Maki Namekawa and Dennis Russell Davies honored Bolcom in May with the program “Bill’s Garden: A Celebration of William Bolcom at 85.”
(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 A View from the Bridge, symphonies, concertos, string quartets and other chamber music, as well as superb cabaret songs, musical theater pieces, and wonderful piano rags.
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.