in New York City began William Bolcom's year of 80th birthday celebrations</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/5c6ad4dbf4b3e69675fce4e74bbdfa104b1b3adf/original/screenshot-2019-01-14-18-30-33.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>On January 11, 2018, Juilliard and New York Festival of Song presented "William Bolcom and John Corigliano: An 80th Birthday Tribute" featuring Juilliard singers and pianists Steven Blier and Michael Barrett. This photo was recently sent along by Steven Blier, who wrote: "The celebration was an unforgettable experience. I am so proud of the work we did together, and cherish each of you for the energy and wisdom you brought to the project."</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55860402019-01-08T07:49:41-06:002019-01-09T06:29:18-06:00Bolcom & Morris to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Medal on February 11<p><em>Arts Alliance Medals for Arts, Sciences & Humanities event celebrates "outstanding and sustained artistic and creative accomplishments within the arts"</em></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/47bccda70a6228150f150370139149f13638cfab/original/the-party-logo-year-2019-1024x289.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="" />Awarded annually, The Arts Alliance Medals for Arts, Sciences & Humanities honor and celebrate the extraordinary contributions and accomplishments of artists, creatives, individuals. The Lifetime Achievement Medal is presented in recognition of outstanding and sustained artistic and creative accomplishments within the arts, sciences and/or humanities receiving national and or international acclaim.</p>
<p>Medal recipients are celebrated for increasing public awareness of the arts + creative industries in the greater Ann Arbor area and beyond. Medalists make their mark through their leadership, philanthropy and accomplishments setting the standard for excellence and serving as the example for others to follow.</p><!-- more -->
<p>The award will be presented to Bill & Joan at a gala event in Ann Arbor on February 11, 2019.</p>
<p>For more information, see: <a contents="https://a3arts.org/the-party-2019/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://a3arts.org/the-party-2019/" style="" target="_blank">https://a3arts.org/the-party-2019/</a> or call or call 734.213.2733.</p>
<p>For sponsorship information, see: <a contents="https://a3arts.org/the-party-2019-sponsorship-form/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://a3arts.org/the-party-2019-sponsorship-form/" style="" target="_blank">https://a3arts.org/the-party-2019-sponsorship-form/</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55636922018-12-20T22:48:07-06:002018-12-21T06:13:49-06:00"William Bolcom: Piano Music" Producer Judith Sherman gets a Grammy nod<p>Judith Sherman, producer of “William Bolcom: Piano Music” on the Naxos label, has been nominated once again for Producer Of The Year, Classical in the 2019 Grammy Awards.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/4a86f4d7efa8588cef1f8094b136456c68d111cc/original/screenshot-2018-02-21-17-21-07.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_thin" alt="William Bolcom: Piano Music CD Cover" />The award category (No. 74) takes note of Sherman's production credits on 9 releases, including new recordings of music by Beethoven, Meltzer, Mendelssohn, and Reich.</p>
<p>Among these is <a contents="Piano Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.williambolcom.com/highlighted-recordings/blog/piano-solo-music" style="">William Bolcom: Piano Music</a>, a collection of mostly premiere recordings that draws inspiration from friends and colleagues in every phase of Bolcom’s distinguished six-decade career. Elegantly performed by friends of the composer, this wide-ranging program is summed up by Bolcom as ‘cleaning house’ in the Charles Ives tradition. The performers are Constantine Finehouse, Estela Olevsky, Ursula Oppens, and Christopher Taylor. </p>
<p>A twelve-time Grammy Award nominee and the winner of the award for Classical Producer of the Year for 1993, 2007 and 2011, Judith Sherman has made an indelible contribution to the catalogue of recorded classical music. She currently works as a freelance recording producer and engineer in New York. </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55636932018-10-28T23:20:00-05:002018-12-20T23:18:21-06:00“Dinner At Eight” Slated for European Public Broadcast on November 3<p>For the very first time, Irish public broadcast channel RTÉ will air the Wexford Opera Festival, and this will include a November 3 radio broadcast in that country of the opera. </p><!-- more -->
<p>Beyond the November 3rd broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm, "Dinner at Eight" will be streamed around Europe, courtesy of the EBU Premium Opera Season. </p>
<p>Ann-Marie Power, Group Head of Arts & Culture, RTÉ, said: “I’m delighted that RTÉ’s partnership with the Wexford Festival Opera is further enriched this year and that our close relationship with ARTE continues to bear fruit. Arts and culture is for everyone and this visual spectacle, along with RTÉ’s Culture Night events and the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards, is part of a series of exciting arts events which RTÉ is livestreaming and bringing to our audiences, wherever they are.”</p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/56142002018-10-28T16:50:00-05:002019-01-26T16:47:50-06:00OperaWire.com: Opera Receives Hugely Successful Showcase <p>Alan Neilson's review of <em>Dinner at Eight </em>commends Marc Campbell's libretto and Bolcom's "playful and accessible" score</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/ce50185dfb78197413af1372ce44f48949c07315/original/7cd58322-d574-4d48-87c6-a8c5d59338cf-1170x780.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Campbell’s libretto is very funny and Bolcom’s score is playful and accessible, which can give the inattentive listener the false impression that they are watching a light operetta, a soufflé or a bit of froth served to delight the senses, rather than to tease the brain. </p>
<p>...Certainly, it is entertaining and very amusing, but this is dark humor, very dark. Ultimately, there is nothing funny in these events: loss of dignity, suicide, betrayal, impending death and the loss of all that you own. It is the stuff of tragedy. </p>
<p>...Bolcom and Campbell managed to create an interesting group of clearly defined dinner guests, who are attending the party for a variety of different reasons, and who have little genuine warmth for each other. Moreover, their lives are entangled in a variety of other darker ways. </p>
<p>...Bolcom’s music is an eclectic mix of styles, combining many elements, including Broadway and jazz waltz and tango, which is mainly tonal, sometimes atonal, or as David Agler, the festival director, was reported to have observed, “tonal music with a few dirty notes,” with plenty of rhythmic variations to quickly change the direction of the mood. </p>
<p>...Bolcom’s music not only convinced in its own right, but it had a dramatic momentum which displayed a deep understanding of the theatre. It was never one-paced; the well-crafted libretto, allied to the varied musical styles, sparkling orchestration, quicksilver variations in rhythm and tempo, and the immediate accessible melodies of the score, ensured it was a very well-received production.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a contents="Read the full review at OperaWire.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://operawire.com/wexford-festival-opera-2018-review-dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">Read the full review at OperaWire.com</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/54779212018-10-19T22:20:45-05:002018-10-19T22:20:45-05:00Wexford Opera presents European premiere of Dinner at Eight this month in Ireland<p>Oct. 20 premiere performance to be recorded by RTE for European broadcast November 3</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/520c2094d1d1150b29613deb739f6e3ebaee7203/original/screenshot-2018-10-19-22-14-43.png/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Broadwayworld.com reports that RTÉ will livestream at this year's Wexford Festival Opera for the first time, as part of its collaboration with European public service channel, ARTE.</p>
<p>The European premiere of William Bolcom's <em>Dinner at Eight </em>on October 20 will be recorded, then broadcast on Saturday 3rd November on RTÉ lyric fm and streamed around Europe, courtesy of the EBU Premium Opera Season. </p>
<p>Ann-Marie Power, Group Head of Arts & Culture, RTÉ, said: "I'm delighted that RTÉ's partnership with the Wexford Festival Opera is further enriched this year and that our close relationship with ARTE continues to bear fruit. Arts and culture is for everyone and this visual spectacle, along with RTÉ's Culture Night events and the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards, is part of a series of exciting arts events which RTÉ is livestreaming and bringing to our audiences, wherever they are."</p>
<p><a contents="https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/RTE-Partners-With-ARTE-For-Exclusive-Livestream-Of-Wexford-Festival-Opera-20180919" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/RTE-Partners-With-ARTE-For-Exclusive-Livestream-Of-Wexford-Festival-Opera-20180919" target="_blank">https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/RTE-Partners-With-ARTE-For-Exclusive-Livestream-Of-Wexford-Festival-Opera-20180919</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In addition, Wexford Opera confirms that the composer and librettist of <em>Dinner at Eight</em>, William Bolcom and Mark Campbell will attend the European premiere of Dinner at Eight. They have therefore taken the opportunity to add another event to their programme, <strong>Meet the Creators: Conversation with the composer and librettist of Dinner at Eight. </strong>This event will take place the morning after the European Premiere on Sunday, 21 October at 10 a.m. in the Jerome Hynes Theatre in the National Opera House. Tickets are free, but must be booked in advance.</p>
<p><a contents="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/event/meet-the-creators-conversation-with-composer-and-librettist-of-dinner-at-eight/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/event/meet-the-creators-conversation-with-composer-and-librettist-of-dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/event/meet-the-creators-conversation-with-composer-and-librettist-of-dinner-at-eight/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55636972018-10-13T23:20:00-05:002018-12-20T23:17:53-06:00Backstage divas: behind the scenes at Wexford Festival Opera and Dinner at Eight<p>"By opening night it will be precision perfect. But it will be dangerous, risky and exciting too, and it will pack a phenomenal emotional punch that is also a whole lot of fun indeed." - The Irish Times, October 13, 2018</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/c7b203eb1b8b990d188ee4145fbdd0921428ea61/original/dinnerat8image.jpg/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="Dinner at Eight" />As the Wexford Festival Opera is rehearsing <strong>Dinner at Eight</strong>, Gemma Tipton visits the scene back stage. "Opera is full of divas, but they’re frequently not the ones on the stage. Part of the reason is that of all the art forms, opera is the most total: alongside the soloists and chorus, it also includes orchestra, acting, dancing, technical wizardry, set and costume design," she writes. </p>
<p><a contents="Read the full story at www.irishtimes.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/backstage-divas-behind-the-scenes-at-wexford-festival-opera-1.3657372" style="" target="_blank">Read the full story at www.irishtimes.com</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/54309902018-09-16T16:47:25-05:002018-09-16T16:49:45-05:00No less than three September premieres <p>E.B. Marks Newsletter notes premieres in Ann Arbor, Indianapolis, Colorado this month</p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="View E.B. Marks Newsletter online" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://mailchi.mp/155b48c77089/spring-publications-and-events-594009?e=c9ba10ae9a" style="" target="_blank">View E.B. Marks September-October, 2018 Newsletter online</a></p>
<p><strong>New Bolcom Works Celebrates Ann Arbor's Football History </strong></p>
<p>On September 15, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra will premiere a new, commissioned work from hometown hero William Bolcom to celebrate the orchestra's 90th anniversary. Bolcom, whose 80th birthday year has already been full of premieres and fêtes, chose to honor that most local of cherished traditions in the home of the University of Michigan Wolverines, the fall football Saturday. Entitled Ann Arbor Saturday the vigorous concert opener weaves his own music amid a variety of "fight songs" and the sounds of multiple percussion players to make a joyful noise that will certainly delight. The work will be conducted by Arie Lipsky at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/3b081a3eb4fa93795f59071b612d22dd1bac67d2/original/0f7f5d91-aac5-429f-86b3-e6095a6c28da.jpeg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Bows for Bolcom's Violin Concerto at the Cabrillo Festival, Aug. 4. </strong></em><br>L to R: violinist Phillip Quint, Bolcom, conductor Cristian Măcelaru <br>[credit: R.R. Jones] </p>
<p>September sees no fewer than two ADDITIONAL World Premieres by Mr. Bolcom. He has composed a competition work for the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis which will be heard by several virtuosi at the Competition on Sept. 7-10. His Suite No. 3 for Solo Violin involves elements of improvisation, which were also the hallmark of his major Indianapolis Symphony work of 2013, Games & Challenges. Is there something in the water in the Hoosier State? </p>
<p>Bolcom has also composed a Horn Trio, commissioned by Steven Gross (horn) and the experts on Bolcom's violin and piano music, American Double (Constantine Finehouse, pno. and Philip Ficsor, vln.). They will premiere the work at Metropolitan University of Denver on Sept. 20, with a performance in Ann Arbor at the Kerrytown Concert House, Sept. 23. Here is a promotional video for the premiere: </p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G35YyyL44Ss?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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</form>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/55636982018-08-07T23:30:00-05:002018-12-20T23:26:26-06:00William Bolcom and Acolytes Shine in Cabrillo’s “After Dixieland”<p>Cabrillo Music Festival celebrated William Bolcom’s 80th birthday with a performance of his jazz-infused violin concerto, alongside works by two of his former students.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/6efa0854a594bc0dcf5476aa4fe853300ffedbf9/original/screenshot-2018-12-20-23-23-54.png/!!/undefined/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="" />"Exceptionally, all the composers were at this festival concert. And with Cabrillo’s magic in the air, the performance managed to weave in life-affirming meditations on how — irrespective of any political climate, including the current one in the U.S. — we are all dynamic humans who, commonly and constantly, are always migrating to and from somewhere." - Jessica Balik, San Francisco Classical Voice, August 7, 2018</p>
<p><a contents="Read the full story at San Francisco Classical Voice" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/cabrillo-festival-of-contemporary-music/william-bolcom-and-acolytes-shine-in-cabrillos-after" target="_blank">Read the full story at San Francisco Classical Voice</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/53607572018-07-24T22:50:30-05:002018-09-16T19:34:02-05:00September world premiere of Bolcom Horn Trio<p style="text-align: center;">Steven Gross, French horn; Philip Ficsor, violin; and Constantine Finehouse, piano will give world premiere in Denver, followed by performance in Ann Arbor</p><!-- more -->
