William Bolcom is an American composer and pianist whose catalogue includes symphonies, operas, chamber music, songs, and works for keyboard. Born in Seattle on May 26, 1938, he began composition studies at eleven at the University of Washington. He later studied with Darius Milhaud, Leland Smith, and Olivier Messiaen. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973 until his retirement in 2008. His 12 New Etudes for Piano won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and he is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. As a pianist, he has performed and recorded extensively with mezzo-soprano Joan Morris, exploring cabaret, show tunes, and twentieth-century American popular song alongside his own compositions.