List of American composers
Encyclopedia
This is a list of American composers, alphabetically sorted by surname, then by other names. It is by no means complete. It is not limited by classifications such as genre or time periodhowever it includes only music composers of significant fame, notability or importance. Some further composers are included in :Category:American composers.
A
- Mark AdamoMark AdamoMark Adamo is an Italian American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While he has composed the symphonic cantata "Late Victorians, "Four Angels: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra," and six substantial choral works, the composer’s principal work has been for the opera house:...
(born 1962) - John Adams (born 1947)
- John Luther AdamsJohn Luther AdamsJohn Luther Adams is a composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska where he has lived since 1978.-Biography:...
(born 1953) - H. Leslie AdamsLeslie Adams (composer)H. Leslie Adams is an American composer and music educator. He has won awards for his compositions from the National Association of Negro Women and the Christian Arts Annual National Competition for Choral Music...
(born 1932) - Samuel AdlerSamuel Adler (composer)Samuel Hans Adler is an American composer and conductor.-Biography:Adler was born to a Jewish family in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Hugo Chaim Adler, a cantor and composer, and Selma Adler. The family fled to the United States in 1939, where Hugo became the cantor of Temple Emanuel in...
(born 1928) - Bruce AdolpheBruce AdolpheBruce Adolphe is a U.S. composer and music scholar, the author of several books on music, and pianist. His current positions include Resident Lecturer and Director of Family Concerts of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and founder and creative director of The Learning Maestros,...
(born 1955) - James Aikman (born 1959) (http://www.naxos.com/person/James_Aikman/143847.htm)
- Stephen AlbertStephen AlbertStephen Albert was an American composer.-Biography:Born in New York City, Albert began his musical training on the piano, French horn, and trumpet as a youngster. He first studied composition at the age of 15 with Elie Siegmeister, and enrolled two years later at the Eastman School of Music, where...
(1941–1992) - Arturo AlvarezArturo alvarezArturo Alvarez is a Mexican-born international A&R, manager, artist and multi-platinum and gold record producer. His career spans two decades in the entertainment industry including collaborataion with artists competing at the Eurovision Song Contest , an annual world competition held in the...
- Beth AndersonBeth AndersonBeth Anderson is an American neo-romantic composer. She studied with John Cage, Terry Riley, Robert Ashley, and Larry Austin, among others. She was born in Lexington, Kentucky, USA and grew up in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky...
(born 1950) - Leroy AndersonLeroy AndersonLeroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler...
(1908–1975) - T. J. AndersonT. J. AndersonThomas Jefferson "T.J." Anderson is an African American composer, conductor, orchestrator and educator. He is well-known for his orchestration of the Scott Joplin opera, Treemonisha....
(born 1928) - John AntesJohn AntesJohn Antes was an American composer of a second generation German Moravian family was born in Upper Frederick Township, Pennsylvania, and died in Bristol, England. He became somewhat of a Renaissance Man and had careers as a violin maker, watchmaker, inventor, missionary, theoretician, businessman...
(1740–1811) - George AntheilGeorge AntheilGeorge Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
(1900–1959) - Alfredo AntoniniAlfredo AntoniniAlfredo Antonini was a leading Italian/American symphony conductor and composer who was active on the international concert stage as well as on the CBS radio and television networks from the 1930s through the 1960s...
(1901–1983) - Frederic ArcherFrederic ArcherFrederic Archer was a British, composer, conductor and organist, born at Oxford, England. He studied music in London and Leipzig, and held musical positions in England and Scotland until 1880, when he was became organist of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York...
(1838–1901) - Dominick ArgentoDominick ArgentoDominick Argento is an American composer, best known as a leading composer of lyric opera and choral music...
(born 1927) - Harold ArlenHarold ArlenHarold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
(1905–1986) - Jeff ArwadyJeff ArwadyJeff Arwady is an American conductor and composer of classical music.Arwady earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in music composition, at Central Michigan University . He studied under Dr. David Gillingham, Dr. José-Luis Maúrtua, and had master lessons with Daniel McCarthy,...
- Robert AshleyRobert AshleyRobert Ashley , is a contemporary American composer, best known for his operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. Along with Gordon Mumma, Ashley was also a major pioneer of audio synthesis.Ashley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan...
(born 1930) - Larry AustinLarry AustinLarry Austin is a United States composer noted for his electronic and computer music works. He was a co-founder and editor of the avant-garde music periodical Source: Music of the Avant Garde...
(born 1930) - Frederick AyresFrederick AyresFrederick Ayres was an American composer. Born in Binghamton, New York, he studied at Cornell University; further study, this time in music, came with Edgar Stillman Kelley and Arthur Foote. Ayres lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado for many years, during which time he became a "musical...
(1876–1926)
B
- Milton BabbittMilton BabbittMilton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
(1916–2011) - Burt BacharachBurt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
(born 1928) - Ernst BaconErnst BaconErnst Lecher Bacon was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. A prolific author, Bacon composed over 250 songs over his career. He was awarded three Guggenheim Fellowships and a Pulitzer Scholarship in 1932 for his Second Symphony.-Biography:Ernst Bacon was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May...
(1898–1990) - David Baker (born 1931)
- Robert Baksa (born 1938) (http://www.robertbaksa.com/rbaksa-bio.html, http://www.operatoday.com/content/2010/08/robert_baksa_an.php)
- Leonardo BaladaLeonardo BaladaLeonardo Balada , is a Catalan American composer, now teaching and composing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Life:...
(born 1933) - George Barati (1913–1996) (:de:George Barati, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Barati-George.htm http://www.naxos.com/person/George_Barati/20567.htm)
- Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
(1910–1981) - Wayne BarlowWayne BarlowWayne B. Barlow was an American composer of contemporary classical music...
(1912–1996) - Matthew BarnsonMatthew Barnson- Biography :Barnson is a native of Utah and obtained his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music. He pursued graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Barnson is the youngest recipient of a Barlow Commission from the BYU College of Fine Arts and...
(born 1979) - Marion BauerMarion BauerMarion Eugénie Bauer was an American composer, teacher, writer, and music critic. A contemporary of Aaron Copland, Bauer played an active role in shaping American musical identity in the early half of the twentieth century....
(1882–1955) - Amy BeachAmy BeachAmy Marcy Cheney Beach was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Most of her compositions and performances were under the name Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.-Early years:Beach was born Amy Marcy Cheney in Henniker, New Hampshire into...
(1867–1944) - Robert BeadellRobert Beadell-Life:After military service as a bandsman with the United States Marines during the Second World War, Beadell enrolled in the music program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where his clarinet teacher, Dominick DiCaprio, encouraged him to study composition...
(1925–1994) - Robert BeaserRobert BeaserRobert Beaser is an American composer.-Biography:Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a physician and mother was a chemist. He grew up in Newton, Massachusetts where he distinguished himself at a young age as a percussionist, composer and conductor...
(born 1954) - Jeremy BeckJeremy BeckJeremy Beck is a dramatic and lyrical American composer of works for varying orchestral, chamber and vocal forces. The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today. Indeed, [he...
(born 1960) - Johann H. BeckJohann Heinrich BeckJohann Heinrich Beck was an American composer and conductor. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he wrote a number of pieces for orchestra, as well as a string sextet and a string quartet.-References:...
(1856–1924) - John J. BeckerJohn J. BeckerJohn Joseph Becker was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is grouped together with Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, and Wallingford Riegger as a member of the "American Five" composers of "ultra-modern" music.The John J...
(1886–1961) - René-Louis Becker (1882–1956) (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Becker-Rene-Louis.htm)
- Jack BeesonJack BeesonJack Beeson was an American composer. He was known particularly for his operas, the best known of which are Lizzie Borden, Hello Out There! and The Sweet Bye and Bye.-Biography:...
(1921–2010) - Supply BelcherSupply BelcherSupply Belcher was an American composer, singer, and compiler of tune books. He was one of the members of the so-called First New England School, a group of mostly self-taught composers who created sacred vocal music for local choirs. He was active first in Lexington, Massachusetts, then...
(1751–1836) - Robert Russell BennettRobert Russell BennettRobert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
(1894–1981) - Arthur BergerArthur BergerArthur Victor Berger was an American composer who has been described as a New Mannerist.-Biography:Born in New York City, of Jewish descent, Berger studied as an undergraduate at New York University, during which time he joined the Young Composer's Group, as a graduate student under Walter Piston...
(1912–2003) - Jonathan BergerJonathan BergerJonathan Berger is an American composer. His works include orchestral, chamber, vocal, choral and electro-acoustic music. He has been commissioned by some of today’s most exciting chamber ensembles and has enjoyed commissions and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bourges...
(born 1954) - William BergsmaWilliam Bergsma-Biography:After studying piano with his mother, a former opera singer, and then the viola, Bergsma moved on to study composition; his most significant teachers were Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers. Bergsma attended Stanford University for two years before moving on to the Eastman School of...
(1921–1994) - Irving BerlinIrving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
(1888–1989) - Derek BermelDerek BermelDerek Bermel is an American composer, clarinetist and conductor whose music blends various facets of world music, funk and jazz with largely classical performing forces and musical vocabulary...
(born 1967) - Elmer BernsteinElmer BernsteinElmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...
(1922–2004) - Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
(1918–1990) - William BillingsWilliam BillingsWilliam Billings was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music...
(1746–1800) - Phillip BimsteinPhillip BimsteinPhillip Bimstein is an American alternative classical music composer and politician.-History:After majoring in music theory and composition at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, in the 1980s Bimstein led the new wave band Phil 'n' the Blanks, whose three albums and six videos were featured on...
(born 1947) - Seth BinghamSeth BinghamSeth Daniels Bingham was an American organist and prolific composer.He was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He studied at Yale University, gaining a B.A. in 1904 and a B.Mus. in 1908, and subsequently taught theory and composition at Yale from 1908–1919...
(1882–1972) - Arthur H. BirdArthur BirdArthur Bird was an American composer, for many years resident in Germany. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied in Europe and spent a year at Weimar with Franz Liszt. He composed a symphony, Karnevalszene; three orchestral suites; some works for wind instruments alone; some music for the...
(1856–1923) - Easley Blackwood, Jr. (born 1933)
- Eubie BlakeEubie BlakeJames Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...
(1883–1983) - William Burdine Blake, Sr.William Burdine Blake, Sr.William Burdine Blake, Sr. was a music composer and newspaper publisher. He was born January 21, 1852, in London, Ohio. He moved to the area of Dayton, Virginia in the early 1870s. There he worked with the publishing house of the Ruebush-Kieffer Company. Blake remained with Ruebush-Kieffer until...
(1852–1938) - Marc BlitzsteinMarc BlitzsteinMarcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...
(1905–1964) - Ernest BlochErnest BlochErnest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
(1880–1959) - Dušan BogdanovićDušan BogdanovicDušan Bogdanović is a Serbian-born American composer and classical guitarist. He has explored musical languages which are reflected in his style today: a unique synthesis of classical, jazz and ethnic music...
(born 1955) - William BolcomWilliam BolcomWilliam Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
(born 1938) - Margaret BondsMargaret BondsMargaret Allison Bonds was an American composer and pianist. One of the first black composers and performers to gain recognition in the United States, she is best remembered today for her frequent collaborations with Langston Hughes.-Life:...
(1913–1972) - Francis BoottFrancis Boott (composer)Francis Boott was an American classical music composer of art songs and works for chorus.-Biography:...
(1813–1904) - David BordenDavid BordenDavid Borden is an American composer of minimalist music.In 1969, with the support of Robert Moog, he founded the synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company in Ithaca New York. Mother Mallard performed pieces by Robert Ashley, John Cage, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and...
(born 1938) - Benjamin BoretzBenjamin BoretzBenjamin Boretz is an American composer and music theorist.-Life and work:Boretz was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated with a degree in music from Brooklyn College...
(born 1934) - Paul BowlesPaul BowlesPaul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
(1910–1999) - Henry BrantHenry BrantHenry Dreyfuss Brant was a Canadian-born American composer. An expert orchestrator with a flair for experimentation, many of Brant's works featured spatialization techniques.- Biography :...
(1913–2008) - Joseph Carl BreilJoseph Carl BreilJoseph Carl Breil was an American lyric tenor, stage director, composer and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was Les amours de la reine Élisabeth starring Sarah Bernhardt...
(1870–1926) - Roger BriggsRoger BriggsRoger Briggs is an American composer, conductor, pianist, and educator.- Biography :Roger Briggs, born and raised in Florence, Alabama, began playing the piano at age 8 and composing by age 11. His earliest teachers were Norman Hill and Walter Urben who taught at the University of North Alabama...
(born 1952) - George Frederick BristowGeorge Frederick BristowGeorge Frederick Bristow was an American composer. He advocated American classical music, rather than favoring European pieces. He was famously involved in a related controversy involving William Henry Fry and the New York Philharmonic Society.-Musical career:Bristow was born into a musical...
(1825–1898) - Howard BrockwayHoward BrockwayHoward A. Brockway was an American composer.Brockway was born on November 22, 1870 in Brooklyn, New York. He spent five years in Berlin, studying composition under Otis Bardwell Boise and piano under Heinrich Barth. Afterwards he returned to the U.S...
(1870–1951) - Earle BrownEarle BrownEarle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
(1926–2002) - Dave BrubeckDave BrubeckDavid Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
(born 1920) - George Brunner (born 1951)
- Mark BucciMark BucciMark Bucci was an American composer, lyricist, and dramatist. Influenced by Giacomo Puccini, his work is composed in a contemporary yet lyrical style which frequently employs marked rhythms and memorable harmonies and melodies.-Career:Bucci studied music composition with Tibor Serly in New York...