<p>World Premiere of the Bolcom Horn Trio - Thursday, September 20, 2018 at 7:30 pm, King Center - Recital Hall Denver, CO<br><a contents="Tickets &amp; Information" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://tickets.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=7ef8b18f7ba54cce58b96ee6a7a33524&vqitq=217179f3-8fc7-4765-8938-39301f0d7aa7&vqitp=5119ca09-939a-4f04-b9a5-f89b069c3679&vqitts=1537144196&vqitc=vendini&vqite=itl&vqitrt=Safetynet&vqith=4b02d7da2012eec2675c35b15e53acf3" style="" target="_blank">Tickets & Information</a></p>
<p>Sunday, September 23, 2018 at 2 pm, Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI<br><a contents="Tickets &amp; Information" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://a2tix.com/events/bolcom-horn-trio" target="_blank">Tickets & Information</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="aKhyfyQeU-M" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/aKhyfyQeU-M/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aKhyfyQeU-M?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p><strong>American Double</strong> (Philip Ficsor, violin; and Constantine Finehouse, piano) was founded in 2001 by two Yale graduates with a vision of enriching their performances with works by American composers. They specialize in the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. They worked closely with the composer in preparation for their CD release "The Bolcom Project," which remains the only recording of his complete works for violin and piano. Bolcom has praised it as "great benchmarks for other performers, but also great performances on their own merits." The recording was "strongly recommended" by Fanfare Magazine (May/June 2008).</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/53274232018-07-01T21:54:09-05:002018-07-01T22:27:11-05:00Summer Celebrations of Bolcom's 80th Birthday<p>Bolcom's birthday to be fêted at Grant Park and Cabrillo </p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/571c0e3d6d5774c44deaeea6f94fbd6c8209283d/original/screenshot-2018-07-01-21-51-31.png/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_" />In July, <a contents="Grant Park Music Festival " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/2018season/tchaikovsky5" target="_blank">Grant Park Music Festival </a>guest conductor Dennis Russell Davies celebrates William Bolcom's 80th birthday with two of his works. Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor joins for his Symphony No. 4 ("The Rose"), and the orchestra will also perform the Finale of his 5th Symphony, known as "The Machine." Concerts are on July 6 & 7 at Millennium Park in Chicago. </p>
<p>In August, the <a contents="Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://cabrillomusic.org/event/after-dixieland-orchestra-concert/" target="_blank">Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music </a>in California also commemorates the composer's 80th birthday with his Concerto in D for violin and orchestra. Grammy Award-nominated violinist Philippe Quint (pictured left) performs the work on August 4, with Cristian Măcelaru conducting, at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Bolcom has had prior Cabrillo residencies in 1976 and 1986.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(From the E.B. Marks Summer 2018 eNewsletter. <a contents="Subscribe here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ebmarks.us14.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=2da0b65f8b9cdc5757c7ffc64&id=48db94fd42" target="_blank">Subscribe here</a>.)</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/52781172018-06-05T21:32:48-05:002018-06-05T21:35:57-05:00An American Legend: Composer William Bolcom at 80<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/c6e2e476dccef28a91f260142b843ae16fa13224/original/jennifer-hambrick.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpg" class="size_s justify_right border_" />An interview with classical music radio host Jennifer Hambrick of WOSU Public Media, Columbus, OH </p><!-- more -->
<p><em>He was pivotal in reviving the American musical genre of ragtime. He has composed music in a range of styles that all but erases the lines between art music and popular music. </em></p>
<p><em>And he has taught and mentored some of the foremost composers in America today — including some working right here in Central Ohio. </em></p>
<p><em>Now, he's turning 80. I'd say that's cause for celebration. </em></p>
<p><em>Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer William Bolcom celebrates his birthday this Saturday, May 26. </em></p>
<p>Enjoy a 6-minute interview online at radio.wosu.org. <a contents="http://radio.wosu.org/post/american-legend-composer-william-bolcom-80#stream/0" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://radio.wosu.org/post/american-legend-composer-william-bolcom-80#stream/0" target="_blank">http://radio.wosu.org/post/american-legend-composer-william-bolcom-80#stream/0</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/52780782018-06-05T21:11:44-05:002018-06-05T21:15:05-05:00Wild Plum Arts posts Bolcom videos on "being a composer, and many other things"<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/1b888497de0dc75e8b5f81e7a2642b5192efdb24/original/screenshot-2018-06-05-21-12-58.png/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_" />A non-profit based in the UK, Wild Plum Arts nurtures composers through commission, promotion, and performance.</p><!-- more -->
<p>New videos posted on their website feature interviews with William Bolcom and Joan Morris. As they say, "We like to let composers speak, uninterrupted. Please look out for our growing list of videos and visit our website <a contents="www.wilpldlumarts.org.uk" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.wilpldlumarts.org.uk" style="" target="_blank">www.wilpldlumarts.org.uk</a>."</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>VIDEO 1: </strong>William Bolcom, along with his wife and muse, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, talks to Wild Plum Arts about being an American composer, his legacy, Milhaud, Hindemith, dessert...</p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sXqhVJZ_YkY" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>VIDEO 2:</strong> William Bolcom talks to Wild Plum Arts about his discovery of Scott Joplin in the 1960s and Joplin's (and John Cage's) influence on his work.</p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6WCr9ctS08o" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>VIDEO 3:</strong> William Bolcom on working with Arnold Weinstein, with whom he wrote the twelve Minicab songs, four of which feature in the Wild Plum Arts project "<a contents="The Class of 1938," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/lucy-schaufer-huw-watkins-201806292200" style="" target="_self">The Class of 1938,</a>" a performance in London on June 29, 2018. </p>
<p><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d1t1upAbdRI" width="560"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/52320852018-05-13T15:04:57-05:002018-05-13T15:04:57-05:00The Bolcom Song Project is back with a new song cycle<p>Rayanne Dupuis and Guy Livingston performing in London on June 2 and Paris on June 6</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/f9bddd1d1759faf41ac0a93d329fa3d00e4d440e/original/bolcom-song-project.png/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" />The Bolcom Song Project is back for two concerts in June, 2018! Please join Rayanne Dupuis and Guy Livingston as they celebrate William Bolcom's 80th birthday: June 2nd, 3pm at St John's Smith Square, London, and on June 6th, 8pm, at the Mona Bismarck American Center, Paris. The programmes will include selections from Bolcom's concert repertoire, theatrical and cabaret songs, and will also feature the premiere of the new song cycle - <em>Poèmes libres de droits</em> - written especially for the occasion. Don't miss this musical celebration! </p>
<p><em>Le Bolcom Song Project est de retour pour deux concerts en juin, 2018: à Londres le 2 juin à 15h (St John's Smith Square), ainsi qu’à Paris le 6 juin à 20h (Mona Bismarck American Center). Rayanne Dupuis et Guy Livingston fêteront les 80 ans de William Bolcom en présence du compositeur. Les programmes présenteront une sélection de "songs" de concert et de cabaret, ainsi que la création d'un nouveau cycle de mélodies (Poèmes libres de droits - poésie de Guillaume Apollinaire), composé pour marquer l'événement festif. Une célébration musicale à ne pas manquer! </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reservations: <br>London (10£): www.sjss.org.uk (+44) 020 7222 1061 <br>Paris (15€): rsvp@monabismarck.org (+33) 01 47 23 73 27</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/52207542018-05-07T10:53:06-05:002018-05-07T10:53:06-05:00E.B. Marks Newsletter: William Bolcom Turns 80 <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/ad352bad15a55edc374bf6e853fc3a19db941524/original/a599ce39-3b0e-47c4-9dc8-c2c9aa219c43.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></p>
<p>"We wanted to pay tribute to the busy schedule that he is keeping even at 80; an itinerary not unlike ones he has kept for his entire career.'</p><!-- more -->
<p>From the E.B. Marks Newsletter: <a contents="Read the newsletter online here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://mailchi.mp/08362eb707ab/spring-publications-and-events-541841?e=c9ba10ae9a" target="_blank">Read the newsletter online here</a></p>
<p>William Bolcom turns 80 on May 26th, a fact that we and many others in the music press have mentioned many times thus far this year. Yet, in this month's newsletter - the month of his birthday - we wanted to pay tribute to the busy schedule that he is keeping even at 80; an itinerary not unlike ones he has kept for his entire career. Mr. Bolcom will be spending his actual 80th birthday as he has spent much of his professional life, along with his life and performing partner, singer Joan Morris: on the road (or in the air, to be specific). This year finds him jetting from his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan to New York City to Bellingham, Washington to Los Angeles to Paris and London in a single month. It is no surprise that there are a few World Premieres peppered in as well. In homage, and in awe, we present a little bit of the Bolcom itinerary below. If you squint, we believe you can see him in two places at once. Happy Birthday, Bill! </p>
<p>Photo by Evan Hause: Following the April 29 Birthday Concert at Merkin Hall, New York City. From L to R: Elias Goldstein (violist), Angela Draghicescu (pianist), William Bolcom, Linda Tsatsanis (soprano), Yung-Chiao Wei (bassist). Performers not pictured: Jacob Adams (viola) and Dennis Parker (cello).</p>
<p><br>January 11 - New York Festival of Song, 80th birthday co-celebration with John Corigliano, Juilliard School, New York City (in attendance) </p>
<p>February 11 - World Premiere of The Walrus and the Carpenter (Sasha Cooke, Mezzo, Pei-Yao Wang, Piano), Milton, Massachusetts </p>
<p>March 9 - First Symphony for Band, University of Michigan Symphony Band (in attendance) </p>
<p>March 26 - A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, Soprano Saxophone Concerto, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (in residence at the RED NOTE music festival) </p>
<p>April 9 - Concert-Suite, University of Michigan Symphony Band (in attendance) </p>
<p>April 19-22: Lucrezia staged at Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington </p>
<p>April 23: New York/Carnegie Hall Premiere of Trombone Concerto (Alessi, University of Central Arkansas Band) </p>
<p>April 29: World Premiere of Dark Dreams That Will Not Disappear for Viola and Piano (Jacob Adams, viola and Angela Drăghicescu, piano) at Merkin Hall, New York City (in attendance) REVIEWED </p>
<p>May 1: Bolcom & Morris performance at Mohawk Trail Concerts, Amherst, Massachusetts </p>
<p>May 4-6: Lucrezia staged at San Francisco Conservatory; World Premiere of orchestration </p>
<p>May 4-6: Symphony No. 2 (“Oracles”) performance at Western Washington University (in residence) </p>
<p>May 11-12: Performances of piano music (by Lori Sims) and Symphony No. 1 at The Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Kalamazoo, Michigan (in attendance) </p>
<p>May 20-25: Bolcom & Morris in residence at Songfest, Los Angeles, California </p>
<p>June 1-2: Multiple concerts and a master class at St John’s Smith Square, London, England (in residence) </p>
<p>June 6: The Bolcom Song Project (Rayanne Dupuis, soprano and Guy Livingston, piano), Paris, France (in attendance) </p>
<p>July 6-7: Symphony No. 4 and “Machine” from Symphony No. 5 at Grant Park Music Festival, Dennis Russell Davies, conductor, Chicago, Illinois (in attendance) </p>
<p>August 4: Violin Concerto at the Cabrillo Festival, Santa Cruz, California (in residence) </p>
<p>September 15: World Premiere of An Ann Arbor Saturday by the Ann Arbor Symphony (in attendance) </p>
<p>September 20, 23: World Premiere of Horn Trio (Finehouse, Ficsor, Gross) at University of Denver and Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI (in attendance) </p>
<p>October 20 – November 4: Performances of Dinner At Eight, Wexford Festival Opera, Wexford, Ireland (in residence)</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/52077092018-04-28T14:11:04-05:002018-04-28T14:28:58-05:00Western Washington University hosts Bolcom 80th birthday celebration May 4-6 <p>William Bolcom and Joan Morris coming to Western for Concerts, Master Classes</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/84cc96151cc4d901ba534e21fc533a33158be5c7/original/william-bolcom.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="William Bolcom" />National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize, and Grammy Award-winning composer and pianist William Bolcom comes to Western Washington University May 4-6 for a weekend of concerts and masterclasses in celebration of his 80th birthday. </p>
<p><strong>Performances </strong></p>
<p>Performances are in the WWU Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at the WWU Box Office at (360) 650-6146 or you can <a contents="order online" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=22357&event_val=PM25" target="_blank">order online</a>.</p>
<ul> <li>Friday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. - Music for Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles </li> <li>Saturday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. - Piano Music </li> <li>Sunday, May 6 at 3 p.m. - Music for Voice & Piano, including Bolcom’s opera "Lucrezia." </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Masterclasses </strong></p>
<p>Masterclasses will be held in the WWU Performing Arts Center, and are free and open to the public. </p>
<ul> <li>Saturday, May 5 at 10 a.m. - Piano Masterclass (Concert Hall) </li> <li>Saturday, May 5 at 2 p.m. - Composition Masterclass (Choir Room, 16) </li> <li>Sunday, May 6 at 11 a.m. - Voice Masterclass (Choir Room, 16) </li>
</ul>
<p>A Seattle native, Bolcom won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1988 for "12 New Etudes for Piano," and his setting of William Blake’s "Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience" on the Naxos label won four Grammy Awards in 2005. As a pianist, Bolcom has performed and recorded his own work frequently in collaboration with his wife and musical partner, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris. Cabaret songs, show tunes, and American popular songs of the 20th Century have been their primary specialties in both concerts and recordings.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/52028452018-04-25T22:47:46-05:002018-04-25T22:49:07-05:00Coming Soon: Bolcom Plays Bolcom - on iTunes<p>Twelve Etudes re-release of original Bolcom recording on May 25</p><!-- more -->
