William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He has received the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

, the National Medal of Arts, a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

, the

Detroit Music Award The Detroit Music Awards Foundation is a Michigan 501(c)(3) organization, whose mission is to recognize Detroit area musicians working on a national, regional, and local level. The Foundation supports and nurtures the musical community in Detr ...

and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He taught composition at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1973 until 2008. He is married to

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middl ...

Joan Morris.

Early life and education

Bolcom was born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. At age 11, he entered the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

to study composition privately with

George Frederick McKay George Frederick McKay (June 11, 1899 – October 4, 1970) was a prolific modern American composer. Biography McKay was born in the small frontier wheat farming town of Harrington, Washington. His family later moved to Spokane, where he atte ...

and

John Verrall John Weedon Verrall (June 17, 1908April 15, 2001) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Life Prior to his University studies, Verrall studied composition with Donald Ferguson, followed by studies with R. O. Morris in London ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

with Madame Berthe Poncy Jacobson. "He later studied with

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...

while working on his Master of Arts degree, with Leland Smith at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

while working on his D.M.A., and with

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century. His m ...

at the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, where he received the 2ème Prix de Composition".

Career

Bolcom won the

for music in 1988 for ''

12 New Etudes for Piano ''Twelve New Etudes for Piano'' (1977–1986) is a piece composed by William Bolcom (b. 1938), awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1988, while he was teaching composition at University of Michigan. The set is "new" relative to Bolcom's first ...

''. In the fall of 1994, he was named the

Ross Lee Finney Ross Lee Finney Junior (December 23, 1906–February 4, 1997) was an American composer who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. Life and career Born in Wells, Minnesota, Finney received his early training at Carleton Colleg ...

Distinguished University Professor of Composition at the

. In 2006, he was awarded the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons ...

. Notable students include Gabriela Lena Frank,

Carter Pann Carter Pann (born February 21, 1972 in La Grange, Illinois) is an American composer. He studied composition and piano at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Hi ...

Elena Ruehr Elena Ruehr (born 1963, Ann Arbor) is an American musician, music educator and composer. Life and career Elena Ruehr's parents were a mathematician and an English professor. She grew up in Houghton, Michigan and began piano lessons at age four. Sh ...

, Derek Bermel, Joel Puckett, and

David T. Little David T. Little (born October 25, 1978) is a Grammy-nominated American composer, record producer, and drummer known for his operatic, orchestral, and chamber works, most notably his operas ''JFK,'' ''Soldier Songs'', and '' Dog Days'' which was ...

. As a pianist, Bolcom has performed and recorded frequently in collaboration with Joan Morris, whom he married in 1975. They have recorded more than two dozen albums together, beginning with the Grammy-nominated ''After the Ball,'' a collection of popular songs from around the turn of the 20th century. Their primary specialties in both concerts and recordings are show tunes, parlor, and popular songs from the late 19th and early 20th century by Henry Russell,

Henry Clay Work Henry Clay Work (October 1, 1832 – June 8, 1884) was an American composer and songwriter known for the songs Kingdom Coming, Marching Through Georgia, The Ship That Never Returned and My Grandfather's Clock. Early life and education Work w ...

and others, and

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

songs. As a soloist, Bolcom has recorded his own compositions, as well as music by

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

and several of the classic

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

composers. His compositions have been recognized and highlighted at Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series.

Works

Bolcom's earliest compositions were written when he was around eleven years old; his early influences include Roy Harris and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...

. His compositions from around 1960 employed a modified serial technique, under the influence of

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mo ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...

, and

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

, whose music he particularly admired. In the 1960s he gradually began to embrace an eclectic use of a wider variety of musical styles. His goal has been to erase boundaries between

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

and

art music Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...

. He has composed four major operas. Three of them, ''

McTeague ''McTeague: A Story of San Francisco'', otherwise known as simply ''McTeague'', is a novel by Frank Norris, first published in 1899. It tells the story of a couple's courtship and marriage, and their subsequent descent into poverty and violence ...

'', ''

A View from the Bridge ''A View from the Bridge'' is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955, as a one-act verse drama with ''A Memory of Two Mondays'' at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The run was unsuccessful, and M ...