(1924–2002) - Dudley BuckDudley BuckDudley Buck was an American composer, organist, and writer on music. He published several books, most notably the Dictionary of Musical Terms and Influence of the Organ in History, which was published in New York in 1882. He is best known today for his organ composition, Concert Variations on the...
(1839–1909) - Harold BuddHarold BuddHarold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....
(born 1936) - Frederick Field Bullard (1864–1904) (:de:Frederick Field Bullard, http://hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/u/l/bullard_ff.htm)
- Cecil Burleigh (1885–1980) (http://www.naxosdirect.com/title/8.559061)
- Harry BurleighHarry BurleighHenry "Harry" Thacker Burleigh , a baritone, was an African American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer...
(1866–1949)
C
- Curt CacioppoCurt CacioppoCurtis Cacioppo is an American composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. He is of Sicilian ancestry on his father's side, and Anglo-Saxon ancestry on his mother's side....
(born 1951) - Charles Wakefield CadmanCharles Wakefield CadmanCharles Wakefield Cadman was an American composer.Cadman’s musical education, unlike that of most of his American contemporaries, was completely American. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he began piano lessons at 13...
(1881–1946) - John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
(1912–1992) - Robert CarlRobert CarlRobert Carl is an American composer who currently resides in Hartford, Connecticut, where he is chair of the composition department at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.-Music:...
(born 1954) - John Alden CarpenterJohn Alden CarpenterJohn Alden Carpenter was an American composer.-Biography:Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, Carpenter was raised in a musical household. He was educated at Harvard University, where he studied under John Knowles Paine, and was president of the Glee Club and wrote music for the Hasty-Pudding Club...
(1876–1951) - Benjamin CarrBenjamin CarrBenjamin Carr was an American composer, singer, teacher, and music publisher. Born in London, he studied organ with Charles Wesley and composition with Samuel Arnold. In 1793 he traveled to Philadelphia with a stage company, and a year later went with the same company to New York, where he...
(1768–1831) - Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
(born 1908) - Kristopher CarterKristopher CarterKristopher Lee Carter is an American composer. He grew up in San Angelo, Texas and currently lives in Los Angeles, California....
(born 1972) - Romeo CascarinoRomeo CascarinoRomeo Cascarino was an American composer of classical music.His music is generally tonal, and his magnum opus is the opera William Penn, whose life had fascinated Cascarino since childhood...
(1922–2002) - George Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
(1854–1931) - Chen YiChen Yi (composer)Chen Yi is a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music. She was the first Chinese woman to receive a Master of Arts in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is also a violinist....
(born 1953) - Paul ChiharaPaul ChiharaPaul Seiko Chihara is an American composer.Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. A Japanese American, he spent several years of his childhood with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho....
(born 1938) - F. Melius ChristiansenF. Melius ChristiansenF. Melius Christiansen was a Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition.-Background:...
(1871–1955) - Paul J. ChristiansenPaul J. ChristiansenPaul Joseph Christiansen was a noted American choral conductor and composer. As the youngest son of F. Melius Christiansen, he was brought up into the Lutheran Choral Tradition and quickly developed his own style of conducting and composing that furthered the tradition started by his father...
(1914–1997) - Avery ClaflinAvery ClaflinAvery Claflin was an American composer, although he studied law and business, later pursuing a career in banking. He served as president for the French American Banking Corp....
(1898–1979) - Rene ClausenRené ClausenRené Clausen is an American composer, conductor of The Concordia Choir, and associate professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota...
(born 1953) - Gloria CoatesGloria CoatesGloria Coates is an American composer who has moved to, and has subsequently been living in Munich, Germany since 1969...
(born 1938) - Louis CoerneLouis CoerneLouis Adolphe Coerne was an American composer and music educator. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and was educated at Harvard University, where he studied under John Knowles Paine, and in Europe....
(1870–1922) - Robert CoganRobert CoganRobert Cogan is an American music theorist, composer and teacher, who seeks to challenge new domains of musical composition and theory....
(born 1930) - James CohnJames CohnJames Cohn is an American composer born in 1928 in Newark, New Jersey. After taking violin and piano lessons in his native town, he studied composition with Roy Harris, Wayne Barlow and Bernard Wagenaar, and majored in Composition at Juilliard, graduating in 1950.He has written solo, chamber,...
(born 1928) - Edward Joseph CollinsEdward Joseph CollinsEdward Joseph Collins was an American pianist, conductor and composer of romantic classical music. Collins was born in Joliet, Illinois. He studied with Rudolf Ganz in Chicago and in 1906 went with Ganz to Berlin, where he studied performance and composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik...
(1886–1951) - Edward T. ConeEdward T. ConeEdward Toner Cone was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, and philanthropist.Cone studied composition under Roger Sessions at Princeton University, receiving his bachelor's in 1939...
(1917–2004) - Zez ConfreyZez ConfreyEdward Elzear "Zez" Confrey was an American composer and performer of piano music. His most noted works were "Kitten on the Keys," and "Dizzy Fingers."-Life and career:...
(1895–1971) - Sylvia ConstantinidisSylvia ConstantinidisSylvia Constantinidis is a Venezuelan-American pianist, conductor, writer, music educator and composer.-Life:Sylvia Constantinidis was born in Venezuela of European ancestry and began her study of music at an early age in Caracas, Venezuela...
(born 1962) - David ConteDavid ConteDavid Conte is an American composer. He has been a Professor of Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1985, and Composer-in-Residence with Thick Description since 1990....
(born 1955) - Charles Crozat ConverseCharles Crozat ConverseCharles Crozat Converse was a United States attorney who also worked as a composer of church songs. He was born in Warren, Massachusetts. He is notable for setting to music the words of Joseph Scriven to become the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". Converse also published an arrangement of...
(1832–1918) - Frederick ConverseFrederick ConverseFrederick Shepherd Converse , was an American composer of classical music.-Life and career:Converse was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Edmund Winchester and Charlotte Augusta Converse. His father was a successful merchant, and president of the National Tube Works and the Conanicut Mills...
(1871–1940) - Will Marion CookWill Marion CookWilliam Mercer Cook , better known as Will Marion Cook, was an African American composer and violinist from the United States. Cook was a student of Antonín Dvořák and performed for King George V among others...
(1869–1944) - Carson Cooman (born 1982) (:nl:Carson Cooman, http://www.carsoncooman.com)
- Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
(1900–1990) - Carmine CoppolaCarmine CoppolaCarmine Coppola was an American composer, flautist, editor, musical director, and songwriter. Coppola was a composer and conductor who contributed to many of the musical scores in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, and Apocalypse Now directed by his son Francis Ford...
(1910–1991) - John CoriglianoJohn CoriglianoJohn Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
(born 1938) - Henry CowellHenry CowellHenry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
(1897–1965) - John CratonJohn CratonJohn Douglas Craton is an American classical composer. His works have been performed throughout the United States and Europe. While his compositions cover a diverse range, he is best known for his operas and works for classical mandolin.-Biography:...
(born 1953) - Ruth Crawford SeegerRuth Crawford SeegerRuth Crawford Seeger , born Ruth Porter Crawford, was a modernist composer and an American folk music specialist.-Life:...
(1901–1953) - Noah CreshevskyNoah Creshevsky-Biography:Trained in composition by Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Luciano Berio at the Juilliard School, Creshevsky has lived and worked in New York since 1966. He taught at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York for thirty-one years, serving as Director of the Brooklyn College Center...
(born 1945) - Paul CrestonPaul CrestonPaul Creston was an Italian American composer of classical music.Born in New York City to Sicilian immigrants, Creston was self‐taught as a composer. He was an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity, initiated into the national honorary Alpha Alpha chapter...
(1906–1985) - David CrumbDavid CrumbDavid Crumb, born May 21, 1962, is a contemporary composer born into a musical family. His father is composer George Crumb, and his sister is singer Ann Crumb...
(born 1962) - George CrumbGeorge CrumbGeorge Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
(born 1929) - Conrad CummingsConrad CummingsConrad Cummings is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His compositions include works for orchestra, as well as operatic and chamber works. Many of his works are composed in a minimalist style reminiscent of that of Philip Glass.Cummings was born in San Francisco, California,...
(born 1948) - Alvin CurranAlvin CurranComposer Alvin Curran , is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. Curran's music often makes use of electronics and environmental found sounds....
(born 1938) - Sebastian CurrierSebastian CurrierSebastian Currier is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007.-Life:...
(born 1959) - Hoyt CurtinHoyt CurtinHoyt Stoddard Curtin was an American composer and music producer, the primary musical director for the Hanna-Barbera animation studio from its beginnings with The Ruff & Reddy Show in 1957 until his retirement in 1986, except from 1963-1973, when the primary music director was Ted Nichols...
(1922–2000)
D
- Walter Damrosch (1862–1950)
- Joseph DangerfieldJoseph DangerfieldDr. Joseph Dangerfield is a composer, pianist, and conductor who has lived and worked professionally in Germany, Holland, Russia, and the United States...
(born 1977) - Richard DanielpourRichard DanielpourRichard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
(born 1956) - Michael DaughertyMichael DaughertyMichael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...
(born 1954) - Mario DavidovskyMario DavidovskyMario Davidovsky is an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the US, where he lives today...
(born 1934) - Don DavisDon Davis (composer)Donald Romain Davis is an American film score composer, conductor, and orchestrator. Best known for his work on The Matrix, he has worked on a variety of films, from horror to comedy.- Early life :...
(born 1957) - Katherine K. Davis (1892–1980)
- Reginald De KovenReginald de KovenHenry Louis Reginald De Koven was an American music critic and prolific composer, particularly of comic operas.-Biography:...
(1859–1920) - Edmond DédéEdmond DédéEdmond Dédé was a free-born Creole musician and composer. He moved to Europe to study in Paris in 1857 and settled in France. His compositions include Quasimodo Symphony, Le Palmier Overture, Le Sermente de L'Arabe and Patriotisme...
(1827–1903) - David Del TrediciDavid Del TrediciDavid Del Tredici, born March 16, 1937 in Cloverdale, California, is an American composer. According to Del Tredici's website, Aaron Copland said David Del Tredici "is that rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift...
(born 1937) - Norman Dello JoioNorman Dello Joio- Life :He was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his musical career as organist and choir director at the Star of the Sea Church on City Island in New York at age 14. His father was an organist, pianist, and vocal coach and coached many opera stars from the...
(1913–2008) - James Di PasqualeJames Di PasqualeJames Di Pasquale is an American musician and composer of contemporary music and music for television and films.-Biography:...
(born 1941) - David DiamondDavid Diamond (composer)David Leo Diamond was an American composer of classical music.-Life and career: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...
(1915–2005) - Clarence Dickinson (1873–1969) (:de:Clarence Dickinson, http://www.agohq.org/develop/clarence.html)
- Lawrence DillonLawrence DillonLawrence Dillon is an American composer, and currently Composer in Residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His music has a wide range of expression, generally within a tonal idiom notable both for its rhythmic propulsiveness and a strong lyrical element...
(born 1959) - Charles DodgeCharles Dodge (composer)Charles Dodge is an American composer best known for his electronic music, specifically his computer music. He is a former student of Darius Milhaud and Gunther Schuller.-Education and teaching career:...
(born 1942) - Daniel DorffDaniel DorffDaniel Dorff is an American composer, and is regarded as one of the most influential of his generation...
(born 1956) - Celius DoughertyCelius DoughertyCelius Dougherty was an American pianist and composer of art songs and other music.-Biography:...
(1902–1986) - John Thomas DouglassJohn Thomas DouglassJohn Thomas Douglass was an accomplished American violinist who composed Virginia's Ball, which is the first known opera written by an African American, copyrighted in 1868. It was performed at least once, but is now lost...
(1847–1886) - John W. DowneyJohn W. DowneyJohn W. Downey was a contemporary classical composer, conductor, pianist and educator. His works have been performed extensively in Western and Eastern Europe, South America, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Israel, Asia, Mexico and Canada, as well as throughout the United States.- Biography...
(1927–2004) - Deborah DrattellDeborah DrattellDeborah Drattell is an American composer. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and started her career in music as a violinist. Her compositions have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Tanglewood and Caramoor Music Festivals, and many other groups and venues...
(born 1956) - Paul DresherPaul DresherPaul Joseph Dresher is an American composer. Dresher received his B.A. in music from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.A. in composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with Robert Erickson, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, and Bernard Rands.He also...
(born 1951) - Jacob DruckmanJacob DruckmanJacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
(1928–1996) - William Duckworth (born 1943)
- John Woods DukeJohn Woods DukeJohn Woods Duke , an American composer and pianist born in Cumberland, Maryland, became arguably best-known for his art songs.-Biography :John Woods Duke was the oldest child in a large musical family...
(1899–1984) - Vernon DukeVernon DukeVernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y...
(1903–1969) - Henry Morton Dunham (1853–1929) (http://hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/u/n/dunham_hm.htm
- David Dzubay (born 1964) (http://pronovamusic.com/bio.html)
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- Dennis EberhardDennis EberhardDennis Eberhard was an American composer. In his youth he was crippled by polio, which contributed to respiratory problems that contributed to his death in 2005...
(1943–2005) - Cecil EffingerCecil EffingerCecil Effinger was an American composer, oboist, and inventor.-Life:Effinger was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and resided in that state for most of his life...
(1914–1990) - Henry EichheimHenry EichheimHenry Eichheim was an American composer, conductor, violinist, organologist, and ethnomusicologist. He is best known as one of the first American composers to combine the sound of indigenous Asian instruments with western orchestral colors.- Life :He was born in Chicago, where he studied at the...