<p>Expect the re-release of Bolcom's performances of his Twelve Etudes (1959-66) on the day before Bill’s 80th birthday. He recorded the old LP album 50 years ago. Here is the link for ordering it via iTunes: <a contents="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bolcom-plays-bolcom-twelve-etudes-1959-66/1362045651" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bolcom-plays-bolcom-twelve-etudes-1959-66/1362045651" target="_blank">https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bolcom-plays-bolcom-twelve-etudes-1959-66/1362045651</a></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/e2f5d9b10c3042cfd9d59f321b2aec4425173051/original/screenshot-2018-04-25-22-44-35.png/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/50945372018-02-22T22:15:31-06:002018-02-22T22:15:31-06:00E.B. Marks Newsletter: William Bolcom at 80 <p>"Our esteemed and celebrated composer, William Bolcom, turns 80 on May 26."</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/22b7ea9a160897969c0ee24c4baa043fd9a33aa2/medium/evan-hause.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="" /><span class="font_large"><strong>From the February-March 2018 E.B. Marks Newsletter</strong></span></p>
<p>While activity involving Bolcom's music is always bountiful, this auspicious year has inspired numerous special events and performances. </p>
<p>On January 11, already, the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) gave a lengthy 80th birthday concert at the Juilliard School devoted to Bolcom and his friend, John Corigliano. A "William Bolcom Song Festival" concert took place in January in Paris and will be repeated in June. The Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz, California will present his Violin Concerto on August 4. In May proper, the San Francisco Conservatory will give the World Premiere of a new orchestration of his one-act opera, Lucrezia (libretto by Mark Campbell), itself a work of NYFOS parentage. The Gilmore Festival of Kalamazoo, Michigan will perform his First Symphony and other works. The University of Michigan Symphony Band is performing his complete output for band over the course of the season. The Wexford Festival Opera gives the third performance of his opera Dinner At Eight (also with Campbell) in October and November. (Wexford is a co-commissioner of the opera.) </p>
<p>In March, Illinois State University's RED NOTE Music Festival hosts a Bolcom residency. In April, Western Washington University, in Bolcom's hometown of Bellingham, will stage Lucrezia in its original form, while in May WWU's orchestra will give the 2nd-ever performance of his Second Symphony ("Oracles"). This unique, one-movement symphony, which is the largest of his works from the period in which the friction between atonality and tonality was in highest dudgeon, was last performed by the Seattle Symphony in 1965 in its premiere. </p>
<p>Bolcom has already enjoyed the World Premiere of a new concert song in February, The Walrus and the Carpenter, and one of two major performances at Carnegie Hall in April features the World Premiere of a new work for Viola and Piano entitled Dark Dreams That Will Not Disappear. The other is the New York premiere of the band version of his Trombone Concerto, featuring Joe Alessi with the University of Central Arkansas Band. More World Premieres: a new symphonic opener for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in September, and his Horn Trio in the same month.</p>
<p>Photo: William Bolcom, Evan Hause, General Manager for the Edward B. Marks Music Company<br>NYC, January, 2018 (Photo by Joan Morris)<br> </p>
<p><a contents="View the entire E.B. Marks Newsletter online" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://mailchi.mp/adc47fef0023/spring-publications-and-events-500445?e=%5BUNIQID%5D" style="">View the entire E.B. Marks Newsletter online</a></p>
<p><a contents="Subscribe to the E.B. Marks Newsletter" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://ebmarks.us14.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=2da0b65f8b9cdc5757c7ffc64&id=48db94fd42" target="_blank">Subscribe to the E.B. Marks Newsletter</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/50920092018-02-21T17:27:33-06:002018-02-21T17:54:01-06:00Naxos releases 3-CD album of Bolcom's piano works<p><em>"Bolcom's music has always revolved around works for the instrument on which he still performs as a soloist and accompanist"</em></p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/4a86f4d7efa8588cef1f8094b136456c68d111cc/medium/screenshot-2018-02-21-17-21-07.png" class="size_m justify_right border_thin" alt="" /><span class="font_regular"><strong>BOLCOM, W.: Piano Solo Music (Oppens, Taylor, Finehouse, Olevsky) </strong></span></p>
<p>William Bolcom was awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his 12 New Etudes for piano, and his music has always revolved around works for the instrument on which he still performs as a soloist and accompanist. This collection of mostly première recordings reveals student pieces that negotiate 20th-century musical battles between the avant-garde influences of Boulez and Messiaen and Bolcom’s love of Schumann, as well as later work that embraces the 1960s ragtime revival and draws inspiration from friends and colleagues in every phase of his distinguished six-decade career. Elegantly performed by friends of the composer, this wide-ranging program is summed up by Bolcom as ‘cleaning house’ in the Charles Ives tradition.</p>
<p><a contents="Purchase at arkivmusic.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2262301" target="_blank">Purchase at arkivmusic.com</a></p>
<p>Listen on YouTube: <em>12 Piano Études, Book 3: No. 12, Apotheosis. Slowly, with Majesty</em> · Christopher Taylor</p>
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="qXhPkuy8dks" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/qXhPkuy8dks/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qXhPkuy8dks?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/50903832018-02-08T21:20:00-06:002018-02-20T21:18:12-06:00Wexford Opera announces European premiere of Dinner at Eight <p>Performances in Ireland in October and November, 2018</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/953c6c08ecd828adcb26444f2ac99d755d7794fb/medium/screenshot-2018-02-20-21-14-20.png" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><span class="font_large"><strong>Dinner at Eight</strong></span></p>
<p>William Bolcom (1938–) <br>Libretto by Mark Campbell (1953–) (Silent Night, 2014) <br>Based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber <br>First performance Minnesota Opera, 11 March 2017 </p>
<p>Set in Depression-era Manhattan, the Kaufman–Ferber play revolves around an ill-fated dinner organized by Millicent Jordan, a society hostess labelled “vapid” by the playwrights themselves. In the week preceding the party, Millicent’s husband, Oliver, is diagnosed with a fatal heart disorder and discovers that his struggling shipping line has become the object of a hostile takeover; their daughter Paula’s lover (dissipated matinée idol Larry Renault, also an invitee) stages a theatrical suicide; the guests of honor, an English lord and lady, blow off the engagement and decamp for Florida; and the cook’s pièce de résistance, a much-hyperbolized lobster in aspic, comes crashing to the kitchen floor… In adapting the witty and biting depression-era play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, Pulitzer- Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer William Bolcom (A view from the Bridge, A Wedding ), and renowned librettist Mark Campbell (Silent Night, The Shining, Elizabeth Cree) have created a winning new work that successfully weds American musical comedy and opera.</p>
<p>20 October, 8 p.m. <br>23 October, 8 p.m. <br>26 October, 8 p.m. <br>1 November, 8 p.m. <br>4 November, 8 p.m </p>
<p>A co-production with Minnesota Opera and Atlanta Opera</p>
<p><a contents="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/event/european-premiere-dinner-at-eight/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/event/european-premiere-dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/event/european-premiere-dinner-at-eight/</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/50903422018-02-04T21:15:00-06:002018-02-20T21:13:49-06:00Grant Park Music Festival celebrates Bolcom this summer<p>Choral works, American music in the spotlight at 2018 festival</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/55cbec924c262ae7071b603210c0011a9f117ff0/medium/screenshot-2018-02-20-21-10-15.png" class="size_m justify_right border_" />From chicagoclassicalreview.com:</p>
<p>If you like what the Grant Park Music Festival has been doing in past seasons, then you’re going to like it just as much this summer. </p>
<p>The 2018 installment of Chicago’s lakefront music festival will serve up the same artful mix that has made it the most adventurous and smartly programmed music organization in town. This year’s ten weeks of classical music will include a commissioned world premiere for chorus and orchestra, a healthy dollop of unsung American repertory and a bracing blend of offbeat works along with populist favorites…. </p>
<p>After a 2017 Grant Park season that was lighter than usual on American music, homegrown rep is back with a vengeance this summer at the Pritzker Pavilion. William Bolcom’s 80th birthday will be marked with performances of his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies.</p>
<p>Bolcom's music will be performed on:</p>
<ul> <li>July 6, 2018, 6:30 pm - Jay Pritzker Pavilion </li> <li>July 7, 7:30 pm - Jay Pritzker Pavilion</li>
</ul>
<p><a contents="http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2018/01/choral-works-and-american-music-in-the-spotlight-at-2018-grant-park-music-festival/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2018/01/choral-works-and-american-music-in-the-spotlight-at-2018-grant-park-music-festival/" target="_blank">http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2018/01/choral-works-and-american-music-in-the-spotlight-at-2018-grant-park-music-festival/</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/50597522018-02-03T11:05:32-06:002018-02-03T11:15:11-06:00St. John's Smith Square presents 2-day Bolcom festival in June 2018<p>Five events in London include masterclasses, concerts, and a special appearance by Bolcom & Morris</p><!-- more -->
<h3>Composer Portrait: William Bolcom </h3>
<p>St. John Smith Square in London will welcome William Bolcom and Joan Morris for two days of events encompassing Bolcom’s Gospel Preludes, iconic Cabaret Songs and more. Tickets are available for each event or a two-day pass can be purchased. </p>
<p><strong>Friday, June 1, 10 am: Organ Masterclass: </strong>An open masterclass where William Bolcom works with organists from the Royal Academy of Music on his Gospel Preludes, considered to be amongst his most fascinating and compulsive works. (<a contents="info" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/events/organ-masterclass" style="" target="_blank">More Information</a>)</p>
<p><strong>Friday, June 1, 3 pm: Vocal Masterclass: </strong>William Bolcom is joined by mezzo soprano Joan Morris for a workshop of some of his Cabaret Songs with singers and pianists from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. (<a contents="info" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/events/vocal-masterclass" style="" target="_blank">More Information</a>)</p>
<p><strong>Friday, June 1, 7:30 pm: Joan Morris & William Bolcom: </strong>This evening offers a very rare opportunity to hear the duo in conversation in the first half and performing in the second. (<a contents="info" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/events/joan-morris-william-bolcom" style="" target="_blank">More Information</a>)</p>
<p><strong>Saturday, June 2, 3 pm: Vocal and Choral Concert,</strong> featuring a collection of Bolcom’s vocal and choral works. (<a contents="info" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/events/vocal-choral-concert" style="" target="_blank">More Information</a>)</p>
<p><strong>Saturday, June 2, 7:30 pm: Chamber Concert:</strong> The closing event in a 2-day showcase of award-winning composer, William Bolcom. Chamber music including the European premiere of Bolcom’s Piano Trio. Artists include the Fidelio Trio. (<a contents="info" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/events/chamber-concert" style="" target="_blank">More Information</a>)</p>
<p><strong>Composer Portrait: William Bolcom 2 Day Pass:</strong> <a contents="https://www.sjss.org.uk/book?873583808" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/book?873583808">https://www.sjss.org.uk/book?873583808</a> </p>
<h4>
<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/26a58bfc3928a8df0011f47b4f0f81b99eb9a26e/medium/sjss-exterior-large-1.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_" />About St. John’s Smith Square: </h4>
<p>A unique music venue in central London and a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture, St John’s was designed and built by Thomas Archer and has survived fire, lightning, bomb plots and the Blitz. The beauty of the building is matched by an exceptional acoustic and from its restoration as both church and concert hall in the late 1960s, St John’s has presented some of the finest classical talent in a programme featuring choirs, chamber orchestras and period instrument groups.</p>
<p><a contents="More Information" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.sjss.org.uk/" target="_blank">More Information</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/50903842018-01-16T21:25:00-06:002018-02-20T21:27:34-06:00Chicago Tribune: Grant Park 2018 will celebrate Bolcom's 80th birthday<p>Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 will be led by conductor Dennis Russell Davies on July 6-7</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/6c056eb499268de07a03bb762de7f6a1552a7942/medium/screenshot-2018-02-20-21-25-03.png" class="size_m justify_right border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p>John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, Jan. 9, 2018</p>
<p>... American orchestral music of the last century has few more committed champions than Kalmar. The coming season will bring a typically wide-ranging array of Americana by Charles Ives, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Samuel Barber, Walter Piston and John Vincent, along with pieces by the young American composers Sean Shepherd and Andrew Norman. </p>
<p>“I sometimes wonder why so many American symphonic pieces have disappeared from the repertory,” Kalmar observes. “The reality is that relatively few conductors, even American conductors, have this music in their repertory. It’s music I personally want to do, music our audience expects to hear.” </p>
<p>As a matter of fact, Grant Park 2018 will celebrate the 80th birthday of one of America’s most honored composers, William Bolcom. A week of residency activities will precede concerts on July 6-7 that are to include his Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5, led by conductor Dennis Russell Davies, a longtime advocate of Bolcom’s music.</p>
<p><a contents="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-ent-classical-grant-park-fest-0110-story.html" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-ent-classical-grant-park-fest-0110-story.html" target="_blank">http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-ent-classical-grant-park-fest-0110-story.html</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/49900852017-12-22T13:21:55-06:002017-12-22T13:28:58-06:00University of Michigan celebrates Bolcom's upcoming 80th Birthday <p>Promo video: The U-M Symphony Band presented "Bernstein and Bolcom: Celebrating the American Experience" on November 21. </p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/0b2d58df08a0b2fd90fce43afd8a8422243b866d/medium/screenshot-2017-12-22-13-26-38.png" class="size_m justify_center border_" />The U-M Symphony Band, in celebration of SMTD Emeritus Professor of Composition William Bolcom's upcoming 80th birthday, presented "Bernstein and Bolcom: Celebrating the American Experience" on November 21.This performance was in conjunction with the New York Philharmonic Residency and featured Joseph Alessi (principal trombone) in Bolcom's Trombone Concerto, Anthony McGill (principal clarinet) in Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, and Bolcom's wife Joan Morris in his Four Cabaret Songs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="7Ehf3FKZuIk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/7Ehf3FKZuIk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Ehf3FKZuIk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/49276582017-11-10T13:35:06-06:002017-11-10T13:37:01-06:00Dinner at Eight: Working with the composer<p>A new video from University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance about their production of Bolcom's new opera, Dinner at Eight. </p><!-- more -->