'', and '' A Wedding'' were commissioned and premiered by the

Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria ...

and conducted by

Dennis Russell Davies Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist, He is currently the music director and chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic. Biography Davies studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard Sch ...

. All of these were composed with librettist Arnold Weinstein, sometimes in collaboration with other writers. ''McTeague'', based on the 1899 novel by

Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include '' McTeague: A Story of Sa ...

, with libretto by Weinstein, was premiered on October 31, 1992. ''A View from the Bridge'', with libretto by Weinstein and

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

, was premiered October 9, 1999. ''A Wedding'', based on the 1978 motion picture by

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New ...

and John Considine, with libretto by Weinstein and Altman, was premiered on December 11, 2004. His fourth opera, ''Dinner at Eight'', composed with librettist Mark Campbell, based on the

George S. Kaufman George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and other ...

and

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), '' Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' C ...

play of the same name, was premiered March 11, 2017, by the commissioning organization, Minnesota Opera. He has also composed concertos such as ''Lyric Concerto'' for Flute and Orchestra for

James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outsta ...

, the Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra for

Sergiu Luca Sergiu Luca (4 April 1943, in Bucharest – 6 December 2010, in Houston) was a Romanian-born American violinist, renowned as an early music pioneer; during his career he performed and recorded on both baroque violin, baroque and violin, modern vio ...

, the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra for

Stanley Drucker Stanley Drucker (February 4, 1929 – December 19, 2022) was an American clarinetist. For nearly five decades, he was principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic. According to Guinness World Records, he achieved the longest career as a c ...

, and Concert Suite for

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B t ...

and band, composed for University of Michigan professor

Donald Sinta Donald J. Sinta (born June 16, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American classical saxophonist, educator, and administrator. Mr. Sinta earned a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from the University of Michigan in 1962. In 1969, he ...

in 1998. He composed his concerto '' Gaea'' for two pianos (left hand) and orchestra for Gary Graffman and Leon Fleisher, both of whom have suffered from debilitating problems with their right hands. It received its first performance on April 11, 1996 by the Baltimore Symphony conducted by David Zinman. The concerto is constructed so that it can be performed in one of three ways, with either piano part alone with reduced orchestra, or with both piano parts and the two reduced orchestras combined into a full orchestra. This structure mimics that of a similar three-in-one work by his teacher,

. Bolcom's other works include nine

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

, twelve string quartets, four violin sonatas, a number of piano rags (one written in collaboration with William Albright), four volumes of ''Gospel Preludes'' for organ, four volumes of cabaret songs, three musical theater works (''Casino Paradise'', ''Dynamite Tonite'', and ''Greatshot''; all with Weinstein), and a one-act chamber opera, ''Lucrezia'', with librettist Mark Campbell. William Bolcom was also commissioned to write ''Recuerdos'' for two pianos by The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation.

Song cycles

Bolcom has written a number of song cycles. A very large portion of these song cycles were cabarets with lyrics by librettist/lyricist Arnold Weinstein and meant to be sung by mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, William Bolcom's wife. These 24 cabarets were released in four volumes from the 1970s to the 1990s and were released all together on CD. Among Bolcom's other song cycles, the most well-known is his setting of William Blake's ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience.'' The recording of this massive work was estimated at $375,000 USD and its length stands at about two and a half hours..

''Songs of Innocence and of Experience''

Bolcom's setting of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...

's ''

Songs of Innocence and of Experience ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases: a few first copies were printed and illuminated by Blake himself in 1789; five years later, he bound these poems with a ...

'', a three-hour work for soloists, choruses, and orchestra, was a culmination of 25 years of work on the piece. :Inspiration ::At the age of seventeen, William Bolcom wanted to set the complete poems of ''

'' by

to music. As he comprehended the huge diversity of the artistic ideas and the technical styles presented in the poems, he realized that he needed more musical vocabulary of different styles in order to complete his music. This realization also bolstered his ideas that genres of music should not be placed in a hierarchy and that there was no distinction between "serious" music and "popular" music. :Style and instrumentation ::Bolcom incorporated a variety of different musical styles and genres in the music, including modern classical style using pentatonic scales, tonal classical style, bluegrass, country, soul, folk vaudeville, rock musical, and reggae. Bolcom has used instruments that are not usually used in a traditional orchestra but are used in the genres that he chose: saxophones, guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, electric violin, and "country, rock, and folk singers". :Premiere and performances ::According to

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

, the premiere of the ''Songs'' at the Stuttgart Opera in 1984 was followed by performances in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

, Grant Park in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, St. Louis,

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I li ...

