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Minnesota Public Radio and VocalEssence to Present Showcase of Cabaret Songs by the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer, William Bolcom
Cabaret with the Composer to kick off two-week "Illuminating Bolcom" Festival
March 30, 2007
WHAT: Cabaret with the Composer: cabaret songs by William Bolcom, featuring guest vocalists Joan Morris, Maria Jette, Bradley Greenwald, Christina Baldwin, Dieter Bierbrauer, James Bohn and Janis Hardy, with accompaniment by Philip Brunelle and the composer himself
WHEN: Saturday, April 21, 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Minnesota Public Radio's Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E Exchange St, St. Paul
TICKETS: $20, $25 and $29; MPR discount is available. Contact the Fitzgerald Theater box office at 651-290-1221. Visit www.fitzgeraldtheater.org for more details.
Minnesota Public Radio and VocalEssence present Cabaret with the Composer, a showcase of William Bolcom's cabaret songs with the composer himself at the piano on Saturday, April 21 at 8:30 p.m. at Minnesota Public Radio's Fitzgerald Theater.
The performance will feature the composer's wife and musical partner, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, and some of the finest performers in the Twin Cities: Maria Jette, Bradley Greenwald, Christina Baldwin, Dieter Bierbrauer, James Bohn and Janis Hardy. Accompaniment duty will be shared by Mr. Morris and VocalEssence founder and artistic director, Philip Brunelle.
Cabaret with the Composer is the kick-off event for the two-week Illuminating Bolcom festival that celebrates the creative genius of the composer, a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winner, and recent recipient of the National Medal of Arts. The festival culminates with over 400 performers coming together on the stage of Orchestra Hall for a multi-media rendition of Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Bolcom is an American composer of remarkable range, composing works of chamber, operatic, vocal, choral, cabaret, ragtime and symphonic music. He was born in Seattle, Wash. and at the age of 11 entered the University of Washington to study composition with George Fredrick McKay and John Verall and piano with Madame Berthe Poncy Jacobson. He later studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills College while working on his Master of Arts degree, with Leland Smith at Stanford University while working on his D.M.A., and with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire, where he received the 2ème Prix de Composition.
In the fall of 1994 he was named the Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan. Bolcom won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1988 for 12 New Etudes for Piano, and four Grammy Awards in 2006 for his setting of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
As a pianist, Bolcom has performed and recorded his own work frequently in collaboration with Joan Morris. Their primary specialties in both concerts and recordings are cabaret songs, show tunes and popular songs from the early 20th century.
FOR DOWNLOADABLE PHOTOS OF THE COMPOSER AND/OR THE PERFORMING ARTISTS, VISIT www.illuminatingbolcom.org/press.php
Based in Minneapolis, VocalEssence is recognized internationally as one of America's premier choral arts organizations. Under the enthusiastic leadership of conductor Philip Brunelle and associate conductor Sigrid Johnson, the 120-voice VocalEssence Chorus and the 32-voice VocalEssence Ensemble Singers are renowned for their innovative exploration of music for voices and instruments. Along with concerts by its own performers, VocalEssence has presented concerts by many well-known choruses over the years, including King's College Cambridge, St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, The Sixteen and Chanticleer.
Minnesota Public Radio® operates a 37-station radio network serving virtually all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states and produces programming for radio, Internet and face-to-face audiences. Programs produced by Minnesota Public Radio, operating as American Public Media™, reach 14.5 million listeners nationwide each week. Of those, more than 790,000 listen regionally, in Minnesota and surrounding states. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be obtained at www.mpr.org and www.americanpublicmedia.org.
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Source: Data are copyright Arbitron, Inc. Arbitron data are estimates only. Fall 2005/Spring 2006 average
Press Contacts:
Jennifer Haugh
Minnesota Public Radio
651-290-1369
jhaugh@mpr.org
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