<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="L0wFVe-Kx08" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/L0wFVe-Kx08/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L0wFVe-Kx08?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>The opera runs November 9-12, 2017 at Power Center, University of Michigan, 121 Fletcher St., Ann Arbor, MI. </p>
<p>University Opera Theatre directed by Robert Swedberg; University Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Kathleen Kelly.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/49199872017-11-05T12:17:44-06:002017-11-10T13:37:36-06:00Bolcom Commissioned by International Violin Competition<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/da9e078bbc0c7acfb97f6662450dc93e90011d5a/original/violin-competition.jpg?1509905698" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Bolcom says his Suite No. 3, a competition piece, "should come out differently for each performer."</p><!-- more -->
<p>The International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (IVCI) announced on October 20 that it has commissioned William Bolcom to write the 2018 Commissioned Work for its 10th Quadrennial Competition. Since its inception in 1982, the IVCI has commissioned a work for violin from a world-renowned composer specifically for each Competition. Every participant will feature the world premiere of the work in the Semi-Final round during the 2018 Competition, which commences next August. </p>
<p>Already gestating the idea for his new work, Bolcom has said, “The [solo violin] Suite No. 3 is a group of phantasmagoric character pieces, exploring the solo violin’s dramatic and expressive possibilities. [My] two existing suites are portraits of great violinists Sergiu Luca and Gil Shaham, who each exude an unmistakable personality – but I want Suite No. 3, a competition piece, to be something opposite: a work, pregnant with expressive breadth that should come out differently for each performer.” </p>
<p>“The commissioned work is an integral part of the Semi Final round,” says IVCI Executive Director Glen Kwok. “We are extremely honored that William Bolcom has accepted our invitation to write the required composition for the 10th Quadrennial IVCI Competition.” Jaime Laredo, IVCI Jury President since 1994 and former student of IVCI Artistic Founder Josef Gingold, states that commissioning a new work for each Competition is a twofold advantage. “The work not only showcases the violinists’ interpretive abilities of contemporary music, but also contributes to the growth of the contemporary violin repertoire. To that end, we are proud to have commissioned ten works to date from the world’s most celebrated composers, works which have now become part of the standard violin literature.”</p>
<p>Bolcom has been commissioned for competition works on many occasions, beginning notably with the 1997 Van Cliburn Piano Competition. He has also composed works for the International Guitar Society and the Music Teachers Association of California, among others.</p>
<p><a contents="Read the full press release at violin.org" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.violin.org/sites/default/files/media/William%20Bolcom%20to%20Pen%202018%20IVCI%20Competition%20Solo%20Work.pdf" style="" target="_blank">Read the full press release at violin.org</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/49199822017-11-05T11:59:32-06:002017-11-05T11:59:32-06:00WQXR Commission and World Premiere: Anniversary Rag<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/cb5d1dcb682842ed4236de06533e703b4b8d7ff1/original/group.jpg?1509904239" class="size_l justify_center border_" />The Gaudete Quintet and Bolcom & Morris performed in a live-streamed event for the 40th Anniversary of WQXR's Young Artists Showcase.</p><!-- more -->
<p>Photo caption: Flanked by the Gaudete Brass Quintet are (L-R) composers William Bolcom, Joan Morris, host Robert Sherman, John Corigliano, and Eric Ewazen</p>
<p>On October 24 New York City's classical radio station, WQXR, celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Young Artists Showcase, a weekly radio show hosted by Robert Sherman that has heard performances of such artists as Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Joshua Bell, and Matt Haimovitz early in their careers. For the occasion they commissioned a new piece for brass quintet, <em><strong>Anniversary Rag</strong></em>, from William Bolcom that was premiered by the Gaudete Quintet. Mr. Bolcom and his wife Joan Morris also performed at the event. It may be seen in its entirety online at WQXR's livestream: <a contents="https://livestream.com/accounts/955973/events/7750556" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://livestream.com/accounts/955973/events/7750556" style="" target="_blank">https://livestream.com/accounts/955973/events/7750556</a></p>
<p>Below: Photos from the WQXR Performance (screen captures from the live stream)</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/d29a0473881208ef9f394939a4574cfab0e6b642/original/4.jpg?1509904527" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/ee981de12cedc3087301d1824ec62ee90c08ba9a/original/2.jpg?1509904527" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/91fb4ea43942c0c50355419d11281039e74d47c1/original/3.jpg?1509904239" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/958b247788458e264d4aae68f4f98408dcb73131/original/1.jpg?1509904527" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/49252292017-08-25T20:45:00-05:002017-11-08T20:51:16-06:00"Sextet" gains positive reviews in Oregon, Santa Fe press<p>Critics applaud Bolcom's timely new work for "unusual consort of clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, violin, cello and piano"</p><!-- more -->
<h4>Oregon Artswatch</h4>
<p><em>Terry Ross, July 26, 2017</em></p>
<p>In its six movements, for the unusual consort of clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, violin, cello and piano, all playing in the multitonal, eclectic style that has ruled contemporary music in recent years, Sextet is SERIOUS… The three-minute opening movement Pastorale is anything but; edgy and nervous, it is thoroughly urban in its texture and mood. Then, after a three-minute march and a two-minute Nocturne, we encounter Catastrophe, a rhythmic, bestial outburst reminiscent of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, followed by extreme stillness and then again the outburst. This leads us into the heart of the piece, the fifth movement’s Variation and Theme, based on a Christian hymn called “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” with its conventional harmonies, which is the only truly hopeful section of the piece. Sextet then ends with a one-minute Coda. Coming after the Martinu, it was a breath of musical modernism: not atonal, not relentlessly dissonant, earnest and often quietly expressive. </p>
<p><a contents="Read the complete review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.orartswatch.org/chamber-music-northwest-review-variable-variations/" target="_blank">Read the complete review</a></p>
<p> </p>
<h4>Santa Fe New Mexican - Pasatiempo </h4>
<p><em>James M. Keller, August 25, 2017 </em></p>
<p>The Sextet is indeed dark, though it is not depressing. It seems to honor various composers who have come before. The opening Pastorale may hark back to Stravinsky or, more directly, to Milhaud, who was one of Bolcom’s teachers. Next comes a March; it owes something to Kurt Weill. The Nocturne has a Franco-American flavor reminiscent of early Copland. None of the movements are mere imitation, though, and all of them are convincingly crafted. A gritty, sustained expanse titled <em>Catastrophe</em> serves as a portal to the Variation and Theme, which is not cheerful on the whole. The “Lift Every Voice” melody is worked tightly into the texture, and at one point it is intoned by the trumpet. The moment is reminiscent of a similar turn in the finale of Honegger’s Symphony No. 2, which was written in Paris in 1941, during the Nazi occupation. There a trumpet joins the anxious strings that surround it, sounding a chorale that gleams with resolution and proposes the possibility of triumph even against a background of despair. That was also its effect here. In a coda, Bolcom has the violin whisper what sounded like a phrase from “Rock-a-bye Baby.” Was it intended as that? Was it meant to suggest comfort? Or is it possible that Bolcom’s “taking a chance here” had to do with a more sinister treetop — with lynching? I hope we will have an opportunity to hear this piece again and see what emotions it inspires on a repeat visit.</p>
<p><a contents="Read the complete review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/columns/listen_up/covering-the-musical-waterfront/article_613f4f55-3ee5-52a9-88e3-205eb8f31a7f.html" style="" target="_blank">Read the complete review</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/47645122017-07-02T17:16:44-05:002017-07-02T17:26:38-05:00Premiere publication of "Variations on a Theme of George Rochberg" <p>This piano solo was composed by William Bolcom in 1987 for the occasion of George Rochberg’s 70th birthday. It is comprised of the Rochberg theme and seven variations.</p><!-- more -->
<p>From the composer’s program note: “…I was deeply and emotionally moved by much of George’s music, particularly pieces like <em>Contra Mortem et Tempus</em>….. The theme from the Rochberg Violin Concerto I used for these variations has the same heartbreaking intensity. I used as model – something I rarely do – Brahms’ <em>Variations on a Theme of Schumann</em>.”</p>
<p>Solo Piano - 8:30 </p>
<p>More information - including audio music sample - at <a contents="EBMarks.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/catalog/keyboard/bolcom-william/variations-on-a-theme-by-george-rochberg/" target="_blank">EBMarks.com</a></p>
<p>Purchase score at <a contents="HalLeonard.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=210372" target="_blank">HalLeonard.com</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/47644922017-07-02T16:50:42-05:002017-07-02T17:04:50-05:00Bolcom's New Sextet to Premiere <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/8a60771fcfe999f6976195f296bd2b0beb2b2476/medium/screenshot-2017-07-02-17-00-49.png?1499033028" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>William Bolcom's newest premiere will be a work for sextet, aptly entitled <strong>Sextet</strong>, drawing upon the instrumentation of Bohuslav Martinů's <em>La revue de cuisin </em>for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, violin, cello, and piano.</p><!-- more -->
<p>The work was co-commissioned by <a contents="Chamber Music Northwest" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://cmnw.org/concerts-tickets/2017-summer-festival/jazz-variations-on-an-american-theme1/1051/" target="_blank">Chamber Music Northwest</a>, the <a contents="Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://secure.santafechambermusic.com/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=3268">Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival</a>, and the <a contents="PyeongChang (Great Mountain) Music Festival " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.gmmfs.com/program_eng/ga/ga0101.asp">PyeongChang (Great Mountain) Music Festival </a>in Gangwon, South Korea. Their respective premieres will take place on July 3 (& 4), August 16, and August 6. Mr. Bolcom will be residence at the two U.S. Premieres, and at Chamber Music Northwest he will also perform, with his wife Joan Morris, the narrator part to William Walton's <em>Façade</em>. </p>
<ul> <li><a contents="Read the program note for Sextet from Chamber Music Northwest's website" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://cmnw.org/music/notes/william-bolcom-sextet-2017-world-premiere/904/" target="_blank"><em>Read the program note for Sextet from Chamber Music Northwest's website</em></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Bolcom will also be in residence at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago in August, while the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra will give the West Coast Premiere of his Ninth Symphony on August 11, conducted by Cristian Macelar.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/47102382017-05-15T23:33:12-05:002017-05-15T23:54:30-05:00Chicago Tribune: Lucrezia "draws a lively staging from Chicago Fringe Opera"<p>"Tangos, fandangos, waltzes, even snatches of ragtime and jazz pepper Bolcom's musical pastiche" </p><!-- more --><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/07a06cafdff1433ebc8c1944d72233b426853b96/large/lucrezia-01-jpg-20170507.jpg?1494908992" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><p>May 7, 2017: Critic John von Rhein writes: ...Bolcom's gifts as a composer for the lyric stage are readily apparent regardless of the stylistic nests he raids. "Lucrezia," set in 19th-century Spain, is a sly contemporary take on the popular Spanish music theater tradition known as zarzuela. Tangos, fandangos, waltzes, even snatches of ragtime and jazz pepper Bolcom's musical pastiche, accompanied by piano four hands and punctuating Campbell's pun-laced libretto. Silly sophistication, if you will, and no less enjoyable for it....</p><br>...Bolcom's immense skills as a songwriter bestriding the classical and popular realms are on winning display in the cabaret prelude to the show.<br><br><br><a contents="Read the whole review here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-fringe-opera-lucrezia-review-ent-0508-20170507-column.html" target="_blank">Read the whole review here</a>.<br> William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/46822922017-04-23T17:32:45-05:002017-04-23T17:32:45-05:00Chicago Fringe Opera presents Lucrezia May 6-13<p>Four hands, two pianos, and a stellar cast light up the stage in "game of seduction and love, riddled with humor"</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/d8c6ae50c196d2d52b8c29e3ad2571afe438845a/original/screenshot-2017-04-23-17-25-17.png?1492986609" class="size_l justify_center border_" />May 6, 9, 11 and 13. Chicago Fringe opens with a pre-show cabaret — complete with cash bar — featuring the cast of “Lucrezia” singing a selection of Bolcom’s best art songs. In the 50 minute opera Lucrezia, an intelligent seductress, takes charge of her own needs and tricks her suitors into not only giving her pleasure, but also their money. A game of seduction and love, riddled with humor and coy femininity, “Lucrezia” features the iconic art song style of Bolcom with a pun-laced libretto by Mark Campbell. <br><br>Tickets & Information <a contents="http://www.chicagofringeopera.com/event/lucrezia/#event_info" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.chicagofringeopera.com/event/lucrezia/#event_info" target="_blank">http://www.chicagofringeopera.com/event/lucrezia/#event_info</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/46729992017-04-16T13:14:37-05:002017-04-16T17:59:16-05:00Opera America: Creators in Concert | William Bolcom, Composer<p>Watch an interview with William Bolcom and a concert of his vocal works presented by Opera America in New York City. The event was streamed live on April 6, 2017.</p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="Download the Event Program" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://operaamerica.org/Files/Programs/2017/0406_Creators_Bolcom.pdf" target="_blank">Download the Event Program</a><br><br>Featuring Performances By: </p>
