Bio
Spending his teenage years improvising piano fantasies based on songs by the latest pop culture sensations of the late 90's and 2000's, often times while playing upside down, it is a surprise that Carl Patrick Bolleia has amounted to anything more than a cameo on a public access talent show or a manager on the amateur wrestling circuit. However, despite his best efforts, he's been able to find himself at the vanguard of musical experimentation, with hands (get it!? ugh.) in a kaleidoscope of activities, ranging from collaborating with living composers, historical performance on period instruments, contemporary improvisation, a multitude of chamber music and large ensemble situations, sacred music, and the standard repertoire.
With performances and recordings featured by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Gramophone, New York Classical Review, American Record Guide, Fanfare and more, Carl Patrick Bolleia has performed as pianist and historical keyboardist throughout North America, Europe and China, at venues including Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium and Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Merkin Hall, NJPAC, Bargemusic, le poisson rouge, and Spectrum. As a collaborative artist, he has performed with musicians of the The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Juilliard415, and more. He has recorded for Composers Concordance Records distributed by Naxos and MSR Classics. He has presented his research on performance analysis and topic theory at International and National Symposiums throughout the world. Active in digital media and music industry, as a composer, pianist and arranger, he has composed and recorded multiple scores for Audible by Amazon and for the 125th Anniversary Campaign of Dr. Pepper. He is Assistant Professor of Music at William Paterson University where he is Director of New Music and Coordinator of Piano/Keyboard Studies.
Dedicated to contemporary music and historical performance, his large scale commissioning project of works for diverse keyboard instruments, entitled tintinnabulation.bloom, features inaugural compositions by the world’s leading composers, including Frederic Rzewski, Tyshawn Sorey and Stephen Hough. He has collaborated with and/or commissioned/premiered the works of such magnificent composers including Frederic Rzewski, Reena Esmail, Charles Wuorinen, James Romig, Jinsil Lee, Whitney George, Hyun-Kyung Lee, John Link, Robert Livingston Aldridge, Chelsea McBride, Gene Pritsker, Kevin Norton, Andrew Rudin, Jeffrey Kresky, Ron Mazurek, Chris Opperman, Anqi Liu, Tara Buzash, Christian Carey, Payton MacDonald, Mina Choi, Eric Ewazen, Peter Jarvis, Louise Fristensky, David Saperstein, Amir Shpilman, Andres Soto, Michael Sperrone, Robert Thomas, Marc Thorman, Jay Villnai, David Weisberg, David Wolfson, Rolv Yttrehus, Asha Srinivasan, Ting Ho, Jon Appleton and more.
Dr. Bolleia received the Graduate Diploma in Historical Performance from The Juilliard School and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, with his dissertation, “A Taxonomy of Musical Gesture and a Hermeneutic of Narrative and Diatonic Continuity in the Piano Music of Charles Wuorinen." At Rutgers, he was awarded the Elizabeth Wyckoff Durham Award for Academic Distinction and Excellence in Piano and Organ Performance, the Arthur G. Humphrey Memorial Prize in Collaborative Piano, and the Edna Mason Scholarship. He received the Robert Starer Award for the Performance of a Work by a Living Composer at The City University of New York Brooklyn College, where he holds a Masters of Music Degree. He is a graduate of William Paterson University, holding the BM in Music Education, where received the Dean's Award for Outstanding Musician and the Music Scholar Award. During his time as a student at William Paterson, he was one of innaugural receipients of the Tami Cotsakos 71' Scholarship and named a Legacy Scholar.
He cites his tutelage under a variety of pianists and keyboardists to be most profoundly influential, especially with Ursula Oppens, Alan Feinberg, Peter Sykes, Min Kwon, Gary Kirkpatrick, Richard Egarr, Béatrice Martin, Avi Stein, Skip Sempé, Jerome Lowenthal, Fred Hersch, Nicolas Hodges, Warren Jones, and Dr. Billy Taylor.
