THE MUSIC OF WILLIAM VOLLINGER
 
 
William Vollinger’s “significance is not in his similarities to others.... it is his difference.” (Interfaith Foundation). Starting with his “50 Unaccompanied Songs”, written at age 21, he began to explore new musical territory. NYC vocal groups, including the Gregg Smith Singers, began to perform his works in the 1970s. GSS recorded “O.D.” on their album “Like Shining”, released by Living Artists Recordings. A recently commissioned work by the GSS is “A Bucket of A Stones”, which was premiered by them in 2007 in NYC. Vollinger recently both performed and presented a paper on his music at the 2007 Aspen Composers Conference. The title was “What to Say and How to Say It: Finding My Own Voice in Composition”. “The Violinist in the Mall” was a co-winner of the 2005 16th annual Friends and Enemies of New Music Competition. The song cycle, “Acts of Kindness” is a setting for high voice and piano of seven true stories of kind acts, some of them small, some of them great. It was premiered by soprano Tracy Rhodus and given subsequent performances by Emily Lodine in Iowa, Kathleen Goff at a Holocaust Memorial program in Everett, Washington, five students of Dr. Liana Valente at Polk Community College, Rene Anderson at Indiana University, and Jerry Casey at the Women’s Symphony Unit in Columbus, Ohio. A new version for tenor of “Acts of Kindness” was performed for the first time by Gregory Wiest and pianist Nicole Winter, in Munich. ( To read an article on Mr.Wiest's dedicated work on behalf of American vocal music, go to the this link: http://www.compositiontoday.com/interviews/gregory_wiest.asp “Acts of Kindness” was also a finalist in the 2006 N.A.T.S. Song Cycle Competition. A new cycle of songs for unaccompanied soprano, “Songs of the 3 Miriams” was premiered by Eunjoo Lee at a New Jersey Camerata concert in February 2007, and was one of three finalists in the Sacred Voice 2007 Competition in Utah in April 2007. "Now Will My Head Be Lifted Up Above My Enemies", for brass quintet, was premiered by Solid Brass at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ in May 2007 at an NJ Camerata concert. “Winds Would” was a winner of the Quintet Attacca’s call for scores and was performed by them in April 2007 at Lake Forest College, IL. “The Child in the Hole” is based on the true story of a Jewish boy who was hidden in a hole in the ground for three years during the Holocaust. There have been several performances of this piece recently, including an Ars Vitalis concert, and a Renegade Ensemble performance in St. Paul's Conservatory St Paul, MN. In Nov. 2002 Tennessee Technological University presented an entire concert devoted to his music, as well as recording a CD entitled “Sound Portraits”. Linda Fulton Ferreira was featured artist for both the concert and the recording on Capstone Records. Songs which are taken from “unaccompanied people”, published by Laurendale Associates, have been performed by Ms. Ferreira, as well as Mary Beth Arnes, Sun-Young Kim, Arthur Krieck, Eunjoo Lee and Gregory Wiest.      The English poet Jenny Joseph, best-known for her poem "Warning"  (When I am an old woman I shall wear purple), first heard Vollinger's music in 1995, and was intrigued by his mixture of music and speech patterns. She asked him at the time to write a set of monodic musics for her to set to words The result, nine years later, is a work in progress. "Threshold", the first three sections premiered in 2004 at the Adirondack Festival of American Music. He has also set many other poems of Jenny Joseph to music, including “False Postulate” and “The Inland Sea”. The NY Vocal Arts Ensemble's performance of Vollinger's “Three Songs About the Resurrection” won first prize at the Geneva International Competition. The Long Island Chamber Ensemble's performance of “More Than Conquerors” (recorded by Grenadilla) was described by NY Times critic Howard Klein as a "thought provoking and moving new vocal work, in the best tradition of inspirational music." The work was revived at Merkin Hall in a concert devoted to his music in the World Music Institute's Interpretations series. In addition to "serious" music, Bill Vollinger has written much for children's voices. Four of his pieces, “Two Jests for Fun”, “The Kid With the Surprising Sneeze”, “Ezekiel”, and “But the Dog REALLY DID Eat My Homework” are published by Heritage Press. All four have been selected as editor's choices in the J.W. Pepper Catologue. Other works have been published by Lawson-Gould and Laurendale. Alliance Publications has just accepted three