Thursday, December 19, 2002

WILMINGTON, NC -- William Bolcom, composer and pianist, and Joan

Morris, mezzo-soprano, will perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18, in Kenan

Auditorium at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Bolcom and Morris, who are on the faculty of the University of Michigan

School of Music, have been recognized for their ability to send

audiences home with smiles on their faces and a new appreciation for the

history and range of American music. The Washington Post said of the

pair: “You have not experienced all the possibilities of American popular

song until you have heard mezzo-soprano Joan Morris sing the hilarious

Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise.”

This evening of music will include the performance of original

compositions by Bolcom, who won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for music for 12

New Etudes for Piano, as well as classic songs written by Irving Berlin,

Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Richard Rogers and Eubie Blake. The

concert by this husband-and-wife duo is the third of the university’s

eight-part Arts in Action Performance Series and is presented in

partnership with the UNCW Department of Music Artist Recital Series.

Since their first performance in 1972, Bolcom and Morris have

championed American popular vocal literature, taking this genre to some

of the most renowned venues in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The two have performed at the prestigious Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln

Center, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordan Hall in Boston,

the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia as well as locations in

London, Moscow, Lisbon, Istanbul, Cairo and Florence.

Bolcom and Morris have recorded 20 albums together. The first, After the

Ball, was nominated for a Grammy. Other collaborations include two

collections of cabaret songs and anthologies of various composers

including Gershwin, Berlin and Rodgers and Hart.

In addition to the performance Saturday evening, Morris will conduct a

vocal master class for UNCW students at 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 17, in Kenan

Auditorium. Bolcom will give a lecture/demonstration for UNCW

students at 11 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 18. in Kenan Hall, Room 114. Both

classes are free and open to the public.

Tickets for Saturday night’s concert are $6 for UNCW students and

children age 12 and under; $12 for UNCW faculty/staff and senior

citizens; and $18 for all others. Call the Kenan Auditorium Box Office at

910/962-3500 or 800-732-3643, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For more information, contact Shannon Hooker in UNCW’s Campus

Activities and Involvement Center at 910/962-7600 or via e-mail at

hookers@uncw.edu. Arts in Action Performance Series information is

also on the Web at www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/arts.