Additional pursuits include the study of sacred music at The Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University and Gregorian Chant at the Wethersfield Institute. He began his work in sacred music at the age of 13 and has served from monasteries in rural Illinois to cathedrals and churches in Italy, Barbados, and as Director of Sacred Music in the Archdiocese of Newark and Diocese of Paterson, currently at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Boonton, NJ.
With performances and recordings featured by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Gramophone, New York Classical Review, American Record Guide, Fanfare and more, Carl Patrick Bolleia has performed as pianist and historical keyboardist throughout North America, Europe and China, at venues including Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium and Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Merkin Hall, NJPAC, Bargemusic, le poisson rouge, and Spectrum. As a collaborative artist, he has performed with musicians of the The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Juilliard415, and more. He has recorded for Composers Concordance Records distributed by Naxos and MSR Classics. He has presented his research on performance analysis and topic theory at International and National Symposiums throughout the world. Active in digital media and music industry, as a composer, pianist and arranger, he has composed and recorded multiple scores for Audible by Amazon and for the 125th Anniversary Campaign of Dr. Pepper. He is Assistant Professor of Music at William Paterson University where he is Director of New Music and Coordinator of Piano/Keyboard Studies.
Dedicated to contemporary music and historical performance, his large scale commissioning project of works for diverse keyboard instruments, entitled tintinnabulation.bloom, features inaugural compositions by the world’s leading composers, including Frederic Rzewski, Tyshawn Sorey and Stephen Hough. He has collaborated with and/or commissioned/premiered the works of such magnificent composers including Frederic Rzewski, Reena Esmail, Charles Wuorinen, James Romig, Jinsil Lee, Whitney George, Hyun-Kyung Lee, John Link, Robert Livingston Aldridge, Chelsea McBride, Gene Pritsker, Kevin Norton, Andrew Rudin, Jeffrey Kresky, Ron Mazurek, Chris Opperman, Anqi Liu, Tara Buzash, Christian Carey, Payton MacDonald, Mina Choi, Eric Ewazen, Peter Jarvis, Louise Fristensky, David Saperstein, Amir Shpilman, Andres Soto, Michael Sperrone, Robert Thomas, Marc Thorman, Jay Villnai, David Weisberg, David Wolfson, Rolv Yttrehus, Asha Srinivasan, Ting Ho, Jon Appleton and more.
Dr. Bolleia received the Graduate Diploma in Historical Performance from The Juilliard School and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, with his dissertation, “A Taxonomy of Musical Gesture and a Hermeneutic of Narrative and Diatonic Continuity in the Piano Music of Charles Wuorinen." At Rutgers, he was awarded the Elizabeth Wyckoff Durham Award for Academic Distinction and Excellence in Piano and Organ Performance, the Arthur G. Humphrey Memorial Prize in Collaborative Piano, and the Edna Mason Scholarship. He received the Robert Starer Award for the Performance of a Work by a Living Composer at The City University of New York Brooklyn College, where he holds a Masters of Music Degree. He is a graduate of William Paterson University, holding the BM in Music Education, where received the Dean's Award for Outstanding Musician and the Music Scholar Award. During his time as a student at William Paterson, he was one of innaugural receipients of the Tami Cotsakos 71' Scholarship and named a Legacy Scholar.
He cites his tutelage under a variety of pianists and keyboardists to be most profoundly influential, especially with Ursula Oppens, Alan Feinberg, Peter Sykes, Min Kwon, Gary Kirkpatrick, Richard Egarr, Béatrice Martin, Avi Stein, Skip Sempé, Jerome Lowenthal, Fred Hersch, Nicolas Hodges, Warren Jones, and Dr. Billy Taylor.
Additional pursuits include the study of sacred music at The Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University and Gregorian Chant at the Wethersfield Institute. He began his work in sacred music at the age of 13 and has served from monasteries in rural Illinois to cathedrals and churches in Italy, Barbados, and as Director of Sacred Music in the Archdiocese of Newark and Diocese of Paterson, currently at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Boonton, NJ.