<p>Mikaela Bennett, soprano <br>Amy Owens, soprano <br>Chelsea Shephard, soprano <br>Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano <br>Adrian Rosas, bass-baritone <br>Michael Barrett, music director and pianist <br>Leann Osterkamp, pianist</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/axR_6_6fPFk" width="853"></iframe>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/46635442017-04-08T12:47:20-05:002017-04-16T10:40:29-05:00Stereophile: William Bolcom's Delightful Piano Rags <p><a contents="Stereophile:&nbsp;William Bolcom's Delightful Piano Rags&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/william-bolcoms-delightful-piano-rags#e5C0xKwCjiKyiTvp.97" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/410e4f66aab6147833fd18fa2fd0f2485e9d9986/small/2242348.jpg?1487641267" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="BOLCOM: Piano Rags" /></a><br><em>"Music that is witty, engaging, and filled with surprises—music written with a twinkle in the eye"</em></p><!-- more -->
<p><br><br><a contents="Stereophile:&nbsp;William Bolcom's Delightful Piano Rags&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/william-bolcoms-delightful-piano-rags#e5C0xKwCjiKyiTvp.97" target="_blank">Stereophile: William Bolcom's Delightful Piano Rags </a><br>By Jason Victor Serinus • Posted: Apr 1, 2017 <br><br>Hankering for recorded music that is witty, engaging, and filled with surprises—music written with a twinkle in the eye? Check out the Spencer Myer's new Steinway & Sons recording of the Piano Rags of William Bolcom (b. 1938). Also available as a hi-rez download, Myer's delightful takes on Bolcom's rags dispel any notion that the rag is a predictable but ultimately limited art form. ... </p>
<p>...From Bolcom's first rags, the Three Classical Rags, to his latest efforts, Estela: Rag Latino, Knockout: A Rag," and The Brooklyn Dodge, which were completed by 1998, it is clear that the form inspires his mind to fire on all cylinders. <br> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/46635272017-04-08T12:08:31-05:002017-04-16T13:25:33-05:00World premiere of Dinner at Eight: "Sparkling, imaginative...deft, astute"<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/caf7370cac7181838e7a266c6db3723e7ade28cb/original/silhouettes.jpg?1491669895" class="size_l justify_center border_" />A new American opera takes an 85-year old American situational tragi-comedy and draws parallels with our own time.</p><!-- more -->
<p>William Bolcom & Mark Campbell's <em>Dinner At Eight</em> fulfilled its promise as a quintessentially American new opera by taking an 85-year old American situational tragi-comedy and drawing obvious parallels with our own time. In other words, there is a "the more things change (in America) the more they stay the same" undercurrent that is hard to miss. The impressive Minnesota Opera, which has presented 45 opera premieres in its 54-year history, fired optimally on all cylinders, and every facet of the work and its production was roundly praised the Minneapolis Star Tribune. After a Fall production at the University of Michigan, "D@8" heads to Wexford, Ireland in 2018, and soon thereafter to the Atlanta Opera.<br><br><em>Minnesota Opera's version of the classic story boasts a sparkling, imaginative score by William Bolcom and a deft, astute libretto by Mark Campbell. ...Typical of Bolcom’s work, the score draws on a wide range of idioms — marches, waltzes, tangos — along with tangy harmonies and atmospheric etches. Although “Dinner at Eight” is definitely an opera, Bolcom’s music feels in places like a Broadway musical of the early ’30s. </em>-- Michael Anthony, Star Tribune</p>
<p><a contents="Read the full Minneapolis Star Tribune review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.startribune.com/depression-era-manhattan-sets-tempo-for-minnesota-opera-s-dinner-at-eight/416133254/">Read the full Minneapolis Star Tribune review</a><br><br><a contents="View Minnesota Opera's video playlist for Dinner at Eight - a total of 11 videos" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXBxqtlAtQylLI3NB-XobVYj-AlzkFajo" target="_blank">View Minnesota Opera's video playlist for Dinner at Eight - a total of 11 videos</a><br><br> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="font_large">Minnesota Opera Trailer for Dinner at Eight</span></strong><br> </p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PP8M3bMg0aM?list=PLXBxqtlAtQylLI3NB-XobVYj-AlzkFajo" width="853"></iframe></div>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/46635402017-04-06T12:40:00-05:002017-04-16T10:33:32-05:00Dinner at Eight: Advance press and praise<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/c6f3d84bc724f4938c8335305f92621d5973277b/original/breath-of-fresh-air.jpg?1491673030" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><span class="font_regular">Advance press and reviews from Minneapolis Star Tribune, MinnPost, Twin Cities Arts Reader, Lavender Magazine, Opera Wire set the stage for Bolcom's new opera.</span></p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="Star Tribune Review: Depression-era Manhattan sets tempo for Minnesota Opera's 'Dinner at Eight'&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.startribune.com/depression-era-manhattan-sets-tempo-for-minnesota-opera-s-dinner-at-eight/416133254/" target="_blank">Star Tribune Review: Depression-era Manhattan sets tempo for Minnesota Opera's 'Dinner at Eight' </a><br><em>Minnesota Opera's version of the classic story boasts a sparkling, imaginative score by William Bolcom and a deft, astute libretto by Mark Campbell. </em><br>Michael Anthony, March 14, 2017 </p>
<p><em>...Typical of Bolcom’s work, the score draws on a wide range of idioms — marches, waltzes, tangos — along with tangy harmonies and atmospheric etches. Although “Dinner at Eight” is definitely an opera, Bolcom’s music feels in places like a Broadway musical of the early ’30s. </em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="Twin Ciites Arts Reader review: Dinner at Eight‘s Splendid Comic Melodrama (Minnesota Opera)&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://twincitiesarts.com/2017/03/14/review-splendid-dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">Twin Ciites Arts Reader review: Dinner at Eight‘s Splendid Comic Melodrama (Minnesota Opera)</a><br>Basil Considine - March 14, 2017<br><br><em>Bolcom’s clever score is written in his later idiom, with the melodies living somewhere not too far from but outside of common practice tonality. The vocal writing is frequently lyrical and beautiful, although where it ends up might surprise you – some passages recall Debussy’s use of the whole tone scale, for example. The orchestra frequently interjects rhythmic pulses and sardonic comments, as in the duet “Our Town” (this piece seems destined to be known as “The Money Duet”).</em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="Twin Cities Arts Reader review: Dinner&nbsp;Dinner at Eight, Performance Edition (Minnesota Opera)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://twincitiesarts.com/2017/03/14/review-dinner-at-eight-performances/">Twin Cities Arts Reader review: Dinner Dinner at Eight, Performance Edition (Minnesota Opera)</a><br>Basil Considine - March 14, 2017</p>
<p><em>One of the features of the score is that it provides each major character with small moments of arioso passages within the larger scenes. As businessman Oliver Jordan, for example, Stephen Powell captures well the pathos and insecurities of a man haunted by the economic collapse around him. Susannah Biller, as Kitty Packard, is gifted with some of the most playful and memorable moments in the score as she musically teases and manipulates. ,,, The central narrative of Dinner at Eight revolves around Millicent Jordan (Mary Dunleavy)’s sometimes frantic party planning. Dunleavy is an engaging hostess, going for broke on the more melodramatic passages (of which there are many) and milking them for comedic gold.</em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="Star Tribune: Minnesota Opera's 'Dinner at Eight' is distinctly American 'Broadway/opera hybrid'&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-opera-s-dinner-at-eight-is-distinctly-american-broadway-opera-hybrid/415785454/" target="_blank">Star Tribune: Minnesota Opera's 'Dinner at Eight' is distinctly American 'Broadway/opera hybrid' </a><br>Minnesota Opera's latest world premiere is a distinct hybrid with American music and characters. <br>Terry Blain , March 9, 2017 </p>
<p><em>Bolcom’s “very American” score features a colorful mix of different idioms and influences — think Broadway swagger and brassy marching band rhythms, interspersed with more intimate passages. </em></p>
<p><em>Bolcom is known for his refusal to adhere to a single musical style, which can be a frustration for those charged with assessing his work. “It has been the bane of critics,” he said. “They don’t know where to put me.”</em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="MinnPost Feature: Minnesota Opera's latest: Bolcom, Campbell transform 'Dinner at Eight'&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.minnpost.com/arts-culture/2017/03/minnesota-operas-latest-bolcom-campbell-transform-dinner-eight" target="_blank">MinnPost Advance Feature: Minnesota Opera's latest: Bolcom, Campbell transform 'Dinner at Eight' </a><br>Michael Anthony, March 10, 2017<br><br><em>...When Bolcom suggested “Dinner at Eight,” Campbell read the play. He hadn’t much liked the movie. But the play impressed him. “There were so many different characters I could write text for,” he said. “It was a story about survival during the Depression. And I also wanted to work with Bill. This is a piece that allows him to do what he does better than anyone else, and that’s to explore his American sound. I don’t think anyone can write opera the way he does, by that I mean having an American inflection in the music.”</em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="Twin Cities Arts Reader: Preview - Dinner at Eight (Minnesota Opera)&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://twincitiesarts.com/2017/03/10/preview-dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">Twin Cities Arts Reader: Preview - Dinner at Eight (Minnesota Opera) </a><br>Basil Considine - March 10, 2017 </p>
<p><em>Campbell noted, it “features marital infidelity, financial ruin, social opportunism, a fatal disease, and a suicide.” Suicide? Well, this is a Great Depression-era piece, albeit humorous overall. As Campbell added, “Naturally, it’s a comedy.” If you can’t laugh at your troubles, you can laugh at others’.</em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="Lavender Magazine 5Q: Dinner at Eight - Interview with Mark Campbell&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.lavendermagazine.com/our-scene/5q-dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">Lavender Magazine 5Q: Dinner at Eight - Interview with Mark Campbell </a><br>Shane Lueck March 9, 2017 </p>
<p><em>The audience will hear real tunes in this opera and real tunes are always built from structured lyrics, often using traditional song structure forms. I also use rhyme in this libretto, but often limit it to the final couplet of a musical moment so that the work won’t sound too much like a musical and we keep the balance between the two forms.</em></p>
<hr><p><a contents="Opera Wire: Q &amp; A: Director Tomer Zvulun on ‘Dinner At Eight’s’ Comedic Drama &amp; Contemporary Importance&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://operawire.com/q-a-director-tomer-zvulun-on-dinner-at-eights-comedic-drama-contemporary-importance/" target="_blank">Opera Wire: Q & A: Director Tomer Zvulun on ‘Dinner At Eight’s’ Comedic Drama & Contemporary Importance </a><br>David Salaza, March 8, 2017 </p>
<p><em>I think that the genius of “Dinner at Eight” is that it isn’t just a comedy. It isn’t just on the surface and entertaining. It is a profound comedy with a lot of darkness in it. …. The music connects great American Opera with Great American musical theater. Will [Bolcom] and Mark [Campbell]’s connection to great American music really comes through. There are some great tunes in it. </em></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/45994892017-02-20T19:43:04-06:002017-02-20T19:43:04-06:00New Bolcom/Campbell Opera "Dinner At Eight" Previews and Premieres <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/ce065e87e1d31f0c754c33d9f078db8a62e59b2b/medium/screenshot-2017-02-20-19-22-54.png?1487640415" class="size_m justify_right border_" />William Bolcom's fourth major opera, <em><strong>Dinner At Eight</strong></em>, based on the 1932 play by Edna Ferber and George Kaufman, will receive its World Premiere by the Minnesota Opera on March 11 (repeating March 16, 18 & 19). Tickets are available now at <a contents="mnopera.org" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.mnopera.org/season/2016-2017/dinner-at-eight/" target="_blank">mnopera.org</a>.</p><!-- more -->
<p>This is Bolcom's second stage work written with one of America's most successful and in-demand current librettists Mark Campbell. Concertgoers in New York City will have the opportunity to hear several songs performed by the New York Festival of Song at Merkin Concert Hall on February 21, and members of the new opera community were treated by the Minnesota Opera to same at a private January 13 event at Feinstein's 54 Below. For your own taste of this masterful new tragicomedic opera, check out this preview video.<br><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tXM3Py4IDAE?rel=0" width="853"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/45995402017-02-20T19:42:32-06:002017-02-20T19:42:32-06:00New Piano Rags CD released on Steinway label<p>Spencer Myer's latest CD -- Piano Rags of William Bolcom -- is now available on the Steinway & Sons label.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/410e4f66aab6147833fd18fa2fd0f2485e9d9986/medium/2242348.jpg?1487641267" class="size_m justify_left border_" />For this project, he has chosen a terrific collection of Rags by the eminent American composer William Bolcom. Featuring some of the newest Rags as well as classics, this album displays Bolcom’s ingenious approach to a favorite keyboard medium. This carefully selected collection of Rags includes three of Bolcom’s latest compositions: Estela: Rag Latino, Knockout: A Rag, and The Brooklyn Dodge. The Boston Globe lauded Spencer Meyer for “superb playing” and “poised, alert musicianship.” His orchestral, recital, and chamber music performances have been heard across the United States, Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia.<br><br><a contents="Purchase at Arkivmusic.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2242348" target="_blank">Purchase at Arkivmusic.com</a><br><a contents="Purchase on iTunes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/william-bolcom-piano-rags/id1191953040" target="_blank">Purchase on iTunes</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/45994912017-02-20T19:33:01-06:002017-02-20T19:33:27-06:00Dream Music No. 1 & Fantasy-Sonata, Night Pieces now available via Hal Leonard<p>Some of William Bolcom’s earliest and most complex piano solos are now available in an excellent volume featuring new engravings and explanatory and programmatic notes by the composer.</p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="Dream Music No. 1 &amp; Fantasy-Sonata&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=210360" target="_blank">Dream Music No. 1 & Fantasy-Sonata </a></p>
<p>Two of William Bolcom’s earliest and most complex piano solos are now available in this excellent volume featuring new engravings and explanatory and programmatic notes by the composer. Fantasy-Sonata (1961) exhibits a youthful enthusiasm for the European triumvirate of Boulez-Berio-Stockhausen dating from his period of study in Paris, as well as an abiding fondness for Charles Ives. Dream Music No. 1 (1965) expands on this influence from a time when Bolcom was a pianist at Pierre Boulez’s Domaine Musical in Paris </p>
<p><a contents="Night Pieces&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=210361" target="_blank">Night Pieces </a></p>
<p>Composed in 1960 while Bolcom was studying in Paris, <em>Night Pieces</em> is dedicated to composer David Chaitkin (1938-2011). </p>
