2006 Grammy Winners To Cap CWU Performance Series

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Four-time winners at the recent 48th Annual Grammy Awards, composer/pianist William Bolcom and mezzo-soprano Joan Morris will conclude the 2006 Central Washington University Performing Arts and Presidential Speaker Series with a performance on Saturday, May 6, at 7 p.m. in the music building concert hall on the Ellensburg campus.

Bolcom's "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" received 2006 Grammys for best classical album, best choral performance, best classical contemporary composition, and producer of the year.

This husband and wife duo has recorded 24 albums. Their first release, "After the Ball - A Treasury of Turn-of-the-Century Popular Songs," also garnered a Grammy nomination for Morris for "best vocal soloist performance on a classical album."

Since their first performance together 24 years ago, Bolcom, who is also a Pulitzer-prize winner, and Morris have captivated audiences across the nation and around the world with their renditions of American popular songs from the late 19th-century through the 1920s and '30s, works by Leiber and Stoller, two of the most prominent early rock 'n' roll songwriters, and cabaret tunes by Bolcom and poet-lyricist Arnold Weinstein. Their May 6 concert will feature selections from this long-time musical collaboration.

Pacific Northwest natives, Bolcom, born in Seattle, and Morris in Portland, Ore., have appeared as guest soloists with the Boston Pops and been the focus of various radio and television programs.

On their travels throughout the United States and Canada, the duo also frequently offers master classes on "classic American popular song." Along with their Saturday night performance, they will serve a "residency" in the CWU music department May 3-5.

Tickets for their CWU performance are $45 reserved, $35 general admission and $20 for CWU students with identification. They're available at the CWU Tower Theatre Box Office, open weekdays noon to 6 p.m., or with a VISA or MasterCard by calling (509) 963-1774.

For more information, visit www.cwu.edu/president/series. For persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation call (509) 963-2111 or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.

The 2005-2006 Performing Arts and Presidential Speaker Series is made possible by donations from the Office of the President, CWU College of Arts and Humanities, CWU Alumni Association, Puget Sound Energy, Ellensburg Daily Record newspaper, SageCliffe Foundations, and Northwest Public Radio.

Tickets are also still available at the CWU Tower Theatre box office for several other events in this year's Performing Arts and Presidential Speaker Series: the CWU Wind Ensemble on March 1, the Yakima Symphony Orchestra on April 23, and the CWU Chamber Choir and Orchestra on April 30.

Contact: Dr. Elizabeth Street (509-963-2111/fax 509-963-2306/e-mail: streetl@cwu.edu)

Public Relations and Marketing: (509) 963-1493