Oakland, CA - Mills College alumnus William Bolcom has received a 2006 National Medal of the Arts, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons through the U.S. government.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning classical composer, Bolcom received “special recognition by reason of outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States."

The award was presented to him by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House on November 9.

Currently the Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan, Bolcom is internationally known for his eclectic music that pulsates with vernacular from ragtime to reggae. His most celebrated works include the opera A View from the Bridge and his massive setting of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The composer/pianist and his collaborator and wife, Joan Morris, have recorded 20 albums together, specializing in show tunes, cabaret and popular songs from the early 20th-century. Bolcom has also received two Guggenheims, four Rockefeller Foundation awards, and four NEA fellowships.

Bolcom has received commissions from the Vienna Philharmonic (Salzburg Mozarteum), Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Domaine Musical, Saarlandischer Rundfunk, American Composers Orchestra, Saint Louis, National, Pacific, and Boston Symphonies, The MET Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mendelssohn Quartet, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, and many others. As piano soloist, accompanist (primarily with his wife) and composer, Bolcom is represented on recordings for Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA, CBS, MHS, Arabesque, Jazzology, Vox, Advance, CRI, Phillips, Laurel, First Edition, Newport Classics, Omega, Vanguard, Argo, Koch Classics, Crystal, New World, Centaur, Folkways, Naxos, and many others. 

He was admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1993, received the University of Washington’s Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus Award (the highest honor bestowed by the school), and holds honorary doctorates from the San Francisco Conservatory, Albion College, New England Conservatory, and New School University. Bolcom earned his BA from the University of Washington-Seattle, his MA from Mills College, and his DMA from Stanford University.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently recognized as one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills currently ranks among the top 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The New York Times recently selected Mills as one of three leading California colleges for students to consider.

This year, the Washington Monthly College Rankings (September 2006) named Mills a leading liberal arts college based on community service, research spending, quality of preparation for graduate education, and social mobility. In addition, The Princeton Review’s annual guide, the Best 361 Colleges (2007) included Mills for the second year in a row among top U.S. institutions offering students an outstanding undergraduate education.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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