About This Show

Love. Lust. Longing. Loss. Libido. These are the themes running through the songs by Pulitzer and Grammy award-winning composer William Bolcom (1938- ). Bolcom blurs the lines between cabaret, classical, music theatre and even country music in his settings of texts by Auden, e.e. cummings, Shakespeare and his long-time collaborator Arnold Weinstein. This recital marks the New York debut of the internationally acclaimed soprano Rayanne Dupuis. Ms. Dupuis and pianist Guy Livingston (“An exceptionally agile and charismatic performer”— Los Angeles Times) perform the U.S. premiere of Bolcom’s “Poèmes libres de droits,” written expressly for them. The song cycle, on poems by Guillaume Apollinaire, is a wistful, surrealist tip of the hat to Bolcom’s formative years in Paris.