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Bruce Wolosoff chats about 'Memento' with FM91: Classical Conversations

Bruce Wolosoff is a pianist and an internationally performed composer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music. Lauded as an authentic American voice’ by critic Thomas Bohlert for his integration of classical, jazz, blues, and contemporary influences, Wolosoff often composes in response to visual art and through collaborations with leading artists across a variety of disciplines.

Recent projects include the album Paradise Found: Music for Cello and Piano by Bruce Wolosoff featuring performances by Wolosoff with cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio of the Eroica Trio, released on Avie Records (AV2492) in April 2022.

Wolosoff’s previous collaboration with Sant’Ambrogio, a recording of Wolosoff’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra with conductor Grzegorz Nowak and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was a Billboard Top 10 best-selling classical album. Critic Jerry Dubins of Fanfare Magazine described the concerto as one of ‘compelling beauty’ that ‘can be declared an instant masterpiece’.

Other recent commissions include Lacrymae for cello choir for cellist Inbal Segev’s 20 for 2020 project released on Avie Records (AV2561); The Astronomer’s Key, commissioned in honor of the Roswell Artists-in-Residence Program’s 50th anniversary; and The Loom, inspired by watercolors by the composer’s friend Eric Fischl and commissioned by the Eroica Trio, who premiered the work at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. These last two pieces were recorded by the Montage Music Society for the 2019 album More Music Inspired by Visual Art: Music of Bruce Wolosoff. A documentary about the project by Vincent Stenerson titled Creating Music Inspired by Visual Art was released at the same time.

Wolosoff collaborated with the late choreographer Ann Reinking on two ballets. The White City, based on Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City and made in partnership with Melissa Thodos of Thodos Dance Chicago, enjoyed a two-season tour around the US and rave critical reviews: the Chicago Sun-Times named it ‘Best Dance of 2011.’ A Light in the Dark, inspired by the lives of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, was nominated for an Emmy Award in Outstanding Achievement for Arts Programming.The Chicago Sun-Times described the production as ‘a feast for the senses,’ Dance Magazine as ‘masterful,’ and the Chicago Stage Standard as having ‘the hallmarks of an instant classic.’

As an outgrowth of these interdisciplinary collaborations, Wolosoff was recently named Artistic Director of ‘Reflections in Music’, a non-profit organization that presents programs of music in conversation with other art forms.

Born in New York City in 1955, Wolosoff played in a variety of rock bands as a teenager while pursuing studies in classical piano performance. During his early career as a freelance classical pianist, Wolosoff’s debut recital earned a glowing review from then New York Times music critic Tim Page, who wrote, ‘Mr. Wolosoff is an artist with ideas. He combines keen musical insight with a prismatic sense of tonal color.’ Woloso has given the world premieres of a number of piano works including compositions by Daron Hagen and Richard Danielpour; he premiered the latter’s Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. He was Artistic Director and pianist for an 80th-birthday tribute to Olivier Messiaen at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Of his recording of Ferruccio Busoni’s piano music for Music and Arts Programs of America, Hannah Busoni, the composer’s daughter-in-law and head of the Busoni Society in the 1980s, wrote, ‘All those who love Busoni’s work owe it to themselves to hear Bruce Wolosoff’s compelling and beautiful interpretations. They are exemplary.’

Wolosoff began receiving wider acclaim as a composer with the release of Songs without Words on Naxos American Classics, a collection of 18 divertimenti performed by the Carpe Diem String Quartet.

Wolosoff earned a B.A. from Bard College, where he studied with Joan Tower, and a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory. He studied composition and orchestration with Lawrence Widdoes and did post-graduate work at the Dalcroze School of Music with Dr. Hilda Schuster and at the Lucerne Academy with Malcolm Frager. Wolosoff’s principal piano instructor was German Diez, who taught the technique of Claudio Arrau. Other teachers include classical pianists Evelyne Crochet, Richard Goode and Jorge Bolet, and jazz pianists Charlie Banacos and Jaki Byard.

Bruce Wolosoff lives on Shelter Island with his wife, the artist Margaret Garrett.

Wolosoff's Memento takes the listener on a journey imbued by various genres. Throughout, Wolosoff opens his heart. His inner voice is his guide, and all his own. He talks with FM91 - Toledo OH about his career and his deeply personal collection of short piano works found on the album "Memento" from Avie Records.  LISTEN/WATCH THE INTERVIEW