(1870–1942) - Danny ElfmanDanny ElfmanDaniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
(born 1953) - Duke EllingtonDuke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
(1899–1974) - Abraham EllsteinAbraham EllsteinAbraham "Abe" Ellstein was an American composer for Yiddish entertainments. Along with Shalom Secunda, Joseph Rumshinsky, and Alexander Olshanetsky, Ellstein was one of the "big four" composers of his era in New York City's Second Avenue Yiddish theatre scene...
(1907–1963) - Donald ErbDonald ErbDonald Erb was an American composer best known for large orchestral works such as Concerto for Brass and Orchestra and Ritual Observances.-Early years:...
(1927–2008) - Robert EricksonRobert EricksonRobert Erickson was an American composer.He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936-1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone system before most other Americans had taken it up." He influenced notable students Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Paul Dresher...
(1917–1997) - Pozzi EscotPozzi EscotPozzi Escot is an American composer and faculty member at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts....
(born 1933) - Alvin EtlerAlvin EtlerAlvin Derald Etler was an American composer and oboist.-Career:A student of Paul Hindemith, Etler is noted for his highly rhythmic, harmonically and texturally complex compositional style, taking inspiration from the works of Bartók and Copland as well as the dissonant and accented styles of...
(1913–1973) - Ralph EvansRalph Evans (violinist)Ralph Evans is an American violinist, best known as first violinist of the Fine Arts Quartet.The son of Jewish refugees from Russia and Germany, Evans began his musical studies at the age of five at the Vienna Academy of Music....
(born 1953) - Eric EwazenEric EwazenEric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher. Ewazen studied composition under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, and Eugene Kurtz at the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School...
(born 1954)
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- Blair FairchildBlair FairchildBlair Fairchild was an American composer and diplomat. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman, Charles Sanford Skilton, Arthur Nevin, and Arthur Farwell, among others, he is sometimes grouped among the Indianists, although he had only a marginal association with their work.Fairchild was a native of...
(1877–1933) - Mohammed FairouzMohammed FairouzMohammed Fairouz is an Arab American composer.Having fulfilling many commissions and created a substantial body of frequently performed works, he is considered one of the most sought after composers of the young generation. Fairouz began composing at an early age and studied at the New England...
(born 1985) - Richard FaithRichard FaithAmerican composer,Richard Faith has been known primarily in university music circles as a concert pianist, professor of piano, and a published composer of piano pedagogy literature, orchestral and chamber works, opera and most prolifically, song...
(born 1926) - Arthur FarwellArthur FarwellArthur Farwell was an American composer, conductor, educationalist, lithographer, esoteric savant, and music publisher.- Biography :Farwell was born in St Paul, Minnesota...
(1872–1952) - Morton FeldmanMorton FeldmanMorton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
(1926–1987) - Jim FergusonJim FergusonJim Ferguson is an American guitarist, composer, music educator, author, and music journalist/editor.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Jim Ferguson began his early music education playing the trombone at age 7, and then after eight years of study, switched to the guitar at age 15...
(born 1948) - Richard FestingerRichard FestingerRichard Festinger is an American composer, born in Newton, Massachusetts 1 March 1948, currently living in Richmond CA. Festinger was the founding director of the Earplay ensemble based in the Bay Area...
(born 1948) - Paul Fetler (born 1920) (http://www.naxos.com/person/Paul_Felter/86299.htm, :it:Paul Fetler)
- Henry FillmoreHenry FillmoreHenry Fillmore was an American musician, composer, publisher, and bandleader, best-known for his many marches and screamers.-Biography:James Henry Fillmore Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio as the eldest of five children...
(1881–1956) - Irving FineIrving FineIrving Gifford Fine was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neo-classical, romantic and, later, serial elements...
(1914–1963) - Vivian FineVivian FineVivian Fine was an American composer.Over her 70 year career, Vivian Fine became one of America’s most important composers. She wrote virtually without a break for 68 years, producing over 140 works...
(1913–2000) - Ross Lee FinneyRoss Lee FinneyRoss Lee Finney Junior was an American composer born in Wells, Minnesota who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, Edward Burlingame Hill, Alban Berg and Roger Sessions...
(1906–1997) - C. P. FirstCraig FirstC. P. First , American composer of the avant-garde, was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Recognized primarily for his chamber music, he also has composed opera, orchestral and electronic music...
(born 1960) - Nicolas FlagelloNicolas FlagelloNicolas Flagello , was an American composer of classical music.Flagello was born in New York City, into a very musical family. His brother Ezio Flagello was a bass who sang at the Metropolitan Opera. One of his first music teachers was the composer Vittorio Giannini, and he then studied at the...
(1928–1994) - Carlisle FloydCarlisle FloydCarlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
(born 1926) - Adolph M. Foerster (1854–1927) (https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/classic/adolph-martin-foerster, http://www.clpgh.org/research/music/pittsburgh/archivalmaterial/foerster.html)
- Arthur FooteArthur FooteArthur William Foote was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker.The modern tendency is to view Foote’s music as “Romantic” and “European” in light of the...
(1853–1937) - Lukas FossLukas FossLukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
(1922–2009) - Stephen FosterStephen FosterStephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
(1826–1864) - Frederick A. FoxFrederick A. FoxFrederick Alfred Fox, Jr. was an American composer and former music educator specializing in contemporary classical music.-Formative Years:...
(born 1931) - Gabriela Lena FrankGabriela Lena FrankGabriela Lena Frank is an American composer of contemporary classical music and pianist.- Biography :...
(born 1972) - Harry Lawrence FreemanHarry Lawrence FreemanHarry Lawrence Freeman was a United States opera composer, conductor, impresario and teacher...
(1869–1954) - Alexander FreyAlexander FreyAlexander Frey is an American symphony orchestra conductor. He is also known as a virtuoso organist and pianist. Frey is in great demand as one of the world's most versatile conductors, and has enjoyed great success in the concert hall and opera house, and in the music of Broadway and Hollywood.In...
(born 1972) - William Henry FryWilliam Henry FryFor the woodcarver and gilder, see William H. Fry.William Henry Fry was a pioneering American composer, music critic, and journalist. Fry was the first person born in the United States to write for a large symphony orchestra, and the first to compose a publicly performed opera...
(1813–1864) - Kenneth FuchsKenneth FuchsKenneth Fuchs is an American composer, conductor, and educator. He currently serves as Professor of Music Composition at the University of Connecticut ....
(born 1956) - Charles Fussell (born 1938) (http://www.collagenewmusic.org/fussell.html)
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- Nancy GalbraithNancy GalbraithNancy Galbraith is an American postmodern/postminimalist composer.-Biography:Galbraith began playing piano at the age of four. She studied music at Ohio University , West Virginia University , and Carnegie Mellon University. She now teaches composition and music theory at Carnegie Mellon...
(born 1951) - Jack GallagherJack Gallagher (composer)Jack Gallagher is an American composer and college professor. His recording, Jack Gallagher: Orchestral Music, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta, was released internationally on the Naxos Records label in 2010.-Life and career:Gallagher was born in Brooklyn,...
(born 1947) - Michael GandolfiMichael GandolfiMichael James Gandolfi is an American composer of contemporary classical music.Initially a self-taught guitarist, Gandolfi entered the Berklee College of Music before transferring to the New England Conservatory of Music after one year...
(born 1956) - Kyle GannKyle GannKyle Eugene Gann is an American professor of music, critic and composer born in Dallas, Texas. As a critic for The Village Voice and other publications he has been a supporter of progressive music including such Downtown movements as postminimalism and totalism.- As composer :As a composer his...
(born 1955) - J. Ryan GarberJ. Ryan GarberJ. Ryan Garber is an American composer of contemporary music.-Education:Prior to his extensive education in music, ryan Garber was raised by wolves in the icy tundras of the north pole. Garber began musical studies on the piano at age four. He subsequently became proficient on the bassoon and...
(born 1973) - Daniel E. GawthropDaniel E. GawthropDaniel E. Gawthrop is an American composer, primarily of choral music. His output also includes a substantial body of works for the organ as well as orchestral and instrumental works. He has been the recipient of over one hundred commissions to write original music...
(born 1949) - Steven GerberSteven GerberSteven R. Gerber is an American composer of classical music.-Biography and career:Steven Gerber wrote such works as the contrapuntal Fantasy for Solo Violin, which has been recorded on both the CRI and Naxos labels, and Piano Trio, commissioned by the Hans Kindler Foundation.His early works are...
(born 1948) - George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
(1898–1937) - Michael GiacchinoMichael GiacchinoMichael Giacchino is an American composer who has composed scores for movies, television series and video games. Some of his most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, Alias and Fringe, games such as the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series, and films such as...
(born 1967) - Vittorio GianniniVittorio GianniniVittorio Giannini was a neoromantic American composer of operas, songs, symphonies, and band works.-Life and work:...
(1903–1966) - Miriam GideonMiriam GideonMiriam Gideon was an American composer.-Life:She studied organ with her uncle Henry Gideon and piano with Felix Fox. She also studied with Martin Bernstein, Marion Bauer, Charles Haubiel, and Jacques Pillois...
(1906–1996) - William GilchristWilliam GilchristWilliam Wallace Gilchrist was an American composer and a major figure in nineteenth century music of Philadelphia....
(1846–1916) - Don Gillis (1912–1978)
- Patrick GilmorePatrick GilmorePatrick Sarsfield Gilmore was an Irish-born composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. Whilst serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Gilmore wrote the lyrics to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", the tune he took from an old Irish antiwar folk...
(1829–1892) - Janice GiteckJanice Giteck-Biography:Giteck grew up in Hicksville, Long Island and moved to Arizona when she was twelve years old. She attended Mills College, completing her Master's in 1969 and studying under Darius Milhaud. She later studied under Olivier Messiaen, and following this she studied percussion with Daniel...
(born 1946) - Philip GlassPhilip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
(born 1937) - Frederick Grant GleasonFrederick Grant GleasonFrederick Grant Gleason was a composer.Gleason's father was a banker. Like many another well-to-do gentlemen, Gleason senior was an amateur flautist. He considered music a pleasant pastime but not a serious occupation. He wanted his son to enter the ministry - a good old New England tradition...
(1848–1903) - Roger GoebRoger Goeb-Life:Roger Goeb was born in Cherokee, Iowa. Although he had studied piano, trumpet, French horn, viola, violin, and woodwind instruments from an early age , he turned to the profession of music comparatively late. He studied agriculture at the University of Wisconsin, earning a BS degree in 1936...
(1914–1997) - Joel GoffinJoel GoffinJoel GoffinBackground informationBirth nameJoel Christian GoffinBornDecember 7, 1981 OriginHoughton, Michigan, USAOccupationsFilm Composer, ProducerMusical instrument InstrumentsPiano, Keyboard...
(born 1981) - Rubin GoldmarkRubin GoldmarkRubin Goldmark was an American composer, pianist, and educator. Although in his time he was an often performed American nationalist composer, his works are seldom played – instead he is known as the teacher of Aaron Copland and George Gershwin...
(1872–1936) - Jerry GoldsmithJerry GoldsmithJerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
(1929–2004) - David Gompper (born 1954) (http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2008/08/david-gompper.htm, http://www.davidgompper.com)
- Michael GordonMichael Gordon (composer)Michael Gordon is an American composer and co-founder of the Bang on a Can festival and ensemble. His music is associated with the genres of totalism and post-minimalism.-Early life:...
(born 1956) - Louis Moreau GottschalkLouis Moreau GottschalkLouis Moreau Gottschalk was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works...
(1829–1869) - Morton GouldMorton GouldMorton Gould was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist.Born in Richmond Hill, New York, Gould was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities in improvisation and composition. His first composition was published at age six...
(1913–1996) - Percy GraingerPercy GraingerGeorge Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
(1882–1961) - Jay GreenbergJay GreenbergJay "Bluejay" Greenberg is an American composer who entered the Juilliard School in 2002.-Life and work:...
(born 1991) - Robert GreenbergRobert GreenbergRobert M. Greenberg , is an American composer, pianist, and musicologist who was born in Brooklyn, NY. He has composed more than 45 works for a variety of instruments and voices, and has recorded a number of lecture series on music history and music appreciation for The Teaching...
(born 1954) - Mark GreshamMark GreshamMark Gresham is an American composer and music journalist.In 2003 he was recipient of ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award for Sounds Like Home, an article about American composer Jennifer Higdon, published in Creative Loafing Atlanta...
(born 1956) - Charles Tomlinson GriffesCharles GriffesCharles Tomlinson Griffes was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and for voice.-Musical career:...
(1884–1920) - Gérard GriseyGérard GriseyGérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
(1946–1998) - Ferde GroféFerde GroféFerde Grofé was a prominent American composer, arranger and pianist. During the 1920s and 1930s, he went by the name Ferdie Grofé.-Early life:...
(1892–1972) - Louis GruenbergLouis Gruenberg-Life and career:He was born near Brest-Litovsk , to Abe Gruenberg and Klara Kantarovitch. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a few months old. His father worked as a violinist in New York City...
(1884–1964) - Mark GustavsonMark GustavsonMark Gustavson is an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Gustavson lives in Mastic Beach, New York, and teaches at various universities in the New York City area, including Adelphi University and Nassau Community College. He graduated from the University of Illinois in...
(born 1959) - Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
(1912–1967)
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- Henry Kimball HadleyHenry Kimball HadleyHenry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.-Life:Hadley was born into a musical family in Somerville, Massachusetts...
(1871–1937) - Richard HagemanRichard HagemanRichard Hageman was a Dutch-born American conductor, pianist, composer, and actor.- Biography :...
(1881–1966) - Daron HagenDaron HagenDaron Aric Hagen , is an American composer, conductor, pianist, educator, librettist, and stage director of contemporary classical music and opera.- Early life and education :...
(born 1961) - Alexei Haieff (1914–1994)
- Adolphus HailstorkAdolphus HailstorkAdolphus Hailstork is an American composer and educator. He grew up in Albany, New York, where he studied violin, piano, organ, and voice....
(born 1941) - Roger Lee HallRoger Lee HallRoger Lee Hall is an American composer and music preservationist.-Personal:Hall grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1960, where he was already involved with writing songs. He began his music career with piano lessons and as a songwriter during the 1960s...
(born 1942) - Howard HansonHoward HansonHoward Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
(1896–1981) - John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
(born 1938) - Don L. HarperDon L. HarperFor the Australian composer, see Don Harper.Don L. Harper is a Los Angeles-based film composer, songwriter, conductor, and arranger whose credits include films such as The Guardian, National Treasure, Training Day, Armageddon, The Rock, Twister, Broken Arrow, Assassins, and Speed...
- Kevin F. HarrisKevin F. HarrisKevin Harris is a retired composer of classical music from Northern Virginia. He specialized in music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, not unlike the music of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven or Schubert. Harris is best known for his Adagio for a Nation in D minor, a piece which he composed...
(born 1965) - Roy HarrisRoy HarrisRoy Ellsworth Harris , was an American composer. He wrote much music on American subjects, becoming best known for his Symphony No...
(1898–1979) - Victor HarrisVictor Harris (composer)Victor Harris was an American composer, conductor, and music educator. He was one of the first staff members at the Metropolitan Opera where he worked as a vocal coach beginning in 1893. He notably founded The St. Cecilia Chorus & Orchestra in New York City.-References:...
(1869–1943) - Lou HarrisonLou HarrisonLou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
(1917–2003) - Stephen HartkeStephen HartkeStephen Paul Hartke is an American composer. He grew up in Manhattan, where his first piano teacher was Mary Miley, and has lived in California since the 1980s...
(born 1952) - Walter HartleyWalter HartleyWalter Sinclair Hartley is an American composer of contemporary music.-Biography and education:He was born in Washington, D.C., began composing at age five and became seriously dedicated to it at sixteen. All his college degrees are from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester....
(born 1927) - James Hartway (born 1944) (http://www.naxos.com/person/James_Hartway_51049/51049.htm, :nl:James Hartway)
- Samuel HazoSamuel HazoSamuel Robert Hazo is an American composer of primarily music for concert band.-Career:Samuel R. Hazo resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife and children. In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be awarded the winner of both composition contests sponsored by the...
(born 1966) - Hubert Klyne HeadleyHubert Klyne HeadleyHubert Klyne Headley was an American composer, pianist and organist.- Early life & education:When Headley was six, his mother, an organist, moved the family to California. When he was ten years old, he was introduced to Maurice Ravel, whose music has a strong effect on him. He went to study music...
(1906–1996) - Neal HeftiNeal HeftiNeal Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968 film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name.He began arranging...
(1922–2008) - Jake HeggieJake HeggieJake Heggie is an American composer and pianist.Jake Heggie is the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking , The End of the Affair , At The Statue of Venus , To Hell and Back , and Moby-Dick , as well as the stage work For a Look or a Touch...
(born 1961) - Anthony Philip HeinrichAnthony Philip HeinrichAnthony Philip Heinrich was the first "full-time" American composer, and the most prominent before the American Civil War. He did not start composing until he was 36, after losing his business fortune in the Napoleonic Wars. For most of his career he was known as "Father Heinrich," an emeritus...
(1781–1861) - Robert HelpsRobert HelpsRobert Helps was an American pianist and composer....
(1928–2001) - Victor HerbertVictor HerbertVictor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
(1859–1924) - Bernard HerrmannBernard HerrmannBernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
(1911–1975) - Michael HerschMichael HerschMichael Nathaniel Hersch is an American composer and pianist.-Biography:Initial inspiration and musical educationBorn in Washington, D.C., and raised in Reston, Virginia, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 by his younger brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of Georg...
(born 1971) - James HewittJames Hewitt (musician)James Hewitt was an American conductor, composer and music publisher. Born in Dartmoor, England, he was known to have lived in London in 1791 and early 1792, but went to New York in September of that year. He stayed in New York until 1811, conducting a theater orchestra and composing and...
(1770–1827) - Jennifer HigdonJennifer HigdonJennifer Higdon is an American composer of classical music. Higdon has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto and the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto.-Biography:Higdon was born in Brooklyn,...
(born 1962) - Edward Burlingame HillEdward Burlingame HillEdward Burlingame Hill was an American composer.After graduating from Harvard University in 1894, Hill studied music in Boston with John Knowles Paine, Frederick Field Bullard, Margaret Ruthven Lang, and George Elbridge Whiting, and in Paris with Charles Marie Widor...
(1872–1960) - Lee HoibyLee HoibyLee Henry Hoiby was an American composer and classical pianist. Best known as a composer of operas and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society...
(1926–2011) - Oliver HoldenOliver HoldenOliver Holden was an American composer and compiler of hymns.Born in Shirley, Massachusetts, he served a year as a marine, for which he received a small annual pension. He lived most of his life in Charles Town, Boston, Massachusetts, after he moved with his parents in 1786. He was known to be a...
(1765–1844) - Sidney HomerSidney HomerSidney Homer was a classical composer, primarily of songs.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in 1864 , he was the youngest child of deaf parents. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Class of 1884, but did not attend college. He married contralto Louise Dilworth Beatty in 1895...
(1864?–1953) - Alan HovhanessAlan HovhanessAlan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
(1911–2000) - James Newton HowardJames Newton HowardJames Newton Howard is an American composer best known for his scores to motion pictures. He is one of the most popular and respected composers for cinema, and has scored over 100 films...
(born 1951) - Huang RuoHuang RuoHuang Ruo, sometimes known as Ruo Huang is a Chinese-born American composer, pianist and vocalist who now lives in the United States.-Biography:...
(born 1976) - Richard HundleyRichard HundleyRichard Albert Hundley is an American pianist and composer of American art songs for voice and piano. -Early life:Hundley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio....
(born 1931) - Karel HusaKarel HusaKarel Husa is a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition...
(born 1921) - Henry Holden HussHenry Holden HussHenry Holden Huss was an American composer, pianist and music teacher. Huss grew up in New York City, the son of German immigrant parents. After studying piano and organ locally with a teacher who had trained at the Leipzig Conservatory, Huss traveled to Munich to study at the Royal Conservatory...
(1862–1953) - Jason Kao HwangJason Kao HwangJason Kao Hwang is a Chinese American violinist and composer.A versatile performer, Hwang focuses primarily on jazz and improvised musics, and has a particular interest in cross-cultural projects...
(born 1957)
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- Steve JablonskySteve JablonskySteven Jablonsky is an American music composer for film, television and video games. He has been the music director for all the Michael Bay movies produced and directed since The Island...
(born 1970) - Frederick JacobiFrederick JacobiFrederick Jacobi was a prolific American composer and teacher.His works include symphonies, concerti, chamber music, works for solo piano and for solo organ, lieder, and one opera....
(1891–1952) - Stephen JaffeStephen JaffeStephen Jaffe is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, USA, and serves on the music faculty of Duke University, where he holds the post of Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition; his colleagues there include composers Scott...
(born 1954) - Philip JamesPhilip JamesPhilip James was an American composer, conductor and music educator.Note: Composer and shakuhachi player Phil James is listed as Phil Nyokai James.-Life:...
(1890–1975) - David C. Johnson (born 1940)
- David N. JohnsonDavid N. JohnsonDavid N. Johnson was an American organist, composer, educator, choral clinician, and lecturer....
(1922–1987) - James P. JohnsonJames P. JohnsonJames P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...
(1894–1955) - Tom JohnsonTom Johnson (composer)Tom Johnson , is an American minimalist composer, a former student of Morton Feldman.-Career:His pieces are most often based simply on mathematical and logical processes, such as tiling, which he attempts to make as clear as possible...
(born 1939) - Ben Johnston (born 1926)
- Edwin Arthur JonesEdwin Arthur JonesEdwin Arthur Jones, was an American composer. He was called "one modest man who knows the power of music" by Edward Everett Hale, author of The Man Without a Country. This modest man, from a rural Massachusetts town about 20 miles south of Boston, composed some very significant works...
(1853–1911) - Ron JonesRon Jones (composer)Ron Jones is an American composer who has written music for TV shows, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Duck Tales, American Dad!, and Family Guy...
(born 1954) - Samuel JonesSamuel Jones (composer)Samuel Jones is an American composer and conductor.-Biography:Samuel Jones, a native of Mississippi , graduated from the Central High School in Jackson and received his undergraduate degree with highest honors at Millsaps College. He acquired his professional training at the Eastman School of...
(born 1935) - Scott JoplinScott JoplinScott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
(1868–1917) - Bradley JosephBradley JosephBradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet, and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".Active...
(born 1965)
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- Božidar KantušerBožidar KantušerBožidar Kantušer was an American and Slovene composer....
(1921–1999) - Leonard KastleLeonard KastleLeonard Gregory Kastle was an opera composer, librettist, and director, though he is best known as the writer/director of The Honeymoon Killers, his only venture into the cinema, for which he did all his own research. He was educated at the Curtis Institute of Music studying under opera composer...
(1929–2011) - Ulysses KayUlysses KayUlysses Simpson Kay was an African American composer. His music is mostly neoclassical in style....
(1917–1995) - Brian KellyBrian Kelly (composer & pianist)Brian Kelly is an American composer, pianist, and producer creating music in the jazz fusion, smooth jazz, New Age genres.- Career:...
(born 1960) - Edgar Stillman KelleyEdgar Stillman KelleyEdgar Stillman Kelley was an American composer, conductor, teacher, and writer on music. He is sometimes associated with the Indianist movement in American music.-Life:...
(1857–1944) - Martin Kennedy (born 1978)
- Jerome KernJerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
(1885–1945) - Aaron Jay KernisAaron Jay KernisAaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...
(born 1960) - Earl KimEarl KimEarl Kim was a Korean-American composer.Kim was born in Dinuba, California, to immigrant Korean parents. He began piano studies at age ten and soon developed an interest in composition, studying in Los Angeles and Berkeley with, among others, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch, and Roger Sessions...
(1920–1998) - Karl KingKarl KingKarl L. King was a United States march music bandmaster and composer. He is best known as the composer of Barnum and Bailey's Favorite.-Biography:...
(1891–1971) - Leon KirchnerLeon KirchnerLeon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...
(1919–2009) - Joseph Klein (born 1962) (http://music.unt.edu/comp/jklein/bio)
- Edward KnightEdward Knight (composer)Edward Knight is an American composer. His work eschews easy classification, moving freely between jazz, theatrical and concert worlds.-Background:...
(born 1961) - Charles KnoxCharles KnoxCharles C. Knox is an American composer and music educator. He is particularly noted for his music for brass instruments and chamber music, among his over 100 compositions to date.Knox received a B.F.A...
(born 1929) - Erich Wolfgang KorngoldErich Wolfgang KorngoldErich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
(1897–1957) - Eddie KendricksEddie KendricksEddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...
(1939–1992) - Ellis B. KohsEllis KohsEllis B. Kohs was an American composer, theory textbook author, and Professor at the University of Southern California.-Biography:...
(1916–2000) - Ben KopecBen KopecBenjamin Nils Kopec , known better by his stage name, Ben Kopec, is an American based musician and composer.As a composer, Kopec has had his music used in feature film trailers, such as Never Surrender, The Curse of Micah Rood, and more...
(born 1981) - Ernst KrenekErnst KrenekErnst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
(1900–1991) - Gail KubikGail KubikGail Thompson Kubik was an American composer, motion picture scorist, violinist, and teacher. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago with Leo Sowerby, and Harvard University with Walter Piston and Nadia Boulanger...
(1914–1984) - Jean Paul KürsteinerJean Paul KürsteinerJean Paul Kürsteiner was an American pianist, pedagogue, music publisher, and composer of piano pieces and art songs.-Life and musical career:...
(1864–1943) - Robert KyrRobert KyrRobert Kyr is an American composer, writer, filmmaker, and professor of music composition and theory.Kyr is one of the most prolific composers of his generation, having written 12 symphonies, three chamber symphonies, three violin concerti, numerous large works for orchestra, oratorios and other...
(born 1952)
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- Frank La ForgeFrank La ForgeFrank La Forge was an American pianist and composer and arranger of art songs.-Life and musical career:...
(1879–1953) - John La MontaineJohn La MontaineJohn La Montaine is an American composer, born in Oak Park, Illinois, who won the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Piano Concerto no. 1, Op. 9, "In Time of War" , which was premiered by Jorge Bolet....
(born 1920) - Ezra LadermanEzra LadermanEzra Laderman is an American composer of classical music.-Biography:His parents, Isidor and Leah, both emigrated to the United States from Poland. Though poor, the family had a piano. Ezra writes, "At four, I was improvising at the piano; at seven, I began to compose music, writing it down...
(born 1924) - Lori LaitmanLori LaitmanLori Laitman is one of America's most prolific and widely performed composers of vocal music. She has composed two operas, an oratorio, choral works and over 200 songs, setting the words of classical and contemporary poets, among them the lost voices of poets who perished in the Holocaust...
(born 1955) - Joseph LambJoseph LambJoseph Francis Lamb was a noted American composer of ragtime music. Lamb, of Irish descent, was the only non-African American of the "Big Three" composers of classical ragtime, the other two being Scott Joplin and James Scott.-Life and Career:Lamb was born in Montclair, New Jersey...
(1887–1960) - Charles Lucien LambertCharles Lucien LambertCharles Lucien Lambert, also known as Lucien Lambert , was a black American composer, born a free person of color in New Orleans before the American Civil War...
(1828–1896) - Lucien Lambert, Jr. (1858–1945) (http://www.naxos.com/person/Lucien_Lambert/22117.htm, http://chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/lambertjr.html)
- Benjamin Johnson LangBenjamin Johnson LangBenjamin Johnson Lang was an American conductor, pianist, organist, teacher and composer. He introduced a large amount of music to American ears, including the world premiere of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No...
(1837–1909) - David LangDavid Lang (composer)David Lang is an American composer living in New York City. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Little Match Girl Passion.-Biography:...
(born 1957) - Margaret Ruthven LangMargaret Ruthven LangMargaret Ruthven Lang was an American composer, affiliated with the Second New England School. Lang was also the first woman composer to have a composition performed by a major American symphony orchestra.-Life:...
(1867–1972) - Vanessa LannVanessa LannVanessa Lann has been a composer and pianist since the age of five. She studied at the Tanglewood Institutewith Ruth Schonthal. She also attended the Westchester Conservatory of Musicat Harvard University, where her main teachers were Earl Kim, Peter Lieberson, and Leon Kirchner...
(born 1968) - Paul LanskyPaul LanskyPaul Lansky is an American electronic-music or computer-music composer who has been producing works from the 1970s up to the present day .-Biography:...
(born 1944) - Libby LarsenLibby LarsenLibby Larsen is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over fifteen operas...
(born 1950) - Morten LauridsenMorten LauridsenMorten Johannes Lauridsen is an American composer. He was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.-Biography:Lauridsen was born February 27, 1943, in...
(born 1943) - Benjamin LeesBenjamin LeesBenjamin Lees was a contemporary U.S. composer of Art music, born in Harbin, China, raised in San Francisco and lived in Palm Springs, California.-Early life:...
(1924–2010) - David LeisnerDavid LeisnerDavid Leisner is a classical guitarist, composer, teacher at the Manhattan School of Music and one of the leading authorities on focal dystonia, due to being impaired by the injury for 12 years and recovering through methods that he developed and now teaches his students.-Biography:David Leisner...
(born 1953) - James LentiniJames LentiniJames Lentini is an American composer and guitarist.After completing undergraduate studies at Wayne State University in guitar performance and composition, he pursued a master‘s degree in composition at Michigan State University and a doctorate from the University of Southern California, where he...
(born 1958) - Jonathan Leshnoff (born 1973) (:nl:Jonathan Leshnoff, http://www.jonathanleshnoff.com)
- Frank LewinFrank LewinFrank Lewin was an American composer and teacher.-Biography:Frank Lewin was born March 27, 1925, in Breslau, Germany. He and his family escaped from Germany in 1939, spent a year in Cuba, and came to the United States in 1940...
(1925–2008) - Peter Scott LewisPeter Scott LewisPeter Scott Lewis is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His works have been commissioned and/or performed by the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Chamber Symphony of Princeton; Berkeley Symphony; Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; Alexander, Orion, and Ciompi String Quartets;...
(born 1953) - Tania LeónTania LeonTania León is a Cuban composer and conductor who has been recognized as an educator and advisor to arts organizations.-León's Music:...
(born 1943) - Fred LerdahlFred LerdahlAlfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
(born 1943) - Paul Alan LeviPaul Alan LeviPaul Alan Levi is an American composer whose compositions have been performed in Carnegie Hall, among other major venues in United States and Europe, as well as on national television.-Biography:...
(born 1941) - Marvin David Levy (born 1932)
- Lowell LiebermannLowell LiebermannLowell Liebermann is an American composer, pianist and conductor.At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at Carnegie Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1...
(born 1961) - Peter LiebersonPeter LiebersonPeter Lieberson was an American composer. He was ballerina and choreographer Vera Zorina and Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records....
(1946–2011) - Scott LindrothScott LindrothScott Lindroth is an American composer and teacher currently based near Durham, North Carolina.Lindroth joined the faculty of Duke University in 1990, where he is currently the Vice-Provost for the Arts and the Kevin D. Gorter Associate Professor of Music; his colleagues at Duke include composers...
(born 1958) - Dan LocklairDan LocklairDan Locklair is an American composer. He holds the position of Composer-in-Residence at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he is also a Professor of Music...
(born 1949) - Normand LockwoodNormand LockwoodNormand Lockwood was an American composer born in New York, New York. He studied composition at the University of Michigan from 1921–1924, and then traveled to Rome and studied composition under Ottorino Respighi from 1925 to 1926, and during this time he also had composition lessons with Nadia...
(1906–2002) - Charles Martin LoefflerCharles Martin LoefflerCharles Martin Loeffler was a German-born American violinist and composer.- Birthplace :Throughout his career Loeffler claimed to have been born in Mulhouse, Alsace and almost all music encyclopedias give this fabricated information. In his lifetime articles were published dissecting his...
(1861–1935) - Hannibal Lokumbe (Marvin Peterson) (born 1948)
- Zhou LongZhou LongZhou Long is a Pulitzer-prize-winning Chinese American composer.-Biography:Born into an artistic family, Zhou Long began studying piano from an early age. Due to the artistic restrictions implemented during the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to delay his piano studies and live on a state-run...
(born 1953) - Harvey Worthington LoomisHarvey Worthington LoomisHarvey Worthington Loomis was an American composer. He is remembered today for his associations with the Indianist movement and the Wa-Wan Press....
(1865–1930) - Alvin LucierAlvin LucierAlvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...
(born 1931) - Otto LueningOtto LueningOtto Clarence Luening was a German-American composer and conductor, and an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music....
(1900–1996) - Ralph LyfordRalph LyfordRalph Lyford was an American composer and conductor. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, he began studies at age 12 and 6 years later graduated from Boston's New England Conservatory of Music and rose to prominence as the managing director of the Cincinnati Opera.He was married to Ella Gillis, a...
(1882–1927)
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- Edward MacDowellEdward MacDowellEdward Alexander MacDowell was an American composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites "Woodland Sketches", "Sea Pieces", and "New England Idylls". "Woodland Sketches" includes his most popular short piece, "To a Wild Rose"...
(1860–1908) - Tod MachoverTod MachoverTod Machover , is a composer and an innovator in the application of technology in music. He is the son of Wilma Machover, a pianist and Carl Machover, a computer scientist....
(born 1953) - Janet MaguireJanet MaguireJanet Maguire is an American composer residing in Venice, Italy. She is known particularly for her arrangement of the finale of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot in which she used exclusively the sketches Puccini left for it at his death...
(born 1927) - Martin MailmanMartin MailmanMartin Mailman was an American composer noted for his music for orchestra, chorus, multimedia, and winds.-Biography:Dr. Martin Mailman was born in New York City on June 30, 1932...
(1932–2000) - Ursula MamlokUrsula MamlokUrsula Mamlok is a German-born, American composer and teacher.-Education and influences:Mamlok was born as Ursula Meyer in Berlin, Germany and studied piano and composition with Professor Gustav Ernest and Emily Weissgerber until her family fled Nazi Germany following the nationwide pogrom in 1938...
(born 1923) - Paul ManzPaul ManzPaul Manz , was an American composer for choir and organ. His most famous choral work is the Advent motet "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come", which has been performed at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, though its broadcast by the neighbouring Choir of St...
(1919–2009) - Matteo Marchisano-AdamoMatteo Marchisano-AdamoMatteo Marchisano-Adamo is an American sound designer, film editor and composer. He was born in Flint, Michigan.-Biography:...
(born 1973) - George W. Marston (1840–1901) (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Marston,_George)
- Henry Martin (born 1950) (http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~martinh/henry_martin.html)
- Donald MartinoDonald MartinoDonald Martino was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino studied composition with Ernst Bacon, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, and Luigi Dallapiccola...
(1931–2005) - Salvatore MartiranoSalvatore MartiranoSalvatore Giovanni Martirano was an American composer of contemporary classical music.Born in Yonkers, New York, he taught for many years at the University of Illinois...
(1927–1995) - David MaslankaDavid MaslankaDavid Maslanka is a U.S. composer who writes for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music and symphony orchestra....
(born 1943) - Daniel Gregory MasonDaniel Gregory MasonDaniel Gregory Mason was an American composer and music critic.-Biography:...
(1873–1953) - Lowell MasonLowell MasonLowell Mason was a leading figure in American church music, the composer of over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His most well-known tunes include Mary Had A Little Lamb and the arrangement of Joy to the World...
(1792–1872) - William MasonWilliam Mason (composer)William Mason was an American composer and pianist and a member of a musical family.Mason's father was composer Lowell Mason, a leading figure in American church music...
(1829–1908) - Henry ManciniHenry ManciniHenry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
(1924–1994) - Richard MaxfieldRichard MaxfieldRichard Maxfield was a composer of instrumental, electro-acoustic, and electronic music.Born in Seattle, he most likely taught the first University-level course in electronic music in America at the New School for Social Research...
(1927–1969) - John McGuireJohn McGuire (composer)John McGuire is an American composer, pianist, organist, and music editor.-Biography:John McGuire initially studied composition with Robert Gross at Occidental College, where he earned a BA in 1964. He received a succession of three Alfred E...
(born 1942) - George Frederick McKayGeorge Frederick McKayGeorge Frederick McKay was a prolific modern American composer.-Biography:McKay was born in the Far West of America in the small frontier wheat farming town of Harrington, Washington. His family later moved to the much larger town of Spokane, where he attended school up to his college years...
(1899–1970) - Kirke MechemKirke MechemKirke Mechem is an American composer. His first opera, Tartuffe, with nearly 400 performances in six countries, has become one of the most popular operas written by an American. He has composed more than 250 works in almost every form. In 2002, ASCAP registered performances of his music in 42...
(born 1925) - Harold MeltzerHarold Meltzer-Life:He grew up in Long Island.After graduating from Amherst College, summa cum laude, he studied law at Columbia University and worked for the firm of Patterson Belknap in New York City. He later earned degrees in music at King's College, Cambridge and the Yale School of Music.In 2009 his...
(born 1966) - Alan MenkenAlan MenkenAlan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...
(born 1949) - Peter MenninPeter MenninPeter Mennin was an American composer and teacher. He directed the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then for many years ran the Juilliard School, succeeding William Schuman in this role...
(1923–1983) - Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
(1911–2007) - Gregory MertlGregory MertlGregory Mertl is an American-born music composer. He has garnered commissions from the Tanglewood Music Center , the Rhode Island Philharmonic , the Tarab Cello Ensemble , the Phoenix Symphony , the Wind Ensembles of the Big Ten Universities , the Ostrava Oboe Festival, Czech Republic and Kenneth...
(born 1969) - Edgar MeyerEdgar MeyerEdgar Meyer is a prominent contemporary bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber groups, a composer, and an arranger...
(born 1960) - Eric MoeEric Moe (composer)Eric Moe, born October 24, 1954 in Durham, NC, is an American composer and pianist. He has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He studied musical composition at Princeton University and at the University of...
(born 1954) - John Christopher MollerJohn Christopher MollerJohn Christopher Moller was one of the first American composers, as well as one of the first music publishers in the United States.John Christopher Moller was also an organist, concert manager, pianist, harpsichordist, and violinist...
(1755–1803) - Meredith MonkMeredith MonkMeredith Jane Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records.-Life and work:Meredith Monk is primarily known for her...
(born 1942) - Douglas Moore (1893–1969)
- Mary Carr MooreMary Carr MooreMary Carr Moore was an American composer, conductor, vocalist, and music educator of the twentieth century. She is best remembered today for her association with the musical life of the West Coast.-Early life:...
(1873–1957) - Undine Smith MooreUndine Smith MooreUndine Smith Moore was a notable and prolific female African-American composers of the 20th century.She began studying piano at age seven, and at the age of 20 became the first graduate of Fisk University to receive a scholarship to Juilliard...
(1904–1989) - Robert MoranRobert MoranRobert Moran is an American composer of operas and ballets as well as numerous orchestral, vocal, chamber and dance works.-Life:...
(born 1937) - Paul MoravecPaul MoravecPaul Moravec is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York...
(born 1957) - Justin MorganJustin MorganJustin Morgan was a U.S. horse breeder and composer.He was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and by 1788 had settled in Vermont. In addition to being a horse breeder and farmer, he was a teacher of singing; in that capacity he traveled considerably throughout the northeastern states...
(1747–1798) - Jerome MorossJerome MorossJerome Moross was an American-born composer for the stage, and a composer, conductor and orchestrator for motion pictures.-Biography:...
(1913–1983) - Robert MorrisRobert Morris (composer)Robert Morris is an American composer and music theorist.-Work in music theory:As a music theorist, Morris' work has bridged an important gap between the rigorously academic and the highly experimental. Born in Cheltenham, England in 1943, Morris received his musical education at the Eastman...
(born 1943) - Robert MuczynskiRobert MuczynskiRobert Muczynski was a contemporary American composer. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. Muczynski studied composition with Alexander Tcherepnin at DePaul University in the late 1940s...
(1929–2010) - Nico MuhlyNico MuhlyNico Muhly is a contemporary classical music composer, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City.-Early years:...
(born 1981) - Carli MuñozCarli MuñozCarlos C. Muñoz, better known as Carli Munoz or Carli Muñoz , is a self-taught American jazz pianist.Although born and raised in Puerto Rico, his music of choice was jazz, European avant-garde and American pop music...
(born 1948) - John MustoJohn MustoJohn Musto is an American composer and pianist. As a composer, he is active in opera, orchestral and chamber music, song, vocal ensemble, and solo piano works. As a pianist, he performs frequently as a soloist, alone and with orchestra, as a chamber musician, and with singers.-Career:Born in 1954...
