- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptized Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. His output of over 600 compositions includes works widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of European composers and many of his works are part of the standard concert repertoire. - Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein (August 25 1918 – October 14 1990) was an American conductor, composer, and pianist. He was the first conductor born in the United States of America to receive world-wide acclaim, and is known for both his conducting of the New York Philharmonic, including the acclaimed "Young People's Concerts" series, and his multiple compositions, including "West Side Story", … - John Williams
John Williams (April 15, 1903 - May 5, 1983) was a British stage, film, and television actor. Born in The Chalfonts in Buckinghamshire, England, he began acting on the Broadway stage in 1924 and went on to appear in thirty more Broadway plays over the next four decades. He first acted in Hollywood films in 1930, debuting in director Mack Sennett's "The Chumps". - Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949, in the Bronx, New York, USA) is an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and composer. He released his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973. According to the RIAA, he is the sixth best selling artist in the United States. Joel had Top 10 hits in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, is a six-time Grammy Award winner and has sold in excess of 150 million albums worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (Class of 1992), … - Wynton Marsalis
Jazz musician, trumpeter, composer, bandleader, advocate for the arts, and educator, Wynton Marsalis has helped propel jazz to the forefront of American culture. His prominent position in American culture was solidified in April 1997, when he became the first jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Blood on the Fields , which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. - Greg Sandow
Greg Sandow is an American music critic and composer. For many years, he was best known as a critic, both of classical music and pop. But more recently he moved journalism to a back burner, revived a composing career that he abandoned in the 1980s, and began writing and speaking about the future of classical music, a subject that has become his specialty. As a critic, Sandow wrote for "The Village Voice" in the 1980s, … - Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American composer of classical music. He is widely regarded as one of the first American classical composers of international significance. Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives would come to be regarded as one of the "American Originals," a composer working in a uniquely American style, with American tunes woven through his music, … - Jean Sibelius
The core of Sibelius' oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies . Like Beethoven , Sibelius used each one to develop further his own personal compositional style. These works continue to be performed frequently in the concert hall and are often recorded. In addition to the symphonies, Sibelius' best-known compositions include Finlandia , Valse Triste , the violin concerto , the Karelia Suite and The Swan of Tuonela (one of the four movements of the Lemminkainen Suite ). - Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (b. April 29, 1936) is an Indian conductor of classical music. Zubin Mehta was born into an aristocratic Indian Parsi family in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta. His father Mehli Mehta was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Zubin is an alumnus of St Mary's School (I.C.S.E.), Mazagoan, Mumbai. - Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 - April 3, 1950), was a German, and in his later years German-American, composer active from the 1920s until his death. He was a leading composer for the stage, as well as writing a number of concert works. Over fifty years after his death, his music continues to be performed both in popular and classical contexts. In Weill's lifetime, his work was most associated with the voice of his wife, Lotte Lenya, … - Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (born December 11, 1908) is an American composer of classical music. Elliott Carter was born in New York, New York. He was encouraged as a young musician by Charles Ives and studied English and music at Harvard University and Longy School of Music, where his professors included Walter Piston and where he sang with the Harvard Glee Club. He then went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, … - John Rockwell
John Rockwell (born 1940 in Washington D.C.) is a music critic, editor, and dance critic. He studied at Phillips Academy, Harvard, the University of Munich, and the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in German culture. Rockwell began his journalistic career at the "Oakland Tribune" and the "Los Angeles Times". In 1972 he began writing at "New York Times", first as a classical music critic and reporter, … - Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953 in Reading, Berkshire) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age and more recently dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album "Tubular Bells" which broke new ground as an instrumental concept album and launched Virgin Records. - Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish composer of classical music. Manuel de Falla was born in Cádiz. His early teacher in music was his mother; at the age of 9 he was introduced to his first piano professor. From the late 1890s he studied music in Madrid, piano with José Tragó and composition with Felipe Pedrell. In 1899 by unanimous vote he was awarded the first prize at the piano competition at his school of music, … - Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, sometimes "Szopen"; French: Frédéric François Chopin; English surname pronunciation: or ; March 1, 1810, Żelazowa Wola - October 17, 1849, Paris) was a Polish piano composer of the Romantic period. He is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, and prolific composers for piano of all time. Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, … - Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel, Jr. (b. March 21 1935, New York City) is an American conductor. A timpanist and music arranger at his high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, he received his first music degree from Dartmouth College. He also studied at Harvard and Brown University. From 1960 to 1965 he conducted the Rhode Island Philharmonic. From 1965 to 1977 he was principal conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. - Riccardo Chailly
Riccardo Chailly (born February 20, 1953) is an Italian conductor. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music - John Corigliano
John Corigliano (b. February 16, 1938) is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. - Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis (August 26, 1960, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana) is an American jazz and classical saxophonist. He was born the oldest of six sons to Delores Ferdinand Marsalis and famed pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr.. He is the oldest of the six Marsalis brothers: Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mboya Kinyatta, and Jason Marsalis. Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason are also jazz musicians. Ellis is a poet, photographer, & network engineer based in Baltimore. - Osvaldo Golijov
