Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Was born on born April 30, and died in 1939 is an American post-modernist composer. She was the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize In 1995, she was named to the first Composer's Chair in the history of Carnegie Hall.

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg Was born on September 13, 1874 and died on July 13, 1951 was a composer, born in Vienna, Austria. He is particularly remembered as one of the first composers to embrace atonal motivic development, and for his twelve tone technique of composition using tone rows.

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner Was born on May 22, 1813 and died on February 13, 1883. He was an influential German composer, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his groundbreaking symphonic-operas.

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi Was born on October 10, 1813 and died on January 27, 1901 was one of the great composers of Italian opera. A composer of romanti music, his work was already very popular during his lifetime and remains so today.

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky Was born on May 7, 1840 and died on November 6, 1893. He was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. Although he was not a member of the group of nationalistic composers usually known in English-speaking countries as The Five, his music has come to be known and loved for its distinctly Russian character as well as its rich harmonies and stirring melodies.

Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss Was born on June 11, 1864 and died on September 8, 1949. He was a German composer of classical music particularly noted for his tone poems and operas. His father, a professional horn player, gave him a musical grounding exclusively in the classics, and he composed copiously from the age of six. He went briefly to university, but had no formal tuition in composition.

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) He studied in Helsinki from 1886 with Wegelius, also gaining stimulus there from Busoni, though at the same time he fostered ambitions as a violinist. In 1889 he went to Berlin to continue his composition studies with Becker, then after a year to Vienna under Goldmark and Fuchs.