(born 1954)
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- Charles NaginskiCharles NaginskiCharles Naginski was an American composer of art songs and other musical works.-Biography:...
(1909–1940) - Armen NalbandianArmen NalbandianArmen Nalbandian is a jazz pianist, composer & humanitarian.-Music:In addition to the piano, he has been known to perform on the prepared Fender Rhodes mechanical piano, and contributes to produce jazz, improvised and experimental music in California...
(born 1978) - Conlon NancarrowConlon NancarrowConlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...
(1912–1997) - Robert Anthony NavarroRobert Anthony NavarroRobert Anthony Navarro is an American award-winning music composer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who specializes in contemporary music styles.-Biography:...
(born 1972) - Sammy NesticoSammy NesticoSamuel "Sammy" Louis Nestico is a prolific and well known composer and arranger of big band music...
(born 1924) - Arthur NevinArthur NevinArthur Nevin was an American composer, conductor, teacher and musicologist. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman, Blair Fairchild, Charles Sanford Skilton, and Arthur Farwell, among others, he was one of the leading Indianist composers of the early twentieth century.-Biography:Born in Edgeworth,...
(1871–1943) - Ethelbert Nevin (1862–1901)
- David NewmanDavid Newman (composer)David Louis Newman is an American composer and conductor known particularly for his film scores. In a career spanning nearly forty years, he has composed music for nearly 100 feature films.-Life and career:...
(born 1954) - Roger NicholsRoger Nichols (songwriter)Roger Nichols Roger Nichols Roger Nichols (born in Missoula, Montana, is an American composer and songwriter. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays violin, guitar, bass, and piano.-Biography:...
(born 1940) - Ted NicholsTed NicholsTheodore "Ted" Nichols is a composer, arranger, director and music producer. As a musician Nichols primarily played saxophone, violin and clarinet...
(born 1928) - William Harold Niedlinger (1863–1924) (http://www.songofamerica.net/cgi-bin/iowa/composer/32.html)
- Homer Albert Norris (1860–1920) (:de:Homer Albert Norris)
- Alex NorthAlex NorthAlex North was an American composer who wrote the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernist scores written in Hollywood ....
(1910–1991)
O
- Mark O'ConnorMark O'ConnorMark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
(born 1961) - Pauline OliverosPauline OliverosPauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
(born 1932) - Chris OppermanChris OppermanChris Opperman is an award-winning composer who has recently emerged into the mainstream. Opperman is known mostly for his work orchestrating the music of guitar heroes Steve Vai and Mike Keneally for their respective performances with Holland's Metropole Orkest...
(born 1978) - Leo OrnsteinLeo OrnsteinLeo Ornstein was a leading American experimental composer and pianist of the early twentieth century...
(1893–2002) - Willson OsborneWillson OsborneWillson Osborne was an American composer.After completing the undergraduate program in composition and music theory at the University of Michigan , Osborne was a student of Paul Hindemith at Yale University. Osborne was, like his mentor, a neoclassical composer...
(1906–1979) - Craig Alan OwensCraig Alan OwensCraig Alan Owens is an American television composer and songwriter living in Los Angeles, California. He is co-writer of the theme song for The Wendy Williams Show, a talk show hosted by Wendy Williams, for David Vanacore Music...
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- Charles Theodore PachelbelCharles Theodore PachelbelCharles Theodore Pachelbel was a German composer, organist and harpsichordist of the late Baroque era...
(1690–1750) - John Knowles PaineJohn Knowles PaineJohn Knowles Paine , was the first American-born composer to achieve fame for large-scale orchestral music.-Life:He studied organ, orchestration, and composition in Germany and toured in Europe for three years...
(1839–1906) - Carter PannCarter PannCarter Pann is an American composer. He studied composition and piano at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree...
(born 1972) - Horatio ParkerHoratio ParkerHoratio William Parker was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the teacher of Charles Ives....
(1863–1919) - J. C. D. ParkerJames Cutler Dunn ParkerJames Cutler Dunn Parker was an American composer.After graduating from Harvard Law School, Parker went to the Leipzig Conservatory in 1851, where he studied piano with Ignaz Moscheles and Louis Plaidy, and composition with Julius Rietz and Ernst Richter...
(1828–1916) - Harry PartchHarry PartchHarry Partch was an American composer and instrument creator. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for custom-made instruments that he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation.-Early...
(1901–1974) - Thomas PasatieriThomas PasatieriThomas Pasatieri is an American opera composer.He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger...
(born 1945) - Stephen PaulusStephen PaulusStephen Paulus is an American composer, best known for his operas and choral music. His best-known piece is his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, one of several operas he has written for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, which prompted The New York Times to call him "a young man on the road...
(born 1947) - Scott PerkinsScott PerkinsScott Perkins is an American composer, singer and choral conductor. His works have been performed in the USA and Europe. He is winner of the 2004 BMI Student Composer Award for his choral work A Word Out Of The Sea . He served as music director and conductor of the choral ensemble "Kairos" in 2004...
(born 1980) - George PerleGeorge PerleGeorge Perle was a composer and music theorist. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. Perle was an alumnus of DePaul University...
(1915–2009) - William P. PerryWilliam P. PerryWilliam P. Perry is an American composer and television producer.-Life and career:Born in Elmira, New York in 1930, he attended Harvard University and studied with Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston, and Randall Thompson...
(born 1930) - Vincent PersichettiVincent PersichettiVincent Ludwig Persichetti was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia...
(1915–1987) - Tobias PickerTobias PickerTobias Picker is an American composer. Picker began composing at the age of eight and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University, where his principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt...
(born 1954) - Daniel PinkhamDaniel PinkhamDaniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime...
(1923–2006) - Walter PistonWalter PistonWalter Hamor Piston Jr., , was an American composer of classical music, music theorist and professor of music at Harvard University whose students included Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, and Elliott Carter....
(1894–1976) - Mika PohjolaMika PohjolaMika Pohjola is a Finnish-born jazz pianist and composer, who resides in New York City. He is one of the most prolific Scandinavian jazz musicians in his generation.-Childhood in Helsinki, Finland 1971-87:...
(born 1971) - Cole PorterCole PorterCole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
(1891–1964) - Quincy PorterQuincy PorterQuincy Porter was an American composer and teacher of classical music.Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David Stanley Smith. Porter received two awards while studying music at Yale: the Osborne Prize for Fugue, and the...
(1897–1966) - David L. Post (born 1949) ([], http://davidpostmusic.com/bio.html, http://www.naxos.com/person/David_L__Post/108836.htm)
- Key PoulanKey PoulanKey Poulan is an American composer and arranger of marching band and concert band works. He is a relatively well known arranger of various pieces of music. He is currently the brass arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard and Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps...
(born 1962) - Mel PowellMel PowellMel Powell was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.Mel Epstein was born to Russian Jewish parents, Milton Epstein and Mildred Mark Epstein, and began playing piano as a child. He performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager...
(1923–1998) - Silas G. PrattSilas G. PrattSilas Gamaliel Pratt was an American composer. A native of Addison, Vermont, he worked in Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh, in addition to studies and travels in Germany. Between 1868 and 1871, he studied under Theodor Kullak, among others, but he suffered a wrist injury during a lesson, which...
(1846–1916) - André PrevinAndré PrevinAndré George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
(born 1929) - Florence PriceFlorence Price- Career :Florence Price is considered the first black woman in the United States to be recognized as a symphonic composer. Even though her training was steeped in European tradition, Price’s music consists of mostly the American idiom and reveals her Southern roots...
(1887–1953) - Kevin PutsKevin PutsKevin Matthew Puts is an American composer.-Life:Puts studied composition and piano at the Eastman School of Music and Yale University, earning the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Eastman. Among his teachers were Samuel Adler, Jacob Druckman, David Lang, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner,...
(born 1972)
R
- Shulamit RanShulamit RanShulamit Ran is an Israeli-American composer. She moved from Israel to New York at 14, as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music. Her Symphony won her the Pulitzer Prize...
(born 1949) - Bernard RandsBernard RandsBernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...
(born 1934) - Carmino RavosaCarmino RavosaCarmino Ravosa is an American songwriter best known for his songs published by Silver Burdett & Ginn, currently a division of Pearson Scott Foresman and numerous songs with themes related to American history...
(born 1930) - Ray ReachRay ReachRaymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama, now serving as Director of Student Jazz Programs for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City...
(born 1948) - Alfred ReedAlfred ReedAlfred Reed was one of North America's most prolific and frequently performed composers, with more than two hundred published works for concert band, wind ensemble, orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensemble to his name...
(1921–2005) - Daniel ReadDaniel ReadDaniel Read was an American composer of the First New England School, and one of the primary figures in early American classical music.-Life and work:...
(1757–1836) - Gardner ReadGardner ReadGardner Read was an American composer and musical scholar....
(1913–2005) - Mona Lyn ReeseMona Lyn ReeseMona Lyn Reese is an American composer, best known for her operas and choral music. Her work is melodic and accessible with an emphasis on driving or complex rhythms, movement, and contrasting textures...
(born 1951) - Steve ReichSteve ReichStephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
(born 1936) - Alexander ReinagleAlexander ReinagleAlexander Robert Reinagle was an English-born American composer, organist, and theater musician...
(1756–1809) - Jay ReiseJay Reise-Biography:Reise spent his childhood surrounded by classical music and jazz, but began his composition studies with Jimmy Giuffre and Hugh Hartwell in 1970...
(born 1950) - Leon RenéLeon RenéLeon René was an American music composer of R&B and rock and roll songs in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. He sometimes used the songwriting pseudonym Jimmy Thomas. He also established several record labels...
(1902–1982) - Joe RenzettiJoe Renzetti-Early life and education:Joseph Renzetti - Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaJoe Renzetti studied composing and orchestrating under Nicholas Flagello, NYC, Manhattan School of Music...
(born 1941) - Wallingford RieggerWallingford RieggerWallingford Constantine Riegger was a prolific American music composer, well known for orchestral and modern dance music, and film scores...
(1885–1961) - Terry RileyTerry RileyTerrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
(born 1935) - Curtis RoadsCurtis RoadsCurtis Roads is a composer of electronic and electroacoustic music specializing in granular and pulsar synthesis, author, and computer programmer....
(born 1951) - Leroy RobertsonLeroy RobertsonLeroy Robertson was an American composer and music educator.Robertson was born in Fountain Green, Utah. One of his earliest instructors was Anthony C. Lund. He studied violin, composition, and public school music at the New England Conservatory and in Europe...
(1896–1971) - Alfred George Robyn (1860–1935) (:nl:Alfred George Robyn)
- George RochbergGeorge RochbergGeorge Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Rochberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and...
(1918–2005) - Eugénie R. RocherolleEugénie R. RocherolleEugénie Ricau Rocherolle is an American composer, pianists, lyricist, and teacher.-Biography:Rocherolle spent her years growing up in the prominently French area of New Orleans. Receiving a BA in music from the Newcomb College of Tulane University, she spent some time overseas during her junior...
(born 1939) - Robert Xavier RodriguezRobert Xavier RodriguezRobert Xavier Rodríguez is an American classical composer, best known for his eight operas and his works for children.- Life and career :...
(born 1946) - Bernard RogersBernard RogersBernard Rogers was an American composer.Rogers was born in New York City. He studied with Arthur Farwell, Ernest Bloch, Percy Goetschius, and Nadia Boulanger. He taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Hartt School, and the Eastman School of Music...
(1893–1968) - James Hotchkiss Rogers (1857–1940) (:de:James Hotchkiss Rogers)
- James RomigJames RomigJames Romig is an American composer who studied at the University of Iowa and Rutgers University, where he earned a Ph.D. studying with both Charles Wuorinen and Milton Babbitt. He has composed solo, chamber, and large ensemble works that have been performed throughout the United States, Europe,...
(born 1971) - Joseph Willard RooseveltJoseph Willard RooseveltJoseph Willard Roosevelt was an American pianist and composer.Son of Belle Wyatt Willard and Kermit Roosevelt I, he was a grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt...
(1918–2008) - Ned RoremNed RoremNed Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
(born 1923) - David RosenboomDavid RosenboomDavid Rosenboom is an American composer and a pioneer in the use of neurofeedback, cross-cultural collaborations and compositional algorithms...
(born 1947) - Wynn-Anne RossiWynn-Anne RossiWynn-Anne Rossi , is an American composer. She is known to combine impressionistic flavors with jazz harmonies. She is the author of over 70 music publications. She has written a wide variety of repertoire, including music and text for vocalists and instrumental music...
(born 1956) - Arnold RosnerArnold RosnerArnold Rosner is an American composer of classical music.Rosner, of Jewish descent, got his training at State University of New York at Buffalo, New York; according to his own account he learned nothing there. Rosner took his own path and composes in the style of Romanticism, traditionally...
(born 1945) - Christopher Rouse (born 1949)
- Carl RugglesCarl RugglesCharles "Carl" Sprague Ruggles was an American composer of the American Five group. He wrote finely crafted pieces using "dissonant counterpoint", a term coined by Charles Seeger to describe Ruggles' music...
(1876–1971) - David RuffinDavid RuffinDavis Eli "David" Ruffin was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968...
(1941–1991) - Craig Russell (born 1951)
- Frederic RzewskiFrederic RzewskiFrederic Anthony Rzewski is an American composer and virtuoso pianist.- Biography :Rzewski began playing piano at age 5. He attended Phillips Academy, Harvard and Princeton, where his teachers included Randall Thompson, Roger Sessions, Walter Piston and Milton Babbitt...