, the latter performed by the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

under the direction of

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

. :Awards and reception ::In 2004, Naxos Records produced a recording of the ''Songs'' on location at

Hill Auditorium Hill Auditorium is the largest performance venue on the University of Michigan campus, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The auditorium was named in honor of Arthur Hill (1847-1909), who served as a regent of the university from 1901 to 1909. He bequeath ...

, featuring the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance Symphony Orchestra, the student choirs from the same university, University Musical Society Choral Union, Michigan State University Children's Choir, and a variety of solo instrumentalists and singers (who also included Joan Morris, wife of Bolcom). In 2006, it won four

s for Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Best Classical Album, and Best Producer of the Year, Classical. ::Composer and critic Robert Carl has stated that Bolcom wrote seemingly disparate genres of music with "sincerity," without irony, "as equal partners," and with "love for and mastery of popular music".

Festivals

VocalEssence celebrated the music of William Bolcom with a two-week festival in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

and

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

in April 2007. Nine different performances and a number of master classes were part of the festival. The spotlight performance was of Bolcom's setting of William Blake's Songs ''of Innocence and of Experience'', performed in Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis with over 400 musicians performing under projections of Blake's accompanying artwork by Wendell K. Harrington. Eastern Michigan University Celebrated its 16th Biennial Contemporary Music Festival by featuring William Bolcom as a guest composer. The three-day festival showcased a range of Bolcom's compositions as well as a discussion on "Musical Grass-Roots" led by Bolcom himself. Le Piano Ouvert celebrated Bolcom's 75th birthday with a week of concerts and masterclasses in Paris in March 2014. William Bolcom and Joan Morris both performed, and were featured on France Musique in a series of live performances and interviews. The festival was directed by Guy Livingston, Anne de Fornel, and David Levi. Concerts were held at the Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris, and at the Hôtel Talleyrand on Place de la Concorde. In April 2022, as part of the international

Heidelberger Frühling The International Music Festival Heidelberger Frühling is an annual classical music festival held in Heidelberg in March and April since 1997, with over 100 events and 47,000 visitors (2018). In addition to the festival's productions and concert ...

Music Festival, William Bolcom's second piano concerto was premiered by Igor Levit and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by

Elim Chan Elim Chan (; born 18 November 1986) is a Hong Kong-born conductor. Elim Chan has been the chief conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra since the 2019-2020 concert season and has been the permanent guest conductor of the Royal Scottish Nationa ...

in the auditorium of the Neue Universität Heidelberg.

Ragtime/piano discography

See Joan Morris page for Bolcom and Morris Discography *''Heliotrope Bouquet: Piano Rags 1900–1970'',

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, No ...

, 1971 *''Bolcom Plays His Own Rags'', Jazzology, 1972 *''Piano Music By George Gershwin'',

, 1973 *''Pastimes and Piano Rags'',

, 1974 *''Ragtime Back To Back'' (with William Albright), U of M School of Music, 1976 *''Euphonic Sounds'', Omega Classics, 1988 (Reissued in 2019 as ''Scott Joplin: Ragtime Piano Gems'')

References

External links

*
William Bolcom and Joan Morris's website

William Bolcom's page at the Edward B. Marks Music Company website

Texts and titles of vocal settings in alphabetic order.

June 29, 1986 (also Joan Morris); and November 5, 1992
Performance of Graceful Ghost Rag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolcom, William 1938 births 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical pianists 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists 21st-century classical composers 21st-century classical pianists Albany Records artists American classical composers American classical pianists American contemporary classical composers American male classical composers American male classical pianists American opera composers Classical musicians from Michigan Classical musicians from Washington (state) Contemporary classical music performers Grammy Award winners Living people Male opera composers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Mills College alumni Musicians from Seattle Pulitzer Prize for Music winners Pupils of Darius Milhaud Ragtime composers Ragtime pianists United States National Medal of Arts recipients University of Michigan faculty University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni