Introduction
Bruce Wolosoff (born March 27, 1955 in New York City) is an American classical composer, pianist, and educator. He lives in Shelter Island, New York.
Biography
Wolosoff was born Bruce Germont, the son of Jeanette (née Rothenberg) and Marc Germont. After his father's death when he was five, his mother remarried to Alvin Bibbs Wolosoff. Wolosoff was educated at Bard College and the New England Conservatory in Boston. It was at the New England Conservatory that he met jazz composer-pianist Jaki Byard, an artist who exerted enormous influence on Wolosoff’s musical development.After graduating from the conservatory, Wolosoff moved back to New York City and began his career as a pianist.His debut recital was reviewed byTim Page, then writing for the NY Times. His debut recording came in 1986 and was of works by Ferruccio Busoni. Wolosoff organized an 80th birthday tribute to Olivier Messiaen at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 1988. It was soon after this that he abandoned public performance for many years in order to devote himself more fully to composition.A devotee of blues and jazz, he initially only enjoyed those genres privately and composed and played classical music, but in 2000 he began bringing those genres into his compositions, the first being Blues for the New Millennium which debuted at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC in January 2001.