(born 1938)
S
- Peter Sacco (1928–2000) (:nl:Patrick Peter Sacco)
- Paul Salerni (born 1951) (http://www.songofamerica.net/cgi-bin/iowa/composer/71.html, http://www.naxos.com/person/Paul_Salerni/115883.htm)
- Greg SandowGreg SandowGreg Sandow is an American music critic and composer. He is a graduate of Harvard University, with a bachelor's degree in government, and of Yale University, with a master's degree in composition....
(born 1943) - Anthony Louis Scarmolin (1890–1969) (:nl:A. Louis Scarmolin, http://scarmolin.org/newbio.htm)
- Laura SchwendingerLaura SchwendingerLaura Elise Schwendinger was the first composer to win the prestigious American Academy in Berlin, Berlin Prize.-Biography:...
(born 1962) - Michael SchelleMichael SchelleMichael Schelle , born January 22, 1950 in Philadelphia, is an award-winning composer of contemporary concert music. He is also a conductor, author and teacher. Schelle grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, where he studied piano and conducting with Walter Schroeder. After receiving a...
(born 1950) - Peter SchickelePeter SchickeleJohann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
(born 1935) - Henry SchoenefeldHenry SchoenfeldHenry Schoenfeld was an American composer.Schoenfeld studied in Germany at the Weimar Conservatory. He settled in Chicago in 1879, and conducted a mixed choir there from 1891 to 1902...
(1857–1936) (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i1Tb2DLnCOcC&pg=PA197&dq=Henry+Schoenefeld&hl=en&ei=1h3BTp7MOtGyhAe927y0BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Henry%20Schoenefeld&f=false, http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Schoenefeld,_Henry) - Paul SchoenfieldPaul SchoenfieldPaul Schoenfield is a classical composer. He is known for combining popular, folk, and classical music forms.Schoenfield was born in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. He began to take piano lessons at the age of six, and wrote his first composition a year later. Among his teachers were Julius Chajes,...
(born 1947) - Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
(born 1925) - William SchumanWilliam SchumanWilliam Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill...
(1910–1992) - Joseph SchwantnerJoseph SchwantnerJoseph C. Schwantner is a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer and educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize....
(born 1943) - James ScottJames Scott (musician)James Sylvester Scott was an African-American ragtime composer, regarded as one of the three most important composers of classic ragtime, along with Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb....
(1885–1938) - Raymond ScottRaymond ScottRaymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
(1908–1994) - Stephen ScottStephen ScottStephen Scott is an American composer best known for his development of the bowed piano , which involves a grand piano being played by an ensemble of ten musicians who utilize lengths of horsehair, nylon filament, and other utensils to bow the strings of the piano, creating an orchestra-like...
(born 1944) - Neil SedakaNeil SedakaNeil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
(born 1939) - John Serry, Sr.John Serry, Sr.John Serry, Sr. was an accomplished concert accordionist virtuoso, arranger, composer, organist and educator who performed on the CBS Radio and CBS Television networks...
(1915–2003) - Roger SessionsRoger SessionsRoger Huntington Sessions was an American composer, critic, and teacher of music.-Life:Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendent of Samuel Huntington, a signer of...
(1896–1985) - John Laurence SeymourJohn Laurence SeymourJohn Laurence Seymour was an American composer and playwright. He studied composition with Ildebrando Pizzetti and Felice Boghen in Italy between 1923 and 1928. He also studied with Vincent d'Indy in France...
(1893–1986) - Ralph ShapeyRalph ShapeyRalph Shapey was an American composer and conductor. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players...
(1921–2002) - Alex ShapiroAlex ShapiroAlex Shapiro composes acoustic and electroacoustic music favoring combinations of modal harmonies with chromatic ones, and often emphasizing strong pulse and rhythm...
(born 1962) - Harold ShaperoHarold ShaperoHarold Samuel Shapero is an American composer.-Early years:Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Shapero and his family later moved to nearby Newton. He learned to play the piano as a child, and for some years was a pianist in dance orchestras. With a friend, he founded the Hal Kenny Orchestra, a swing-era...
(born 1920) - Michael Jeffrey ShapiroMichael Jeffrey ShapiroMichael Jeffrey Shapiro is a noted American composer and conductor.The son of a klezmer band clarinetist, Michael Shapiro was born in Brooklyn, New York, and spent most of his high school years in Baldwin, a Long Island suburb. The winner of several piano competitions during his youth, he earned...
(born 1951) - Judith ShatinJudith ShatinJudith Shatin is an American composer. Currently, she is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor at the University of Virginia.She also founded and is Director of the Virginia Center for Computer Music.-References:...
(born 1949) - Harry Rowe ShelleyHarry Rowe ShelleyHarry Rowe Shelley was an American composer, organist , and professor of music. He was born in New Haven, Conn. Shelley studied with Gustav J...
(1858–1947) - Sinyan ShenSinyan ShenSinyan Shen is an American physicist and classical composer.-Life:Born in Singapore to the parents of Shanghai background, Sinyan Shen studied music at very early age and mastered the vertical fiddle family of instruments...
(born 1949) - Bright ShengBright ShengBright Sheng is a Chinese-American composer, conductor, and pianist. He has lived in the United States since 1982 and is on faculty at the University of Michigan. In 1999, the White House commissioned Sheng to compose a piece to honor the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at a state dinner hosted by...
(born 1955) - Arthur ShepherdArthur ShepherdArthur Shepherd was an American composer and conductor in the 20th century.He was born February 19, 1880 in Paris, Idaho into a Mormon family. He entered the New England Conservatory when he was only twelve years old. After his graduation, Shepherd returned to his family who had moved to Salt Lake...
(1880–1958) - Charles Shere (born 1935)
- Gordon Sherwood (born 1929) (:de:Gordon Sherwood, http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=7583)
- Alice ShieldsAlice ShieldsAlice Shields is an American composer. She is a respected electronic composer particularly known for her work in opera....
(born 1943) - Seymour Shifrin (1926–1979) (http://www.collagenewmusic.org/shifrin.html)
- Clare ShoreClare ShoreClare Shore is an American composer, music educator mezzo-soprano, and conductor.-Biography:Clare Shore studied composition with Annette LeSiege, voice with Donald Hoirup, and oboe and saxophone with Davidson Burgess, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wake Forest University in 1976...
(born 1954) - Gregory ShortGregory ShortGregory Norman Short was an American composer and pianist. Gregory Short was one of the first pianists to offer entire programs of American and Northwest music to audiences in Seattle, WA and through his The American Composer series on Public Broadcasting Service...
(1938–1999) - Marilyn ShrudeMarilyn ShrudeMarilyn Shrude is an American composer of contemporary classical music and pianist, and Distinguished Artist Professor of composition at Bowling Green State University, since 1977.-Life:...
(born 1946) - Elie SiegmeisterElie SiegmeisterElie Siegmeister was an American composer, educator and author.His varied musical output showed his concern with the development of an authentic American musical vocabulary...
(1909–1991) - Arlene SierraArlene SierraArlene Sierra is an American composer working in the United Kingdom.She studied at Oberlin College, Yale University and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, receiving a DMA in 1999; among her principal teachers were Martin Bresnick, Michael Daugherty and Jacob Druckman...
(born 1970) - Roberto SierraRoberto SierraRoberto Sierra is a composer of contemporary classical music.Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti in Hamburg, Germany...
(born 1953) - Sheila SilverSheila SilverSheila Silver is an American composer.She was born in Seattle, Washington in 1946,she started her piano studies at the age of five. In 1968 she received Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California at Berkeley, and had her Ph.D from Brandeis University, Mass. in 1976. She is an important...
(born 1946) - Adam SilvermanAdam SilvermanAdam Benjamin Silverman is a composer of contemporary classical music. His works include the opera Korczak's Orphans , chamber and orchestral music, and music for the theater...
(born 1973) - Louis SilversLouis SilversLouis "Lou" Silvers was an American film score composer whose work has been used in more than 250 movies. In 1935, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for One Night of Love.-Early life and career:...
(1889–1954) - Robert Sirota (born 1949) (http://www.musicassociatesofamerica.com/roster/sirota/sirota.html, http://www.jhu.edu/jhso/artists/sirota.html)
- Charles Sanford SkiltonCharles Sanford SkiltonCharles Sanford Skilton was an American composer, teacher and musicologist. Along with Charles Wakefield Cadman, Blair Fairchild, Arthur Nevin, and Arthur Farwell, among others, he was one of the leading Indianist composers of the early twentieth century.-Life:Skilton was born in Northampton,...
(1868–1941) - Haskell SmallHaskell SmallHaskell "Hal" Small, born 3 June 1948, is a composer, pianist, and music teacher in Washington, D.C.-Musical Background:After starting college as a science and engineering major, Haskell Small began his musical education at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and earned a BFA in music from...
(born 1948) - Leo SmitLeo Smit (American composer)-Life:Leo Smit was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child his mother took him to Russia where he studied with the composer Dmitri Kabalevsky. He later studied piano in New York with Isabella Vengerova and José Iturbi and composition with Nicolas Nabokov...
(1921–1999) - Julia SmithJulia Smith (composer)Julia Frances Smith, PhD , was an American composer, pianist, and author on musicology.-Life and career:...
(1911–1989) - Leland C. Smith (born 1925) (http://www.naxos.com/person/Leland_Smith/72179.htm)
- Robert W. SmithRobert W. SmithRobert W. Smith is an American composer, arranger, and teacher.-Biography:Smith was born in the small town of Daleville, Alabama on October 24 1958. He attended high school in Dadeville, after which he left for Troy State University, where he played lead trumpet in the Sound of the South Marching...
(born 1958) - Wilson G. Smith (1856–1929) (http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=SWG1, http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Smith,_Wilson)
- Harvey SollbergerHarvey SollbergerHarvey Sollberger is an American composer, flutist, and conductor specializing in contemporary classical music.-Life:...
(born 1938) - S. P. SomtowS. P. SomtowS. P. Somtow is a Thai-American musical composer. He is also a science fiction, fantasy, and horror author writing in English...
(born 1952) - Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
(born 1930) - John Philip SousaJohn Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
(1854–1932) - Leo SowerbyLeo SowerbyLeo Sowerby , American composer and church musician, was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946, and was often called the “Dean of American church music” in the early to mid 20th century.-Biography:...
(1895–1968) - Lewis SpratlanLewis SpratlanM. Lewis Spratlan Jr. is an American music academic and composer of contemporary classical music.Born in Miami, Florida, Spratlan played the oboe as a youth. He attended Yale University and was a student of Mel Powell and Gunther Schuller...
(born 1940) - Richard St. ClairRichard St. ClairRichard St. Clair is an American composer, pedagogue, and pianist.-Life History and Musical Career:Richard St. Clair, a noted American musician, is descended from both Franco-Scottish roots on his father's side, and Norwegian-Swedish roots on his mother's side...
(born 1946) - Robert StarerRobert StarerRobert Starer was an Austrian-born American composer and pianist.Robert Starer began studying the piano at age 4 and continued his studies at the Vienna State Academy...
(1924–2001) - Emma Roberto SteinerEmma Roberto SteinerEmma Roberto Steiner was an American composer and conductor. She was one of the first women in the United States to make a living from conducting, and did so at more than 6,000 performances during her lifetime. Her career spanned nearly five decades, from the 1870s, when she first began conducting...
(1852–1929) - Humphrey John StewartHumphrey John StewartHumphrey John Stewart was an American composer and organist, born in England. A native of London, he came to the United States in 1886, and served for many years as a church organist on the West Coast. In 1898, he was awarded an a doctorate degree in music from the University of the Pacific...
(1856–1932) - William Grant StillWilliam Grant StillWilliam Grant Still was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major...
(1895–1978) - Allen StrangeAllen StrangeAllen Strange was an American composer. He authored two books, Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls and Programming and Meta-Programming the Electro-Organism...
(1943–2008) - Robert StrassburgRobert StrassburgRobert Strassburg was aleading American conductor, composer, musicologist and music educator of the twentieth century. His studies in music were completed under the supervision of such leading composers as Igor Stravinsky, Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied at Tanglewood...
(1915–2003) - George Templeton StrongGeorge Strong (composer)George Templeton Strong was an American composer of classical music. His work has been described as Romantic. He moved to Vevey, Switzerland in 1897 and lived there and in Geneva for the remainder of his life...
(1856–1948) - John Warthen StrubleJohn Warthen StrubleJohn Warthen Struble is an American composer-pianist and writer. Born in 1953 in Washington, D.C, he began piano studies at the age of eight and performed his first work, a children’s musical theatre piece, when he was 15. That same year, he made his concert debut playing Mozart’s C major Concerto, K...
(born 1953) - Steven StuckySteven StuckySteven Stucky is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and...
(born 1949) - Morton SubotnickMorton SubotnickMorton Subotnick is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch...
(born 1933) - Robert SuderburgRobert SuderburgRobert Suderburg is an American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:The son of a jazz trombonist , Suderburg studied composition with Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota, where he received a BA in 1957...
(born 1936) - Dana SuesseDana SuesseDana Suesse , full name Nadine Dana Suesse, was an American musician, composer and lyricist.-Biography:While still a child, Suesse toured the Midwest vaudeville circuits with an act centered on dancing and piano playing. During the recital, she would ask the audience for a theme, and then proceed...
(1909–1987) - Conrad SusaConrad SusaConrad Stephen Susa is an American composer, particularly known for his operas. His 1973 chamber opera, Transformations, set to texts from the poems of Anne Sexton, is one of the most frequently performed operas by an American composer and was one of the featured operas of the 2006 Wexford Opera...
(born 1935) - William SusmanWilliam SusmanWilliam Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...
