William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer of chamber, operatic, and symphonic music. May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Bolcom was born in Seattle, He entered the University of Washington at age 11, where he studied piano and composition. He later studied with Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen. City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a major public research university in the Seattle metropolitan area. ... A grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument, widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment, and also as a convenient aid to composing and rehearsal. ... Musical composition is: an original piece of music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new piece of music // A musical composition A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event (a live performance... Darius Milhaud (September 4, 1892 – June 22, 1974) was a French-Jewish composer and teacher. ... Olivier Messiaen (IPA: ; December 10, 1908 – April 27, 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. ...

His opera, A View from the Bridge, with libretto by Arthur Miller and Arnold Weinstein, was premiered October 9, 1999, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Arthur Miller in his later years Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and author. ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (283rd in Leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. ...

As a pianist, Bolcom has performed and recorded his own work frequently in collaboration with his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris. Bolcom and Morris have recorded twenty albums together, beginning with 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 showtunes and popular songs from the early 20th century, and cabaret songs (often from failed musicals).

Bolcom's setting of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, a full evening's work for soloists, choruses, and orchestra culminated 25 years of work on the piece. Its premiere at the Stuttgart Opera in 1984 was followed by performances in Ann Arbor, Chicago's Grant Park, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, St. Louis, Carnegie Hall, and London's Royal Festival Hall, the latter performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. Bolcom's other works include a number of piano rags, some written in collaboration with William Albright (the composer, not the evangelical Methodist archaelogist, biblical authority, linguist and expert on ceramics), and four volumes of cabaret songs which have recently been given new life by Michelle and David Murray, another husband-and-wife performing duo.-1... ... The Songs of Experience is a poetry collection, forming the second part of William Blakes Songs of Innocence and Experience. ... Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Brooklyn Academy of Music ( pronounced BAM! in Emerilese) is located in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, at 30 Lafayette Avenue near the Flatbush Avenue Station of the Long Island Rail Road and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn. ... The Gateway Arch, shown here behind the Old Courthouse, is the most recognizable part of the St. ... Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in New York City. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... The Royal Festival Hall is a concert, dance and talks venue within the South Bank Centre in London. ... The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain. ... Leonard Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor. ... Ragtime is an American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years 1900–1918. ...

Bolcom won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1988 for 12 New Etudes for Piano.

Works

• 1999: A View from the Bridge
• 2004: A Wedding

Spoiler warning: A View from the Bridge is a play by Arthur Miller originally produced as a verse drama on Broadway in 1955. ... A Wedding is a 1978 comedy film by Robert Altman, starring Carol Burnett, Lillian Gish, Vittorio Gassman, Mia Farrow and Howard Duff. ...

External link

• William Bolcom and Joan Morris's website
• Information about the best performers of Bolcom's Cabaret Songs, Michelle and David Murray