<p>All above works were previously issued on MarksPrint, and both may be heard on a forthcoming Naxos recording of never-before-recorded Bolcom piano works featuring pianists Ursula Oppens and Christopher Taylor.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/45553722017-01-18T19:57:13-06:002017-01-18T20:06:46-06:00New York Times - "a feisty, colorful account of Bolcom’s fantastical, blues-tinged Trombone Concerto"<p>Anthony Tommasini's review of the Dec. 28 NYC Philharmonic concert praised the new concerto featuring Joseph Alessi, who played "dazzlingly."</p><!-- more -->
<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/aad6c880e7145691260996b5c297ec0001aab46b/medium/screenshot-2017-01-18-19-57-48.png?1484791593" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>An excerpt from the New York Times, December 30, 2016</strong><br>[Conductor Alan Gilbert] chose two nicely complementary works for the first half of the program, which opened with another kind of urban portrait: Copland’s contemplative “Quiet City,” scored for English horn (Grace Shryock), trumpet (Christopher Martin) and strings. Then he led a feisty, colorful account of William Bolcom’s fantastical, blues-tinged Trombone Concerto, written for the Philharmonic’s superb principal trombonist, Joseph Alessi, who played dazzlingly. The orchestra gave the premiere of this piece in June as part of its NY Phil Biennial. It was good to hear it again.<br><br><a contents="Read the entire review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/30/arts/music/review-wynton-marsalis-symphony-four-the-jungle-new-york-philharmonic.html" target="_blank">Read the entire review</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/45540812017-01-17T21:59:32-06:002017-01-18T20:32:28-06:00Financial Times: "Bolcom’s Trombone Concerto was the centrepiece"<p>Martin Bernheimer's Jan. 6 review says Bolcom's new concerto is "wild and somewhat wondrous... appeals with breathless urgency."</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/cb72f0a875d08fbdf50629c320b0c81df866fde4/small/screenshot-2017-01-17-21-58-09.png?1484711914" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="Joseph Alessi" /><strong>New York Philharmonic/Gilbert, David Geffen Hall, New York</strong><br>William Bolcom’s Trombone Concerto was the centrepiece of a modernist programme</p>
<p>Read the entire review here:<br><a contents="https://www.ft.com/content/ddc05bf4-d409-11e6-b06b-680c49b4b4c0" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.ft.com/content/ddc05bf4-d409-11e6-b06b-680c49b4b4c0" target="_blank">https://www.ft.com/content/ddc05bf4-d409-11e6-b06b-680c49b4b4c0</a></p>
<p>"The evening’s centrepiece involved William Bolcom’s wild and somewhat wondrous Trombone Concerto, which the same forces introduced only last June. Now as then, it provided Joseph Alessi with a splendid opportunity to display super-human bravado, also super-human bravura, for 21 minutes nonstop. The score appeals more to the head than the heart, but it fashions that appeal with breathless urgency. The jaunty showpiece may be exhausting for the audience, but Alessi soared over every intricate obstacle as if it were a piffling joke."</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/46837212017-01-08T21:05:00-06:002017-04-24T21:03:34-05:00NY Classical Review: Alan Gilbert, NY Philharmonic explore New York states of mind <p>NY Classical Review: Gilbert, Philharmonic explore New York states of mind with Marsalis premiere, Copland and Bolcom</p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="Read the full review at newyorkclassicalreview.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2016/12/gilbert-philharmonic-explore-new-york-states-of-mind-with-marsalis-premiere-copland-and-bolcom/"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/4e1a708187b975785cad63524a1bffdf0ca56595/original/screenshot-2017-04-24-21-02-53.png?1493085789" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Read the full review at newyorkclassicalreview.com</a><br>By George Grella, December 29, 2016</p>
<p>[excerpt]<br>...Composers talk about how getting a second performance is so much harder than the first. It’s a cliché that softens the hard truth—second performances of new pieces are notoriously difficult to engage and that much more valuable.<br><br>So William Bolcom, who was in the hall, must have been that much more heartened that the Philharmonic was giving his Trombone Concerto a second go-round, just six months after the Philharmonic’s world premiere performances, which also featured Alessi. </p>
<p>Familiarity for the listener, and more importantly the musicians, meant a sense of comfort that emphasized the formal and expressive abundance in the music. The trombone’s lines oppose the fractured chorales interspersed through the first movement, and lead the music along. Bolcom’s melodies are characteristically graceful, and in the Trombone Concerto he subtly interweaves fragments of the solo part into the orchestra’s accompaniment. </p>
<p>The second movement “Blues” came off as more natural, soulful, and songful than at the premiere. It sounded like an aria for trombone, with Alessi’s strong, mellow tone the classic lonely voice amid the crowd of the city. His playing, and that of the Philharmonic, was full of warmth and meaning, and this second experience showed music that is full of charm, strangeness, and beauty. This is a major addition to the concerto literature. </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/44115892016-10-09T18:37:03-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00World Premiere Recording: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Band<p>Commissioned by a consortium of ten saxophonists and their affiliated ensembles, under the coordination of soloist Christopher Creviston, conductor Gary W. Hill and the Arizona State University School of Music. The world premiere recording on February 2, 2016 is now available on <a contents="iTunes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/william-bolcom-concerto-for/id1146470827?ign-mpt=uo%3D4" target="_blank">iTunes</a>.</p><!-- more -->
<p><br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/william-bolcom-concerto-for/id1146470827?ign-mpt=uo%3D4" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/0b941f07a88a4e2c9e879b86f416e711a4367938/original/sax-and-band-cd-cover.jpg?1476055998" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/44115702016-10-09T18:25:52-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00Just announced: All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4X4<p>A jam-packed festival celebrating the depth and breadth of string quartet composition and performance, featuring four of the world’s most diverse and celebrated quartets performing works by classic and modern composers. Compositions by William Bolcom and the stellar playing of The Shanghai Quartet are featured at every performance. Presented at the Alexander Kasser Theater by Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/1bf06ad85be1206f82ecf291484ce8a2cd1df786/original/4x4festival.jpg?1476055495" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>William Bolcom's 12th String Quartet is the result of a commission by Peak Performances at Montclair State University for the Shanghai Quartet, and will receive its World Premiere on April 2, 2017 in Montclair, New Jersey in a special Bolcom mini-festival focused squarely on the intersection of the composer and the string quartet genre. Called the All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4x4, it is described by critic Ronni Reich: "Fitting itself to Bolcom's ability to veer off the road of classical tradition while upholding his elastic yet exacting technique, the festival will feature ensembles that follow suit: the Harlem Quartet, the Chiara String Quartet, the Arditti Quartet, and the Shanghai Quartet." The four-concert festival takes place at the Alexander Kasser Theatre on the campus of MSU on March 31, April 1 (2 concerts) and April 2. </p>
<p>This sensational festival is not to be missed. <a contents="Tickets and more are here.&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.peakperfs.org/peak-programming-2016-17/all-terrain/" target="_blank">Tickets and more are here.</a></p>
<p><br><strong>The Harlem Quartet </strong><br>All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4 x 4 <br>Mar 31, 2017 7:30 pm <br>The Harlem Quartet opens the festival with an evening of classic and jazzier quartet fare, performing works by Mozart, Dizzy Gillespie, Hernandez, Valdes, Bolcom, and Golijov. Special appearances by John Patitucci and The Shanghai Quartet. </p>
<p><strong>Chiara String Quartet </strong><br>All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4 x 4 <br>Apr 1, 2017 5:00 pm <br>The brilliant young Chiara String Quartet, known for playing without sheet music, performs works by Jefferson Friedman, Gabriela Lena Frank, and William Bolcom. With special guest The Shanghai Quartet. </p>
<p><strong>Arditti Quartet </strong><br>All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4 x 4 <br>Apr 1, 2017 8:00 pm <br>In a rare U.S. appearance, the celebrated Arditti Quartet performs Bolcom’s Eighth Quartet and, with Eliot Fisk on guitar, the NY/NJ Premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Guitar Quartet and Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 5, which was composed specifically for Arditti. The Shanghai Quartet joins the Arditti Quartet to perform Chaya Czernowin's Anea Crystal. </p>
<p><strong>World Premiere - 12th Quartet <br>The Shanghai Quartet </strong><br>All Terrain String Festival: Bolcom 4 x 4 <br>Apr 2, 2017 3:00 pm <br>The All Terrain String Festival concludes with The Shanghai Quartet performing the world premiere of Willam Bolcom's 12th Quartet, commissioned by Peak Performances.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/43711422016-09-13T21:35:57-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00Newly published: A Schumann Bouquet, Romantic Pieces<p>From Edward B. Marks Music Company comes word of two new releases, including the first engraving of <em>Romantic Pieces</em> (1958-60).</p><!-- more -->
<p><strong>A Schumann Bouquet PREMIERE PUBLICATION! </strong><br>for Saxophone Quartet <br>A suite of six movements drawn from Robert Schumann's piano pieces for young people, selected and transcribed by William Bolcom for saxophone quartet, especially for his friends the PRISM Quartet who premiered them in March. <a contents="Now available!" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/catalog/chamber/schumann-robert/a-schumann-bouquet/" target="_blank">Now available!</a></p>
<p><strong>Romantic Pieces (1958-60) NEW ENGRAVING! </strong><br>This early piano solo is remarkably forward-looking in Bolcom's oeuvre. At a time when he was inclined to compose in a more maximal, "Boulezian" style, he produced this panoramic, 7-movement, neo-Classical, neo-Baroque, "neo-Bolcom" opus which will be heard for the first time on recording on a forthcoming 3-CD set from Naxos. Available in manuscript for years, Marks now offers the work engraved. (PS-We kept the cover.) Available at <a contents="At Subito Music." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://store.subitomusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_101_1049&products_id=6605" target="_blank">Subito Music.</a></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/280c008bc793ebfc20132866f83bc9faf407ac39/large/bolcom-romantic-pieces-webcover1.png?1473819543" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/43710892016-09-13T21:07:11-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00"A romp from start to finish, but a romp with heart"<p>William Bolcom's opera "A Wedding" was highly praised in local reviews of American music presented at the Aspen Music Festival in late July.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/0b30f82035244846c5caebbc94b1724c3c01c3aa/original/dt-common-streams-streamserver.jpg?1473819241" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Of "A Wedding," the Aspen Times wrote: </p>
<p><em>It’s a romp from start to finish, but a romp with heart....More tightly constructed than the film, the opera feels more focused, and Bolcom’s music adds color and shadings, using operatic set pieces to bring the conflicts to life...the juicy singing and comedy paved the way for an evening that kept a near-capacity audience in its seats to the end—which doesn’t always happen with contemporary opera. </em><br><br>Photo: From Aspen Music Festival's production of "A Wedding" by William Bolcom <br><br><a contents="Read the complete review: A crowd pleasing weekend at the Music Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.aspentimes.com/news/23215986-113/review-a-crowd-pleasing-weekend-at-the-music-festival">Read the complete review: A crowd pleasing weekend at the Music Festival</a><br><br> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/42962112016-07-26T20:22:53-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00NYFOS Song of the Day: "His Manner is Gentle"<p>New York Festival of Song's blog <a contents="No Song is Safe From Us" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://blog.nyfos.org/william-bolcom-manner-gentle-lucrezia" target="_blank">No Song is Safe From Us</a> highlights Sasha Cooke's performance of "His Manner is Gentle" from Bolcom's <em><strong>Lucrezia</strong></em><br> </p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/3a597ed1006fda779e6dbf8b48af030fdbda6e63/original/screenshot-2016-07-26-20-23-49.png?1469582648" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Stiven Blier recalls how: ...[Sasha Cooke] sang beautifully, and that night led to a bunch of other appearances with us, including the world premiere of two one-act operas with libretti by Mark Campbell: Bastianello, with music by John Musto, and Lucrezia, with music by William Bolcom. This was one of our biggest commissions ever, and we needed our A-list players. </p>
<p>Both of those operas gave Sasha a chance to exhibit her first-class chops as a comedienne (where did she learn such perfect comic timing?), and playing the title role in Lucrezia she also got a rare onstage opportunity to be a sexpot....<br><br><a contents='Read the rest of the story at "No Song is Safe From Us"' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://blog.nyfos.org/william-bolcom-manner-gentle-lucrezia" target="_blank">Read the rest of the story at "No Song is Safe From Us"</a><br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="FUubqLO4Bkc" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/FUubqLO4Bkc/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FUubqLO4Bkc?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="300" width="400" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/42353962016-06-17T11:41:13-05:002016-06-17T11:41:52-05:00Premiere of Trombone Concerto receives warm reception in NYC <p>The New York Times and New York Classical Review praised the world premiere of William Bolcom’s Trombone Concerto, featuring the Philharmonic’s principal trombonist, Joseph Alessi. </p><!-- more -->
<p><strong><a contents="Review: NY Phil Biennial’s Ambitious Wrap-Up, From Boulez to Bolcom&nbsp;&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/arts/music/review-ny-phil-biennials-ambitious-wrap-up-from-boulez-to-bolcom.html" target="_blank">Review: NY Phil Biennial’s Ambitious Wrap-Up, From Boulez to Bolcom</a></strong><br>Anthony Tommasini, June 12, 2016 </p>
<p>…the mood was festive for a program offering a look at what’s going on with American concertos these days. It began with the premiere of William Bolcom’s Trombone Concerto, featuring the Philharmonic’s formidable principal trombonist, Joseph Alessi. The premiere coincided with the 45th annual International Trombone Festival at the Juilliard School. Speaking from the stage, Mr. Bolcom asked the trombonists in attendance to stand up. What looked like many dozens did. </p>
<p><a contents="Two American concertos receive strong advocacy at Philharmonic Biennial&nbsp;&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2016/06/two-american-concertos-given-strong-advocacy-at-philharmonic-biennial/" target="_blank"><strong>Two American concertos receive strong advocacy at Philharmonic Biennial </strong></a><br>George Grella, June 11, 2016 </p>