(born 1960) - Tomas Svoboda (born 1939)
- Elizabeth SwadosElizabeth SwadosElizabeth Swados is an American writer, composer, musician, and theatre director. While some of her subject matter is humorous, such as her satirical look at Ronald Reagan, Rap Master Ronnie, and Doonesbury - both collaborations with Garry Trudeau - much of her work deals with dark issues such as...
(born 1951) - James SwearingenJames SwearingenJames Swearingen is an American composer and arranger. He holds a Masters Degree from Ohio State University and a Bachelors Degree from Bowling Green State University and is currently Professor of Music, Department Chair of Music Education at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio.The music he writes...
- Richard Swift (1927–2003)
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- Louise TalmaLouise TalmaLouise Talma was a composer. She was raised in New York City and studied at the Institute of Musical Arts , 1922–1930, and received her bachelor of music degree from New York University and masters of arts degree from Columbia University...
(1906–1996) - David TamkinDavid TamkinDavid Tamkin was an American composer of Jewish descent. He devoted much of his professional career as an arranger, composer [uncredited] and orchestrator of film scores for Hollywood movies. He worked on more than 50 films between 1939 and 1970.-Biography:Tamkin was born in Chernihiv, Ukraine...
(1906–1975) - Jerod TateJerod Impichchaachaaha' TateJerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a Chickasaw classical composer and pianist. He is one of a handful of American Indian classical composers, and his compositions are based on American Indian history and culture....
(born 1968) - Deems TaylorDeems TaylorJoseph Deems Taylor was a U.S. composer, music critic, and promoter of classical music.-Career:Taylor initially planned to become an architect; however, despite minimal musical training he soon took to music composition. The result was a series of works for orchestra and/or voices...
(1885–1966) - Raynor TaylorRaynor TaylorRayner Taylor was an English organist, music teacher, composer, and singer who lived and worked in the United States after emigrating in 1792...
(1747–1825) - James TenneyJames TenneyJames Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...
(1934–2006) - Eugene ThayerWhitney Eugene ThayerWhitney Eugene Thayer was an American organist and composer.Thayer gave his first concert just after the installation of the new organ in the Boston Music Hall in 1863...
(1838–1889) - Augusta Read ThomasAugusta Read ThomasAugusta Read Thomas is an American composer.Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of...
(born 1964) - Edward Thomas (born 1924) (http://www.edthomasmusic.com/et_bio.html)
- Randall ThompsonRandall ThompsonRandall Thompson was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.-Career:He attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music...
(1899–1984) - Robert Scott ThompsonRobert Scott ThompsonRobert Scott Thompson is a composer of ambient, instrumental and electroacoustic music. He earned the B.Mus. degree from the University of Oregon and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at San Diego. His primary teachers include Bernard Rands, Roger Reynolds, Joji Yuasa and...
(born 1959) - Virgil ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
(1896–1989) - Francis ThorneFrancis ThorneFrancis Thorne is an American composer of contemporary classical music and grandson of the writer Gustav Kobbé.-Life:...
(born 1922) - John ThowJohn ThowJohn Holland Thow was an American music composer. Thow produced an extensive and diverse body of work comprising solo, chamber, vocal, choral, operatic and orchestral repertoire....
(1949–2007) - Frank Ticheli (born 1958)
- Frederick C. TillisFrederick C. TillisFrederick Charles Tillis, PhD , is an American composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and music educator at the collegiate level.-Growing up:...
(born 1930) - Christopher Theofanidis (born 1967)
- Helen Tobias-DuesbergHelen Tobias-DuesbergHelen Tobias-Duesberg was an Estonian-American composer.Helen Tobias was born in New York City on June 11, 1919. Tobias was the youngest daughter of Estonian composer, Rudolf Tobias. She studied music composition at the Tallinn Conservatoire, which is now known as the Estonian Academy of Music...
(1919–2010) - Ernst TochErnst TochErnst Toch was a composer of classical music and film scores.- Biography :Toch, born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family of a humble Jewish leather dealer when the city was at its 19th-century cultural zenith, sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music...
(1887–1964) - Michael TorkeMichael TorkeMichael Torke is an American composer who writes music influenced by jazz and minimalism. Sometimes described as a post-minimalist, his most postminimal piece is Four Proverbs, in which the syllable for each pitch is fixed and variations in the melody produce streams of nonsense words. Other works...
(born 1961) - Gonzalo de la TorreGonzalo de la TorreGonzalo de la Torre , better known as Gonzalo, is a Mexican singer, songwriter, director and producer. Gonzalo received singer-songwriter of the year at the 2010 Los Angeles Music Awards and Billboard World Song Contest Honorable Mention.-Biography:From the young age of 6, Gonzalo began singing and...
(born 1977) - Joan TowerJoan TowerJoan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...
(born 1938) - George TsontakisGeorge TsontakisGeorge Tsontakis is an American composer and conductor.Tsontakis studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and Roger Sessions at the Juilliard School from 1974 to 1978, and later with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome...
(born 1951) - David TudorDavid TudorDavid Eugene Tudor was an American pianist and composer of experimental music.- Biography :Tudor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano with Irma Wolpe and composition with Stefan Wolpe and became known as one of the leading performers of avant garde piano music. He gave the...
(1926–1996)
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- Frank Van der StuckenFrank Van der StuckenFrank Valentine Van der Stucken was an American composer and conductor, and founder of the Cincinnati Symphony in 1895.-Biography:...
(1858–1929) - David Van Tieghem (born 1955)
- David Van VactorDavid Van VactorDavid Van Vactor was an American composer of contemporary classical music.He was born in Plymouth, Indiana, and received Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University...
(1906–1994) - John VerrallJohn VerrallJohn Weedon Verrall was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Prior to his University studies, Verrall studied composition with Donald Ferguson, followed by studies with R. O. Morris in London and Zoltán Kodály in Budapest. He obtained a B.M. degree from the Minneapolis School...
(1908–2001) - Ezequiel ViñaoEzequiel ViñaoEzequiel Viñao is an Argentine-American composer. He emigrated to the United States in 1980 and studied at the Juilliard School...
(born 1960) - John VincentJohn Vincent (composer)John Vincent was an American composer, conductor, and music educator.He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music under Frederick Converse and George Chadwick graduating with a diploma in 1927...
(1902–1977) - Robert VoiseyRobert VoiseyRobert Voisey is a composer and producer of electroacoustic and chamber music. He founded Vox Novus in 2000 to promote the music of contemporary American composers and in 2001 created The American Composer Timeline, the first in-depth listing of American composers, spanning from 1690 to the...
(born 1969)
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- Melinda WagnerMelinda WagnerMelinda Wagner is a US composer, and winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in music. Her undergraduate degree is from Hamilton College....
(born 1957) - Stanley Walden (born 1932) (http://www.naxos.com/person/Stanley_Walden/64492.htm, http://www.stanleywalden.com)
- George WalkerGeorge Walker (composer)George Theophilus Walker is an African-American composer, the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He received the Pulitzer for his work Lilacs in 1996....
(born 1922) - Stewart WallaceStewart WallaceStewart Wallace is an American composer and cantor. He has spent much of his career composing experimental operas, from the dance-centered Kabbalah to the surrealist Hopper's Wife...
(born 1960) - Joelle WallachJoelle WallachJoelle Wallach is an American composer. As a girl she lived for a few years in Morocco before returning to the United States to attend the Juilliard School's pre-college program where she studied the piano, singing, theory and composition. She attended Sarah Lawrence College where she earned a...
(born 1946) - Robert Ward (born 1917)
- Dale WarlandDale WarlandDale Warland is an American conductor, composer, founder of the Grammy-nominated Dale Warland Singers, scholar, teacher, choral consultant, and renowned champion of contemporary choral composers.-Professional Biography :...
(born 1932) - Harry WarrenHarry WarrenHarry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
(1893–1981) - Elinor Remick WarrenElinor Remick WarrenElinor Remick Warren was an American composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. She composed in a predominantly neo-Romantic style....
(1900–1991) - Rodney Waschka IIRodney Waschka IIRodney Waschka II is an American composer known for his algorithmic compositions and his theatrical works.-Biography:Waschka studied at Brooklyn College, at the Institute of Sonology, then newly part of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and earned his doctorate at the University of North Texas...
(born 1958) - Franz WaxmanFranz WaxmanFranz Waxman was a German-American composer, known for his bravura Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra, based on musical themes from the Bizet opera Carmen, and for his musical scores for films....
(1906–1967) - Ben Weber (1916–1979)
- Jaromír WeinbergerJaromír Weinberger- Biography :Weinberger was born in Prague, from a family of Jewish origin. He heard Czech folksongs from time spent at his grandparents' farm as a youth. He started to play the piano at age 5, and was composing and conducting by age 10. He began musical studies with Jaroslav Křička. Later teachers...
(1896–1967) - Hugo WeisgallHugo WeisgallHugo David Weisgall was an American composer and conductor, known chiefly for his opera and vocal music compositions...
(1912–1997) - Dan WelcherDan WelcherDan Welcher is an American composer, conductor, and music educator.- Biography :Welcher was born in Rochester, New York and earned degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, studying bassoon, piano, and composition...
(born 1948) - Richard WernickRichard WernickRichard Wernick in Boston, Massachusetts is a US composer. He is best known for his composition "Visions of Terror and Wonder," which won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Music.-Career:...
(born 1934) - Mark WesselMark Wessel (composer)Mark Wessel was an American pianist and composer.Wessel was born in Coldwater, Michigan, and graduated from Northwestern School of Music, now known as Bienen School of Music; he later taught piano and theory there...
(1894–1973) - Paul W. WhearPaul W. WhearPaul W. Whear is an American composer, music educator, double-bassist, and conductor.-Life:Whear studied at Marquette University—The Catholic Jesuit University in Milwaukee where he received the B.N.S.; after service as an officer in The U.S Navy, he attended DePauw University School of Music in...
(born 1925) - Scott WheelerScott Wheeler (composer)Scott Wheeler is an American concert-music composer, born February 24, 1952, in Washington, D.C., now based in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1989, he has been on the faculty of Emerson College in Boston, where he has co-directed the music theater program...
(born 1952) - Eric WhitacreEric WhitacreEric Whitacre is an American composer, conductor and lecturer. He is one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. In 2008, the all-Whitacre choral CD Cloudburst became an international best-seller, topping the classical charts and earning a Grammy nomination...
(born 1970) - Arthur Whiting (1861–1936) (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Whiting-Arthur.htm)
- Alec WilderAlec WilderAlec Wilder was an American composer.-Biography:...
(1907–1980) - John WilliamsJohn WilliamsJohn Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(born 1932) - Michael Glenn WilliamsMichael Glenn WilliamsMichael Glenn Williams is an American composer, pianist and technologist.-Biography:Williams' earliest years were spent in New York, beginning trumpet studies and composing at 8 years old. At 12 he was programming DEC PDP 8 minicomputers...
(born 1957) - Otis WilliamsOtis WilliamsOtis Williams is an American baritone singer. Nicknamed "Big Daddy", he has also acted as a sporadic songwriter and record producer. Williams co-founded the Motown vocal group The Temptations in early 1960 as The Elgins, a group in which he continues to perform...
(born 1941) - Paul WilliamsPaul Williams (songwriter)Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American composer, musician, songwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World",...
(born 1940) - Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900)
- Meredith WillsonMeredith WillsonRobert Meredith Willson was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man...
(1902–1984) - Richard Edward WilsonRichard Edward WilsonRichard Edward Wilson is an American composer of orchestral, operatic, instrumental, and chamber music. Wilson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was at a young age drawn to the concerts of George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra...
(born 1941) - Jason Wright WingateJason Wright WingateJason Wright Wingate is an American composer, cellist and poet based in New York City. Notable works include the chamber work Landscapes of Consciousness, and the Symphony No...
(born 1971) - David Winkler (born 1948) (http://www.naxos.com/person/David_Winkler/69423.htm, http://www.davidwinklernyc.org/about)
- Erling WoldErling WoldErling Wold is a San Francisco based composer of opera and contemporary classical music. He is best known for his later chamber operas, especially A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil and his early experiments as a microtonalist...
(born 1958) - Stefan WolpeStefan WolpeStefan Wolpe was a German-born composer.-Life:Wolpe was born in Berlin. He attended the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory from the age of fourteen, and the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920-1921. He studied composition under Franz Schreker and was also a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni...
(1902–1972) - Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
(born 1950) - Carl Valentin WunderleCarl Valentin WunderleCarl Valentin Wunderle was a German-American musician and composer. He was a child prodigy in music, and spent his entire adult life playing violin and viola in major U.S. orchestras in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, while at the same time maintaining a separate concertizing career...
(1866–1944) - Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
(born 1938) - Ruth Shaw WylieRuth Shaw WylieRuth Shaw Wylie was a U.S.-born composer and music educator. She described herself as “a fairly typical Midwestern composer,” pursuing musical and aesthetic excellence but not attracting much national attention: “All good and worthy creative acts do not take place in New York City,” she wrote in...
(1916–1989) - Yehudi WynerYehudi WynerYehudi Wyner is an American composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator.Wyner, who grew up in New York City, was raised in a musical family. His father, Lazar Weiner, was an eminent composer of Yiddish art songs. Wyner attended Juilliard, Yale, and Harvard...
(born 1929)
Z
- Judith Lang ZaimontJudith Lang ZaimontJudith Lang Zaimont is an American music educator, music writer and composer.-Life:Judith Ann Lang was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Bellerose, Queens, New York. She began studying piano at age five, and performed on The Lawrence Welk Show at age eleven...
(born 1945) - Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
(1940–1993) - John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
(born 1953) - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (born 1939)