Moonlight Bay

How proud we are at Albany Records to be able to present to you these two wonderful artists in delightful material which has been newly recorded. Joan Morris and William Bolcom have been concertizing together since 1972. They perform American popular songs from the late 19th century through the 1920s and the 1930s, the latest songs by Leiber and Stoller, and cabaret songs by Bolcom and poet-lyricist Arnold Weinstein. To date they have recorded 19 albums together. Joan Morris was born in Portland, Oregon. She attended Gonzaga University in Spokane prior to scholarship studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She appeared in several off-Broadway and road productions as well as at many Manhattan nightspots including the Cafe Carlyle and the Waldorf-Astoria's Peacock Alley. Since 1981 she has taught in the musical theater program at the University of Michigan where she produced an original musical in April 1998 based on the life of poet Mina Loy. The Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom studied at Mills College with Darius Milhaud, the Paris Conservatoire and completed his doctorate at Stanford University. Recent compositions include his wonderful opera McTeague, the Lyric Concerto for Flute and Orchestra for James Galway, his Sixth Symphony for Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra and he has just completed the film score for John Turturro's new movie Illuminata. He is now working on his new opera A View from the Bridge with a libretto by Arthur Miller and Arnold Weinstein which will be premiered in October, 1999 by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has taught composition at the University of Michigan since 1973, where he is the Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Music.