<p>…Bolcom is a fine composer, with music that provides classical sophistication and concert-hall structure to the Great American Songbook, jazz, and blues. His Trombone Concerto—co-commissioned by the Philharmonic—is a prime example. In three movements, the piece nods at Beethoven and Renaissance vocal music in the first movement. Titled “Quasi una fantasia,” it is full of modal counterpoint and chorales. The middle movement has a blues in 6/8 time and concludes with some impressive orchestral jazz.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/42041882016-05-30T23:33:27-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00Music In The Making: National Chamber Music Month <p>Houston Public Media featured Bolcom's Piano Quintet on its program "Music In The Making" on May 27, 2016. In honor of National Chamber Music Month the program showcased works by Bolcom, Reinecke and Bragato. <a contents="Listen to the program online" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/arts-culture/2016/05/27/153248/music-in-the-making-national-chamber-music-month/" target="_blank">Listen to the program online</a></p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="Listen to the program online" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/arts-culture/2016/05/27/153248/music-in-the-making-national-chamber-music-month/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/6399863f7a6d0477e882be26ce24270298b9d73a/medium/hpm-horiz.png?1464669142" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></a>On this week’s episode of Music in the Making, we’re continuing our celebration of National Chamber Music Month, featuring works for quintets, trios and duos!<br><br>Our first selection comes from one of the most well-known composers of our time — William Bolcom. Bolcom has become widely known for his symphonies (perhaps you remember when the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra premiered his Ninth Symphony in 2012). However, Bolcom wrote in various other genres including piano rags, gospel organ preludes, cabaret songs and even three musical theatre works. In comparison to these, this next piece is one of his more classically conventional works.</p>
<p>William Bolcom – Piano Quintet <br>Kyung Sun Lee and Sophia Silvos, violins; Wayne Brooks, viola; Kevin Dvorak, cello; Brian Suits, piano <br>Moores Opera House <br>2/8/2011 </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/42039782016-05-30T19:56:00-05:002016-05-30T19:58:13-05:00World Premiere Publication: Night Pieces<p>Edward B. Marks Music announces the world premiere publication of William Bolcom's <a contents="Night Pieces" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/catalog/keyboard/bolcom-william/night-pieces/"><em><strong>Night Pieces</strong></em></a> (1960) for solo piano. Composed in 1960 while Bolcom was studying in Paris, <em><strong>Night Pieces</strong></em> is dedicated in honor of the wedding of his friend and fellow composer, David Chaitkin (1938-2011). Forthcoming on a new album of piano recordings on the Naxos label in late 2016.</p><!-- more -->
<p>A major Naxos CD of William Bolcom's piano music -- all of it that has never before been recorded -- will be released this year, and Marks is busy producing the sheet music to accompany it. <em><strong>Night Pieces</strong></em> is a part of this project.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/41394202016-04-16T11:59:55-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00"New" String Quartets from Bolcom's early years published for the first time<p>Edward B. Marks Music announces the first publication of String Quartets No. 1-6</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/1c88b4cf8e406eb58eb2ad7ab04e9f55df2d47e4/small/bolcom-stgqtets1-6score-233x300.jpg?0" class="size_s justify_left border_" />This volume of the scores to William Bolcom’s first six string quartets, composed when the composer was from 12-22 years of age, is an exclusive, first-time publication. None of the six quartets have ever been available, but they are now available as separate sets for sale after Bolcom carefully edited his manuscripts. This handsome volume of all six scores also includes an interview with the composer in which he describes the origins and influences of the quartets.<br><br><a contents="More information" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/publications/string-quartets-no-1-6-score/">More information</a><br><br> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Bolcom Early String Quartets – First Publication!</strong></span><br><br>E. B. Marks Music Company is excited to announce the premiere publication of William Bolcom’s String Quartets Nos. 1 – 6. Rarely in modern music publishing are large scale works by an active, living composer fully edited, engraved, and published prior to their ever being performed. Quartets 1 - 6 are also available as separate collated sets of score and parts. Marks has previously published, in manuscript and on rental, the composer’s String Quartets Nos. 8 – 11.</p>
<p>The early quartets were composed between 1950-1960, when the composer was from 12-22 years old, and thus spanning his most formative years, until the full incubation of his more atonal “Paris style” of the early ’60s. Only two were ever performed.<br><br>In the extensive program note-interview which prefaces the separate volume of six study scores, Bolcom reveals his strongest early influences and several amusing anecdotes surrounding their composition and performance (or lack thereof). An excerpt from one of the interviews is below: </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em><strong>On String Quartet No. 4 </strong></em></p>
<p>The fourth quartet is certainly the most ambitious of the early quartets. I’m slowly coming out of my Beethoven phase here, but not without saying a fond farewell. Here the influence is the B-flat op. 130 (the version without the Große Fuge which I still feel works better–for once the publisher was right: the Große Fuge is just too unruly to get along with its fellows). Here there is a proper Beethoven-period first movement and other familiar accoutrements, a giant rondo at the end for one. </p>
<p>I’d always felt it lacked a slow movement, so I added one while studying in Paris in about 1960, right when all around me Boulez and Stockhausen were terrorizing the musical world. I was fascinated by all the brouhaha–almost none of it had percolated to the U.S. by 1959 when I entered the Paris Conservatoire–and I would become very influenced by it (see my earlyFantasy-Sonata for piano, for example) and actually perform both of those terrorists in San Francisco, California in the early 60s on piano, premiering the Boulez Third Sonata about the same time Leonard Stein was doing it in Los Angeles. </p>
<p>I don’t know exactly why I decided to finish No. 4 at all seeing how the wind was blowing just then, and in such a Beethovenian style, but I did–anything super-iconoclastic wouldn’t fit, I guess. I must say I’d be delighted to hear this one sometime. -- <em>William Bolcom, October 27, 2015</em></p>
<p> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40864592016-03-13T22:45:02-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00New Bolcom & Morris CD Reviewed in Opera News<p><em>Opera News </em>(April, 2016) recaps Bolcom & Morris's career with a review of their latest CD, <em>Autumn Leaves</em>. </p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/126c54182da4583741886916b41dc8e269d28ff3/medium/a-leaves.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_right border_" />"Bolcom and Morris recently released their latest CD on White Pine Music, the label of the Central Michigan University School of Music. It's called<em> Autumn Leaves</em>, and it's a collection of songs the duo has performed for years but never included on any of their previous albums, partly because they didn't fit into the various themes of those earlier programs (turn-of-the-century songs, Jerome Kern, etc.). There are fewer accompanists nimbler than Bolcom, and he provides the ideal foundation for Morris's warmly intimate interpretations." --Brian Kellow </p>
<p><a contents="Download the PDF to read the whole review (4MB)&nbsp;" data-link-label="j-b-in-on.pdf" data-link-type="file" href="/files/233669/j-b-in-on.pdf" target="_blank">Download the PDF to read the whole review (4MB)</a><br><br><a contents="Purchase the CD (CD Baby)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bolcommorris" target="_blank">Purchase the CD (CD Baby)</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40862142016-03-13T18:08:00-05:002017-01-16T08:30:14-06:00CD Review: Canciones de Lorca, Prometheus<p>On www.voix-des-arts.com, critic Joseph Newsome names new Bolcom CD the Best New Music Recording of 2015.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/7e7b1f404743ea981b71e19378ec0f9501375481/small/canciones.jpg?1453688583" class="size_s justify_right border_" />Excerpt: "<em>Canciones de Lorca</em> and <em>Prometheus,</em> both recorded by NAXOS in performance in Costa Mesa, California ... [are paired] on a most welcome release in the label’s American Classics series. Created under very different circumstances, these works share an ethos anchored by the assertion that, in many aspects of humanity, the impulse to create is far stronger than the will to destroy. Bolcom’s gift for writing for voices, whether individual voices in Lieder or groups of voices in works for the stage, is a vital component of the composer’s own voice, and NAXOS’s recording of poignant, persuasive performances of Canciones de Lorca andPrometheus is a gift to listeners who appreciate Bolcom’s musical ingenuity and the lessons it offers in the art of binding of wounds and healing of scars with song." </p>
<p>Read the complete review: <a contents="http://www.voix-des-arts.com/2015/12/best-new-music-recording-of-2015.html" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.voix-des-arts.com/2015/12/best-new-music-recording-of-2015.html" target="_blank">http://www.voix-des-arts.com/2015/12/best-new-music-recording-of-2015.html</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40853972016-03-12T19:29:24-06:002017-01-16T08:30:13-06:00Bolcom's Band Repertoire Increases <p>Marks Music is pleased to announce the availability of a new band transcription of the William Bolcom orchestral work, <em>Inventing Flight</em>. The splashy 3-movement work, commissioned for the 2003 Centennial of Flight celebrations by the Dayton and North Carolina Symphonies, and little performed since, is something of a revelation in this transcription for band by Dr. Jason Nam, who is a visiting professor and assistant director of bands at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/f8440f8eba103ec643f41267c8e7a9999b17d66b/medium/screenshot-2016-03-12-19-28-53.png?0" class="size_m justify_right border_" />His new version is embraced by the composer. One interesting feature is a solo euphonium in the first movement, which may optionally be performed by a solo cello, as in the original.This transcription was premiered in April, 2015 by the Indiana University Wind Ensemble under Stephen Pratt. Marks Music announces it for rental as of this newsletter. </p>
<p>To add to this list of new band works, last fall we announced the availability of a transcription of Mr. Bolcom's <em>Clarinet Concerto</em>, made by the composer himself. His new <em>Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Band</em> was premiered on February 2, 2016 by Christopher Creviston and the Arizona State University Wind Ensemble, and will receive its second consortium performance on March 9 by the University of Oregon with Idit Shner as soloist. (It is not yet available to non-consortium bands due to exclusivity.) E.B. Marks also sells the <em>Circus Overture</em>, score and parts, through the MarksPrint catalog. That work has already been recorded by the University of Michigan Symphony Band on the EQ label.<br><br><em>News courtesy Edward B. Marks Music Company</em></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40853962016-03-12T19:24:48-06:002017-01-16T08:30:13-06:00More praise for McTeague in Linz<p><strong>Neues Volksblatt, 2/8/2016 </strong><br>"...oscillating between dazzling expressionism and tender melody." </p>
<p><strong>Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 2/8/2016 </strong><br>"Blunt musical idioms of jazzy ragtime changed into dazzling sounds of the spheres." </p><!-- more -->
<div class="captioned justify_right"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/2148c2e6991973d25b08477b3ebfe62bf880c2af/medium/17.jpg?0" class="size_orig justify_right border_" alt="the moon above Trina – who is going crazy over the gold coins she holds onto desperately…photo 2016 by Patrick Pfeiffer" /><p class="caption">Photo by Patrick Pfeiffer</p></div>
<p><strong>Tiroler Tageszeitung, 2/8/2016 </strong><br>"William Bolcom seizes the story, telling it at times aggressively, while at other moments presenting it finely chiseled and gentle, even slightly dance-like....His clear, terse way of writing draws with abundance from tradition without any sign of banality or awkwardness....Linz had the experience of a successful evening of opera and discovered a composer who is not hiding behind formulas but simply wants to tell a (vehement) story. And that should also be allowed for a change." </p>
<p><strong>Der Standard, 2/8/2016 </strong><br>"William Bolcom, who is a prominent figure in the musical world of the United States, knows how to mix a thousand stylistic ingredients expertly. With complex, illustrative and chameleon-like changes in his music, he follows the libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Robert Altman with a light step that reminds the listener of an accomplished dancer following a leading partner." </p>
<p><strong>Kronenzeitung, 2/8/2016</strong> <br>"Bolcom's music delves deep without being unoriginal within the history of Broadway, Stravinsky or Wagner, and amalgamates its own language of sound." </p>
<p><strong>Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2/21/2016 </strong><br>"Master Eclectic" <br>"Bolcom's eclecticism is unusual to middle European ears because he totally negates the discrepancy of aesthetic height of fall. All that is lacking now is pop music which then would contain everything that "sounds" nowadays, from Broadway up to (trace elements of) Donaueschingen." </p>
<p><em>translations by Jutta Gerber-Malm<br>News courtesy Edward B. Marks Music Company</em></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40757202016-03-06T18:01:52-06:002017-01-16T08:30:13-06:00Naxos releases Prometheus, Canciones de Lorca on new CD<p>Released in November 2015, new CD pairs works conducted by Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Prometheus features Jeffery Biegel at the piano; Canciones de Lorca features tenor René Barbera.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/7e7b1f404743ea981b71e19378ec0f9501375481/medium/canciones.jpg?1453688583" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Canciones de Lorca, Prometheus </strong></span></p>
<p><a contents="Purchase at ArkivMusic" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2146273" target="_blank">Purchase at ArkivMusic </a></p>
<p>Bolcom / Barbera / Pacific Symphony / St. Clair <br>Release Date: 11/13/2015 <br>Label: Naxos Catalog #: 8559788 Spars Code: DDD <br>Composer: William Bolcom <br>Performer: René Barbera, Jeffrey Biegel <br>Conductor: Carl St. Clair <br>Orchestra/Ensemble: Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale <br><br>Written for tenor Plácido Domingo, Canciones de Lorca explores the full variety of that Spanish poet’s surrealistic humour, passion and mystery, as well as invoking the Andalusian flamenco and popular song-lyric atmosphere the composer feels is latent in each poem. Bolcom interprets the legend of Prometheus as a metaphor for our turbulent times, starkly examining how we are chained to a rock of technological dependency but dedicating his work to hope and a peace derived from greater universal understanding. </p>
<p><br><br><br><br>Works on This Recording </p>