of his choral compositions, "O.D.", "Pastorale" and "We Are Not Robins". Vollinger's music has both been performed and broadcasted in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. NPR broadcast a one-hour program of his work. He received his BMus and MMus at the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers included Mario Davidovsky and David Diamond. A practicing Christian, he is a member of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. He has recently retired after 27 years as teacher of vocal music at the Pocantico Hills School in Westchester, NY, giving him more time to compose. He directs music at Church of the Savior in Paramus, NJ, and teaches composition and World Music at Nyack College in NY.http://www.boychoirs.org/texas/smith.htmlhttp://www.boychoirs.org/texas/smith.htmlhttp://williamvollinger.com/O.D..htmlhttp://dwightwinenger.net/discpage.htm#lar6http://dwightwinenger.net/discpage.htm#lar6http://williamvollinger.com/A%20Bucket%20of%20Stones.htmlhttp://members.aol.com/aspcomp/The%20Violinist%20in%20the%20Mall.htmlhttp://www.wpunj.edu/coac/music/link/fande.htmlhttp://www.wpunj.edu/coac/music/link/fande.htmlActs%20of%20Kindness.htmlhttp://blogs.polkvoice.com/default.asp?item=724003http://blogs.polkvoice.com/default.asp?item=724003http://www.iupui.edu/~eventsin/cal/?c=d&id=324919&s=41http://www.jerrycaseymusic.com/Acts%20of%20Kindness.htmlhttp://www.gregorywiest.com/http://www.compositiontoday.com/interviews/gregory_wiest.aspSongs%20of%20the%203%20Miriams.htmlhttp://hometown.aol.com/nnjcamerata/index.htmlNow%20Shall%20My%20Head%20Be%20Lifted%20Up%20Above%20My%20Enemies.htmlhttp://www.solidbrass.com/Winds%20Would.htmlhttp://www.quintetattacca.com/The%20Child%20in%20the%20Hole.htmlhttp://www.kean.edu/~arsvital/http://www.myspace.com/renegadeensemblehttp://www.myspace.com/renegadeensemblehttp://www.cookeville.com/news/1036174724/index_htmlhttp://www.cookeville.com/news/1036174724/index_htmlhttp://www.capstonerecords.org/CPS-8718.htmlhttp://www.capstonerecords.org/http://www.capstonerecords.org/unaccompanied%20people.htmlhttp://www.laurendale.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Josephhttp://members.tripod.com/~Labyrinth_3/page59.htmlhttp://members.tripod.com/~Labyrinth_3/page59.htmlFalse%20Postulate.htmlThe%20Inland%20Sea.htmlMore%20Than%20Conquerors.htmlhttp://www.worldmusicinstitute.org/http://www.worldmusicinstitute.org/Two%20Jests%20for%20Fun.htmlThe%20Kid%20With%20the%20Surprising%20Sneeze.htmlhttp://interface.audiovideoweb.com/lnk/avwebdsnjwebsrvr4471/Ezekiel%21.mp3/playBut%20the%20Dog%20Really%20Did%20Eat%20My%20Homework.htmlhttp://www.lorenz.com/http://www.jwpepper.com/http://www.jwpepper.com/http://www.laurendale.com/http://www.apimusic.org/O.D..htmlPastorale.htmlWe%20Are%20Not%20Robins.htmlhttp://www.msmnyc.edu/http://www.msmnyc.edu/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Davidovskyhttp://www.peermusicclassical.com/composer/composerdetail.cfm?detail=diamondhttp://www.cfamc.org/http://www.cfamc.org/http://www.pocanticohills.org/http://www.churchofthesavior-lutheran.org/http://www.nyackcollege.edu/shapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_20shapeimage_2_link_21shapeimage_2_link_22shapeimage_2_link_23shapeimage_2_link_24shapeimage_2_link_25shapeimage_2_link_26shapeimage_2_link_27shapeimage_2_link_28shapeimage_2_link_29shapeimage_2_link_30shapeimage_2_link_31shapeimage_2_link_32shapeimage_2_link_33shapeimage_2_link_34shapeimage_2_link_35shapeimage_2_link_36shapeimage_2_link_37shapeimage_2_link_38shapeimage_2_link_39shapeimage_2_link_40shapeimage_2_link_41shapeimage_2_link_42shapeimage_2_link_43shapeimage_2_link_44shapeimage_2_link_45shapeimage_2_link_46shapeimage_2_link_47shapeimage_2_link_48shapeimage_2_link_49shapeimage_2_link_50shapeimage_2_link_51shapeimage_2_link_52shapeimage_2_link_53shapeimage_2_link_54shapeimage_2_link_55shapeimage_2_link_56shapeimage_2_link_57shapeimage_2_link_58shapeimage_2_link_59shapeimage_2_link_60shapeimage_2_link_61shapeimage_2_link_62shapeimage_2_link_63
“I have known his work for years and believe, after much consideration, that there is genius in it. With astonishing depth and clarity, Vollinger brings his subjects to life. One finds a new musical language, not born out of a desire to be new, but a desire to be clear and to tell the truth. With all
it’s freshness, it is rooted in our past traditions, felicitously circumventing all the chaos, all the attitudinizing, and intellectualizing, and publicizing, that litter the present musical horizon.”
                                  - - - RAYMOND BEEGLE Fanfare