Pulitzer-Prize Winner William Bolcom Coming to Western May 4-6 for Concerts, Classes

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.

Performances

Performances are in the WWU Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at the WWU Box Office at (360) 650-6146 or online at tickets.wwu.edu.

Friday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. - Music for Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles
Saturday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. - Piano Music
Sunday, May 6 at 3 p.m.  - Music for Voice & Piano, including Bolcom’s opera "Lucrezia."

Masterclasses

Masterclasses will be held in the WWU Performing Arts Center, and are free and open to the public.

Saturday, May 5 at 10 a.m. - Piano Masterclass (Concert Hall)
Saturday, May 5 at 2 p.m. - Composition Masterclass (Choir Room, 16)
Sunday, May 6 at 11 a.m.  - Voice Masterclass (Choir Room, 16)

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.