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PRISM is proud to announce the commissioning of
a multi-movement Concerto Grosso for saxophone quartet and
orchestra by the Pulitzer
The commissioning of this concerto sets a historical precedent as among the first works of its kind by a major American composer. As such, it will hold a significant place in the contemporary orchestral music literature by demonstrating the beauty and breadth of the saxophone's expressive capabilities. That William Bolcom's compositions are frequently recorded and performed by the world's leading musical institutions is testimony to his stature as a living "national treasure." His work with American vernacular styles and in theatrical modes has been a strong impulse in his music making, both as a composer and a performer. As he explains, “My explorations in all sorts of music from America’s past have been to learn the roots of our musical language, so that I can build from them.” A student of Darius Milhaud and Oliver Messiaen, Mr. Bolcom has had a number of honors bestowed upon him, including the Pulitzer Prize for Music, two Koussevitzky Foundation Awards, two Guggenheim Fellowships, several Rockefeller Foundation Awards and NEA Grants, the Marc Blitzstein Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters, the Michigan Council for the Arts Award, and the Governor's Arts Award from the State of Michigan. In recent years, Bolcom has been commissioned by many prestigious performing organizations, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Orpheus Ensemble, among others. These have included Lyric Concerto for James Galway and the St. Louis Symphony, McTeague for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Fifth Symphony for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Sonata for Cello and Piano for Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax, GAEA, a double piano concerto for Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, the Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pacific Symphonies, Piano Quartet No. 2 for the Beaux Arts Trio with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and Sixth Symphony for the National Symphony Orchestra. Other commissions have included the Carnegie Hall Centennial, for which he wrote a song cycle with texts by American women poets, ballet scores for the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Murray Louis Troupe, and the commissioned work for the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997. Mr. Bolcom is Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. For Bolcom Concerto Grosso |
Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. The work was composed in
2000 season and given its first performances during the 2000-2001
season by the PRISM Quartet in co-premieres with a consortium of
orchestras, including the Detroit and Dallas Symphony Orchestras.