Arts
A Symphonic Celebration To commemorate Rice’s 100th birthday, American composer William Bolcom has composed a piece titled “Ninth Symphony: A Short Symphony in One Movement.” Commissioned for the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, the original work will be performed several times during centennial festivities. Bolcom, professor emeritus of composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, brings a lifetime of musical accomplishment — as well as strong connections to the Shepherd School — to the centennial commission. Bolcom’s musical contributions are varied, including vocal, choral, symphonic, keyboard, operatic and instrumental works as well as movie scores. He is the winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Music and has been awarded a National Medal of Arts and a Grammy Award. His experience includes 35 years at the University of Michigan and past commissions with some of the world’s top orchestras and music organizations, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the MET Orchestra, Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Philharmonic. World-renowned soloists, including tenor Placido Domingo and violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, have also premiered Bolcom’s works. Bolcom has taught Arthur Gottschalk and Richard Lavenda, both members of the Shepherd School’s composition department. He wrote two landmark pieces for Sergiu Luca, the
”Today our greatest enemy is our inability to listen to each other, which seems to worsen with time. All we hear now is shouting, and nobody is listening because the din is so great. Yet there is a ‘still, small voice’ that refuses to disappear, though often drowned out, that requires us to listen for it.” —William Bolcom
Photo by Katryn Conlin
late violinist and former professor of violin at the Shepherd School and has had an anthology of his cello and piano music recorded by Norman and Jeanne Kierman Fischer, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Cello and artist teacher of piano, respectively, at Rice. About the “Ninth Symphony” he said, “Today our greatest enemy is our inability to listen to each other, which seems to worsen with time. All we hear now is shouting, and nobody
is listening because the din is so great. Yet there is a ‘still, small voice’ that refuses to disappear, though often drowned out, that requires us to listen for it. I pin my hope on that voice. I search for it daily in life and music — and possibly the ‘Ninth Symphony’ is a search for that soft sound,” Bolcom said. He admits that his interest in music has always been a part of who he is. “It happened so early,” Bolcom said, “I don’t remember how or when it started. It’s my life.” Bolcom, also a pianist, often accompanies his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, with whom he has produced 24 recordings. The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra will debut the 15-minute work with Bolcom in attendance Oct. 11. Repeat performances will be Oct. 12 and 14. For additional information, visit http://music.rice.edu. —Tracey Rhoades
Rice Magazine
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No. 14
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2012
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