Osvaldo Golijov was born in 1960 in La Plata, Argentina, to a family of eastern European Jewish origin. He grew up surrounded by classical cham-ber music, Jewish liturgical music, the sounds of eastern European klezmorim, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. He studied piano at the local conservatory, and composition privately with Gerardo Gandini (b. 1936), a pupil of Argentinas most famous composer, Alberto Ginastera. - George Winston
George Winston (born 1949) is a American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana. Many of his pieces, self-described as "Rural Folk Piano", evoke the essence of a season and reflect natural landscapes. He is considered to perform in the new age genre, a label that somewhat limits his potential audience. He also is known for his "PEANUTS" tribute album. George Winston was first recorded by John Fahey for Fahey's Takoma Records. - James Mason
James Mason or "Jimmy" Mason (August 26, 1941 - June 22, 1991) was a conductor of classical music. He is an award winning classical music conductor, with such awards as the Princess Grace Award, awarded at the Festival of the Arts, Monaco. He is a graduate of Leland Stanford University. - Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi (b. June 7, 1937) is an Estonian-born American conductor. Neeme Järvi was born in Tallinn and studied first there and then in Leningrad under Evgeny Mravinsky, among others. Early in his career, he held posts with the Estonian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra and the Opera in Tallinn. In 1971 he won first prize in the International Conductors Competition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. - Enrique Granados
Pantaléon Enrique Costanzo Granados y Campiña was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music; he is commonly considered to be a representative of musical Nationalism, and as such his music is in a uniquely Spanish style. He was also a talented painter in the style of Goya. - Phil Lesh
Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and founding member of the rock band, Grateful Dead; he played bass guitar in that group throughout their entire 30-year career. Lesh started out as a trumpet player with a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, … - Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevich Kissin is a virtuoso classical pianist. Kissin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. At age 11 months, he reportedly was able to hum along to a Bach tune his sister Alla was playing on the piano. At age 6 he commenced his own piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children where he became a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor. - David Pogue
David Pogue is a technology writer, journalist and commentator. He is a personal technology columnist for the "New York Times" an Emmy-winning tech correspondent for "CBS News Sunday Morning", and tech guest reporter for NPR's "Morning Edition." He has written or co-written seven books in the "...for Dummies" series (including Macintosh computers, magic, opera, and classical music); in 1999, he launched his own series of computer how-to books, … - David Diamond
David Leo Diamond (July 9 1915 - June 13 2005) was an American composer of classical music. He was born in Rochester, New York and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music under Bernard Rogers, also receiving lessons from Roger Sessions in New York City and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He won a number of awards including three Guggenheim Fellowships, and is considered one of the preeminent American composers of his generation. - Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (Buenos Aires, April 11, 1916 - June 25, 1983 Geneva) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers. - Claudio Arrau
Claudio Arrau León was a Chilean pianist of world fame for his deep interpretations of a huge, vast repertoire spanning from the baroque to 20th-century composers. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. - Jay Chou
Jay Chou , born 18 January 1979, is a World Music Award-winning Taiwanese musician, singer, and producer. In 1998, he was discovered in a talent contest where he showcased his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for popular Chinese singers. Trained in classical music, he combines Chinese and Western music styles to produce songs that fuse R&B, rock, and pop genres, covering issues such as domestic violence, war, and urbanization. - Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki is a Polish composer and conductor of classical music. - Christopher O'Riley
Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host, who is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative pop artists. O’Riley was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. Beginning with a background in jazz, O'Riley switched to classical piano and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. He has received awards at the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, … - Richard Stoltzman
Richard Stoltzman (b. July 12, 1942) is an American clarinetist. Stoltzman was born in Omaha, Nebraska and spent his early years in San Francisco, California and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is part of the faculty list at the New England Conservatory. Stoltzman is perhaps the most well-known clarinetist who primarily plays classical music. - Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is an American composer of classical music and flutist. Higdon was born in Brooklyn, but spent her first 10 years in Atlanta before moving to Tennessee. With almost no advanced flute training, she studied at Bowling Green State University towards a degree in flute performance. While at Bowling Green she met Robert Spano, … - Joann Falletta
Ms. Falletta has been invited to guest conduct many of the world's finest symphony orchestras. Highlights of her guest conducting appearances this season include her debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, featuring a world premiere of Talbot's Trumpet Concerto with Alison Balsom . - Abida Parveen
Begum Abida Parveen, "Pride of Performance, Sitara-e-Imtiaz", a Pakistani singer, is one of the foremost exponents of Sufi music. Her forte is the kafi and the ghazal, though she has also ventured into traditional male territory and sung qawwalis. She is known for her particularly stunning voice, as well as her vivid musical imagination. She has attained legendary status in the Indian Sub-Continent, especially within her home province of Sindh, Pakistan. - Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas (October 1, 1865-May 17, 1935) was a Parisian-born French composer and teacher of classical music. - John Gardner
John Gardner, CBE (born March 2, 1917 in Manchester, England) is an English composer of classical music. Gardner was born in Manchester and brought up in Ilfracombe, North Devon. His father Alfred Linton Gardner was a local GP and amateur composer who was killed in action in the last months of the First World War. His mother, Emily Muriel Pullein-Thompson, was the sister of Captain Harold J "Cappy" Pullein-Thompson, … - Steve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is a British songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970. Hackett remained with the band for eight albums before leaving in 1977 to pursue a solo career. In 1986, Hackett co-founded the supergroup GTR with another progressive guitarist, Steve Howe of Yes and Asia. The group released a self-titled album that year, …
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