Bruce Wolosoff is a formidable pianist and composer” (Gramophone) known for his integration of classical, jazz, blues, and contemporary influences. He often composes in response to visual art and through collaborations with leading artists across a variety of disciplines. His music is in rotation on classical music radio stations throughout the world.
It has been a busy season for Bruce, as composer, as pianist, and as artistic director of Reflections. On November 15th the UK based Avie Records label released his Rising Sun Variations, a large-scale set of solo piano variations on House of the Rising Sun, which Bruce began composing during the pandemic lockdown and just completed this past May (with a vinyl release of the album scheduled for February ’25).
Bruce’s 2023 release on Avie Records, the solo piano recording Memento, has continued to receive extensive radio airplay worldwide, and his 2022 recording on the label, Paradise Found: Cello Music of Bruce Wolosoff featuring performances by Bruce with cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio of the Eroica Trio reached #6 on the Billboard Top 10 Classical chart.
Bruce's previous collaboration with Ms. Sant’Ambrogio, a recording of his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, also a Billboard Top 10 best selling classical album, was described by critic Jerry Dubins of Fanfare Magazine as “a work 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; The Astronomer’s Key, commissioned by Montage Music Society in honor of the Roswell Artists-in-Residence Program’s 50th anniversary; 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.
Additional discography highlights include the internationally acclaimed Songs without Words (18 divertimenti for string quartet) on the Naxos American Classics label, and a highly regarded recording of piano music of Ferruccio Busoni for the Music & Arts label. Of this recording, 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.”
Photo Credit: Margaret Garrett
Bruce collaborated with the late choreographer Ann Reinking on two ballets. The White City, based on Erik Larsen’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 country and rave critical reviews, with the Chicago Sun-Times naming it “Best Dance of 2011.” His A Light in the Dark, inspired by the lives of Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan, was nominated for an Emmy Award in Outstanding Achievement for Arts Programming.
Born in New York City in 1955, Bruce played in a variety of rock bands as a teenager while pursuing studies in classical piano performance. He did his undergraduate studies at Bard College and his graduate studies at the New England Conservatory. His principal piano instructor was German Diez, who taught the technique of Claudio Arrau. His main composition and orchestration teacher was Lawrence Widdoes. Other important teachers include classical pianists Evelyne Crochet, Richard Goode and Jorge Bolet, and jazz pianists Charlie Banacos and Jaki Byard.
Bruce had an active career as a concert pianist, performing as recitalist and soloist with orchestra before withdrawing from his activities as a concert pianist at the age of 30 to devote himself more fully to composing. After an absence of many years from the concert stage, Bruce returned to performing in 2011 with a recital program of his own music which was released as the cd Many Worlds.
Since 2020, Bruce has been the artistic director of Reflections in Music, curating and performing in an innovative series of programs that seek to spark new ways of thinking about and engaging with the classical musical experience.
Bruce Wolosoff lives on Shelter Island with his wife, the artist Margaret Garrett.