<p>1. <br>Canciones de Lorca by William Bolcom <br>Performer: René Barbera (Tenor) <br>Conductor: Carl St. Clair <br>Orchestra/Ensemble: Pacific Symphony Orchestra <br>Written: 2006 </p>
<p>2. <br>Prometheus by William Bolcom <br>Performer: Jeffrey Biegel (Piano) <br>Conductor: Carl St. Clair <br>Orchestra/Ensemble: Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale <br>Written: 2009</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40721432016-03-03T21:15:38-06:002017-01-16T08:30:13-06:00Radio GUYLIVE: William Bolcom in Linz<p>Guy Livingston talks with conductor Dennis Russell Davies, publisher Evan Hause, and Bill Bolcom himself about McTeague. Is this tragic opera Dadaist? Or a darker version of Broadway? Or a new genre?</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/ac4e72e25ecfba0eb2cc07a72979364289056590/medium/19.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>Listen to the story on American Highways online: <a contents="http://guylivingston.com/radio/william-bolcom-in-linz/" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://guylivingston.com/radio/william-bolcom-in-linz/" target="_blank">http://guylivingston.com/radio/william-bolcom-in-linz/</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40526062016-02-21T11:06:03-06:002017-01-16T08:30:13-06:00News from Edward B. Marks<p>Reviews for <strong>McTeague</strong> in Linz, first publications of <strong>Bolcom Early String Quartets 1 - 6</strong>, <strong>Circus Overture for Band</strong></p><!-- more -->
<p><a contents="Great reviews for “McTeague” in Linz" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/great-reviews-for-mcteague-in-linz/" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/4412059e173ba86d89e4ad25e3a6796d35efc05a/medium/san-fran-street-300x199.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_right border_" />Great reviews for “McTeague” in Linz</a></p>
<ul> <li>“Greed for gold in musical theater.” “Could not be better!” <em>Der Standard</em>
</li> <li>“entertaining in every respect” <em>BR Klassik</em>
</li> <li>“A discovery!” <em>Wiener Zeitung</em>
</li> <li>“Fabulous, versatile stage sets” <em>OÖNachrichten</em>
</li> <li>“Perfect music-making. Loud cheers!”<em> Kurier,</em>
</li> <li>“Linz convinced with a Western opera” <em>Salzburger Nachrichten</em>
</li> <li>“Musically, there were countless memorable moments”<em> bachtrack</em>
</li>
</ul>
<p><br><a contents="Bolcom’s “McTeague” – European Premiere" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/bolcoms-mcteague-european-premiere/" target="_blank">Bolcom’s “McTeague” – European Premiere</a><br>William Bolcom’s first opera, and perhaps his grandest, McTeague, received its first production since the 1990s and its European Premiere by the Landestheater Linz (Austria) under the direction of the opera’s original conductor, Dennis Russell Davies conducting the Bruckner Orchester Linz.<br><br><br><a contents="Bolcom Early String Quartets – First Publication!" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/bolcom-early-string-quartets-first-publication/" target="_blank">Bolcom Early String Quartets – First Publication!</a><br>E. B. Marks Music Company is excited to announce the Premiere publication of William Bolcom’s String Quartets Nos. 1 – 6. Rarely in modern music publishing are large scale works by an active, living composer fully edited, engraved, and published prior to their ever being performed. Marks has previously published, in manuscript and on rental, the composer’s String Quartets Nos. 8 – 11.<br><br><br><a contents="Bolcom’s “Circus Overture” for band available for purchase" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ebmarks.com/bolcoms-circus-overture-for-band-available-for-purchase/" target="_blank">Bolcom’s “Circus Overture” for band available for purchase</a><br>With thanks to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who commissioned William Bolcom’s compact and splashy “Circus Overture” to celebrate Leonard Slatkin’s 70th birthday last summer at Tanglewood, the overture has now been transcribed for band by the composer himself and is now published via MarksPrint.</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/40072372016-01-25T20:32:43-06:002017-01-16T08:30:13-06:00No more Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise?<p><strong><em>Now that Jell-O may be on the chopping block, let's take a look at its jiggly role in our lives.</em></strong></p>
<p><a contents="By Kim Ode,&nbsp;Minneapolis Star Tribune " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/301250621.html" target="_blank">By Kim Ode, Minneapolis Star Tribune</a> - April 26, 2015</p><!-- more -->
<p>Maybe there’s not always room for Jell-O. <br><br>A financial analyst has suggested that Jell-O may not survive the new merger between Kraft Food Group Inc. (which makes it) and H.J. Heinz Co. and “could be axed.” <br>Cue a shiver of despair. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/569b0318f9b6f99b20a0cfa5fe0b4884d0964ec4/medium/ows-142990637365690.jpg?1453775429" class="size_m justify_left border_" />It’s hard to remember a time before Jell-O. (On the other hand, perhaps it’s almost as hard to remember the last time you made it.) <br><br>Over the years, it has been served in thousands of church basements, enabled millions of liquor-laced shots at college parties, provided the concoction in which bikini-clad women wrestle. (A myth, it turns out, but we’ll get to that.) <br><br>For no discernible reason — although we suspect Garrison Keillor’s hand in this — Jell-O is linked with Minnesota. </p>
<p>“People have a misconception that people from Minnesota make green Jell-O, but whenever my family thinks about Jell-O, we think raspberry,” said Joenie Haas, who prepared her famous salad of red Jell-O and applesauce last fall when the Cooking Channel visited the family log cabin on Lake Mille Lacs. <br><br>It was a hit, just as when she first served it to her son-in-law Andrew Zimmern, star of “Bizarre Foods.” “Now, years later when I make it during the holidays, I have to make an extra batch just for Andrew,” Haas said. “It’s a timeless food memory. It brings us back to tradition and family.” <br><br>Yet many Minnesotans have a love-hate relationship with Jell-O. <br><br>Lutherans, in particular, are dinged for serving it at all manner of functions, with a particular bent toward funeral Jell-O. Moreover, they have bucked its description as a “gelatin dessert” and tend to saladify it with shredded carrots, celery and cottage cheese. <br><br><strong>Many longtime Minnesotans are familiar with a song called “Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise.” </strong><br><br>It was a staple of “The Morning Show” with Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole that achieved an almost cult status when it aired on Minnesota Public Radio. <br><br>So it comes as some surprise to learn that the ditty was not written by a native Minnesotan, but rather by William Bolcom, a Seattle composer who went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in music. (Not for the Jell-O song, but for “12 New Etudes For Piano.” Whatever.) <br><br>Yet Bolcom comes by his Jell-O credentials honestly. </p>
<p>Two of his grandparents were Minnesotans, he said, “so of course I grew up with Jell-O like everyone else. It was a fact of life. You ate it without noticing what you were eating.” </p>
<p>The song emerged after Bolcom visited a restaurant that served an old-fashioned “ladies lunch” — think maraschino cherry garnishes and congealed salads. “I got a fit of the giggles,” he said, and inspiration followed. <br><br>Bolcom, who lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., said it’s difficult to believe Jell-O might no longer be made, unless the “newly minted Kraft-Heinz executives are too young to remember it. I’m guessing lots of people feel nostalgic, not so much for Jell-O itself but for the time they ate it as children.” <br><br><strong>Born in the U.S.A. </strong><br><br>Gelatin desserts have been around for centuries, but were served only to royalty, who likely never witnessed the simmering cow hoofs that made possible the quivering, moldable finale to their feasts. <br><br>Jell-O itself didn’t happen until 1897, when Pearle Bixby Wait of LeRoy, N.Y., added fruit flavorings to granulated gelatin and sugar and called it Jell-O. Today, LeRoy is home to the Jell-O Gallery Museum, which last year hosted about 10,000 visitors. </p>
<p>Over the past four years, Jell-O sales have fallen by 19 percent, according to industry figures for the “dry packaged desserts category.” <br>If Pinterest has become our cultural DIY reflecting pool, much of today’s Jell-O is consumed as boozy shots fashioned into clever shapes, or just poured into Dixie cups. <br><br>Speaking of parties, let’s get Jell-O wrestling out of the way. <br><br>Turns out they don’t really use Jell-O, but something called Fun Jell that creates a “tighter” mix that won’t break down after being flung, stomped and squished. <br>It’s sort of sad, because if wrestlers really used Jell-O, they would need (by Fun Jell’s calculations) 269.3 gallons of it to fill a 6- by 3-foot kiddie pool 2 feet deep — or about $500 worth of product. That’s a bottom line that has nothing to do with bikinis. </p>
<p>So it is time to start a Jell-O death watch? <br><br>A Kraft spokesman told MarketWatch that Jell-O has been “in the lives of American families for over 100 years. Not many brands can say that.” <br>True enough. Yet food writer Carolyn Wyman once credited its fame to being “the food that most resembles a toy.” <br><br>Is it possible that we’re growing up?</p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/39924332016-01-16T17:35:25-06:002017-01-16T08:30:12-06:00Children illustrate "The Serpent's Kiss"<p>We received a charming letter from Miss Brace’s primary class at Marimont Montessori School in Pflugerville, Texas with her children’s illustrations of The Serpent’s Kiss. Bill was named their “Composer of the Month” for February! Thanks to Asher, Ari, Sophia, Ingrid, Arra, and Ema for their letters.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/7035f7761908067a4f09acab8dfcf39f8b2c6800/original/serpents-kiss-letter.jpg?1452987208" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/58a0041f04df1d305a71cc135b5607165b229a9a/original/serpents-kiss-ingrid.jpg?1452987210" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/5cc6a7325d596480b037210a77fbb4657637b951/original/serpents-kiss-ema.jpg?1452987206" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/c147894716408740dff05ae5120da2e8afbf73ce/original/serpents-kiss-sophia.jpg?1452987210" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/50b3b2504c7288a853770ca83792156810b14aff/original/serpents-kiss-arra.jpg?1452987207" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/a9f7867cea54605cec1d183b34d1baec3e8cd195/original/serpents-kiss-asher.jpg?1452987207" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br> </p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/39924302016-01-16T17:25:51-06:002017-01-16T08:30:12-06:00Grant Park Music Festival concludes with premiere for audience of 12,000<div class="captioned justify_left"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/97f5c7b75e15fc5ec41322d61f3ffe6d8115b24e/medium/bolcomonstage-resize.jpg?1452986936" class="size_orig justify_left border_" /><p class="caption">From newmusicusa.org</p></div>
<p>William Bolcom’s exciting Grant Park Music Festival residency in Chicago concluded with the world premiere of his new orchestral piece written for the festival, <em><strong>Millennium: Concerto-Fantasia</strong></em>. The piece premiered to a packed Pritzker Pavilion, with an estimated 12,000 filling the Seating Bowl and Great Lawn. </p><!-- more -->
<p>Describing the piece’s genesis and background, Bolcom writes, “In 2000 a fascinating Cambridge University conference on all aspects of time discussed, among other things, the history of century-marking, [and] the presence of the number 60 in minutes & seconds…I was invited to give a paper on the difference between real time and musical time, real time being calibrated by the steady beat of the cesium atom used in Greenwich time and musical time guided by how music goes – fast or slow, excited or calm, formally loose or tight. So many of the institutions of the previous millennium are currently under heavy review…in music, one of them may be the orchestra itself. Many of us have feared the funneling of the opera house, the concert hall, the symphony into one big enclave of the rich musical past. Though there is still a passionate audience, and schools of music and conservatories are turning out very talented artists performing this music, many, many people in our society do not relate to this culture at all. It is clearly up to us in music to invite these people into our enclave and to the many beauties waiting for them.” </p>
<p>Bolcom continues, “Thus Millennium. When Grant Park commissioned me for a work, I drew on my thoughts about time from fourteen years ago and began to think of the orchestra’s history of the last four centuries. The piece is a concerto for orchestra with a progressive musical form. There are several passing sections like chapters in this one-movement piece, played without pause: Introitus, Rockets, Dreamscape: The Love Dream, Rude Awakenings, and A Conclusion, for Now.”</p>
<p>Bolcom concludes his thoughts with great sentimentality, writing, “…Millennium has the positive charge of being premiered in a millennial park in a vibrant, evolving city. And here we all are together in this park, hearing a new piece.” </p>
<p>The work received a warm reception, and 10,000 more attended the next evening’s concert, where Bolcom’sMillennium closed Grant Park Music Festival’s 80th Anniversary season.</p>
<p><em><strong>-September 23, 2014</strong></em><br><br><a contents="Listen to an audio recording at Soundcloud" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://soundcloud.com/grantparkmusicfestival/millennium-concerto-fantasia" target="_blank">Listen to an audio recording at Soundcloud</a><br><br>See more at: <a contents="newmusicusa.org - projects" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.newmusicusa.org/projects/grant-park-music-festival-presents-world-premiere-and-composer-residency-with-william-bolcom/" target="_blank">newmusicusa.org - projects</a></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/39924282016-01-16T17:21:34-06:002017-01-16T08:30:12-06:00ZOFO Duet Introduces Bolcom Premiere <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/1595340c332bac4e8bf14ae3f1e6f440e1dede03/medium/piano-duo.jpg?1452986437" class="size_m justify_left border_" />In five years of existence the dynamic piano duo ZOFO (“20-finger orchestra”) has racked up two Grammy nominations and a competition win. Perhaps more impressively, they’ve given 11 world premieres of commissioned works. They brought the latest of these, by William Bolcom, to Morrison Artists Series at SFSU on Sunday afternoon, while dazzling the audience in a program of contemporary works. </p><!-- more -->
<p><br> <br>…. Closing the program was Bolcom’s Primer: Eight Studies for Piano Four Hands. The composer was in attendance and described the piece this way: “… a series of short studies involving unusual hand displacement, rhythmic counterpoint, and the like.”<br> </p>
<p><strong>December 8, 2014 - Reviewed by Jessica Balik <br>San Francisco Classical Voice </strong></p>William Bolcomtag:williambolcom.com,2005:Post/39924262016-01-16T17:18:17-06:002017-01-16T08:30:12-06:00Paul Revere Rides … Again <p>Bill was honored with the 2014 Music Publishers Association Paul Revere Award for Graphic Excellence, for his cover design for Evan Hause’s “Elephant Breath for Percussion Quartet,” published by E.B. Marks.</p><!-- more -->
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/aeb81d08ac85c2b9fce012790db3e282946536c3/large/paul-revere-award.jpg?1452986180" class="size_l justify_left border_thin" alt="2014 Paul Revere Award" /><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/188311/5d422d26a6b77fa799b4171978e94611ad6f6d8b/large/elephant-breath-cover.jpg?1452986158" class="size_l justify_left border_thin" alt="" /></p>William Bolcom