Bolcom has long been a well-known composer of orchestral and chamber music, especially symphonies. Since 1992, his collaboration with the Lyric Opera of Chicago has produced three very well-received operas, McTeague, A View from the Bridge, and The Wedding. Reviewing The Wedding, the New Yorker described Bolcom as "the rare living classical composer whom God made with the theatre in mind."
Operas
Dynamite Tonight, actor's opera in two acts Libretto by Arnold Weinstein. December 21, 1963, Actor's Studio Theater, New York, New York, Barbara Harris, Alvin Epstein, George Gaynes, William Redfield; cond. by the composer
Greatshot, cabaret/theater opera for two actors Libretto by Arnold Weinstein. December 21, 1963, Yale Repertory Theater, New Haven, Connecticut, cond. by the composer
McTeague, opera in two acts Libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Robert Altman after the novel "McTeague" by Frank Norris. October 31, 1992, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, cond. Dennis Russell Davies
A View From The Bridge, Opera in two acts Libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Arthur Miller after the play by Arthur Miller. October 9, 1999, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
A Wedding, opera in two acts Libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Robert Altman after the film by Robert Altman and John Considine. December 11, 2004, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, cond. Dennis Russell Davies
Lucrezia (March 11, 2008, Weill Hall, New York, New York (New York Festival of Song))
Other Selected Works
Theatre of the Absurd, Paraphrase for Live Actor, Taped Actors, Electronic Tapes, Wind Quintet, Piano (March 2, 1979, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, California, The Arch Ensemble)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, a musical illumination (1984, Stuttgart, Germany)
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