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William Bolcom
American composer and pianist
Photo credit: Katryn Conlin
William Bolcom (born 1938 in Seattle), was a member of Theodore Roethke's poetry-writing class at the University of Washington in 1956-57. He wrote later,
I did not study with him with any ambition to become a practicing poet, only to try to learn how to set words to music.In 1976 Bolcom released a recording from Nonesuch, Open House: A Song Cycle for Tenor & Chamber Orchestra to Seven Poems by Theodore Roethke.William Bolcom entered the University of Washington at age 11 as a private student in composition and piano, later studying composition with Darius Mihaud in California and Paris. In 1964 he received the first Doctor of Musical Arts degree conferred by Stanford University. He has received two Guggenheim fellowships, a Koussevitzky Foundation grant, an American Academy of Arts and Letters award, and a National Medal of Arts, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for 12 New Etudes for Piano. A recording of his settings of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience was honored with three Grammys.
In addition, he has produced 24 recordings of ragtime and popular song, acting as accompanist for his wife, the chanteuse Joan Morris. He is also the composer of the opera A View from the Bridge, with a libretto by U-M alumnus Arthur Miller working with Arnold Weinstein.
He is Emeritus Professor of the School of Music at the University of Michigan.
sources:
Top Selling William Bolcom Sheet Music
- Complete Rags for Piano
- The Garden of Eden
- 12 New Etudes for Piano
- Cabaret Songs Complete
- Cabaret Songs - Volumes 1 and 2
- William Bolcom: Theatrical Songs
- Concerto in D for Violin - Violin/Piano
- McTeague
- Graceful Ghost Rag
- Complete Gospel Preludes
- William Bolcom - Little Suite of Four Dances
- Carol (Neighbors, on This Frosty Tide)
New Releases for William Bolcom Sheet Music
- Concert Songs - Volume 1 (1975-2000)
- Concert Songs - Volume 2 (2001-2012)
- Aria
Irina Shishov in Piano Recital
October 25, 2014 - Newton, Massachusetts
| Composer | Piece | Movement/Rag |
|---|---|---|
| J.S. Bach | Partita 6 | Toccata |
| Allemanda | ||
| Corrente | ||
| Air | ||
| Sarabande | ||
| Tempo di Cavotte | ||
| Gigue | ||
| Franz Liszt | Die Forelle | |
| (Schubert Song Transcription) | ||
| William Bolcom | The Garden of Eden | Old Adam |
| Four Rags for Two Pianos | The Eternal Feminine | |
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