Gene Scheer About Opera composer and lyricist known for his compositions for such singers as Sylvia McNair, Renée Fleming, and Denyce Graves. He collaborated with numerous other composers on such operatic pieces as To Hell and Back and Cold Mountain. Life Before Becoming Famous After graduating from the renowned Eastman School of Music, he earned […]
Perttu Kivilaakso About Finnish musician best known as the cellist for the band Apocalyptica. Life Before Becoming Famous He attended the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. Other Informations He earned himself a lifetime chair in the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra. Family Life His father played in the annual Savonlinna Opera Festival. Similarities He and Apocalyptica collaborated […]
Halim El-Dabh About Egyptian-born American composer, educator, ethnomusicologist, and musician whose career spanned over a half-century. He was a pioneer in electronic music and was credited with recording the first piece of electronic tape music in 1944. Life Before Becoming Famous He came to the United States in 1950 courtesy of a Fulbright Fellowship to […]
Randy Malcom Martínez About Cuban composer and member of reggaeton group Gente de Zona. They are known for combing reggaeton rhythms with more traditional forms of Cuban music as heard in their hit song “Algo Contigo.” Life Before Becoming Famous He and Gente de Zona formed in 2000 and gained international success in 2014. Other […]
Julian Anderson About Multi-award-winning composer who worked as the head of several orchestras all over the world. He also created scores for films. Life Before Becoming Famous He received his formal education at the Royal College of Music in London under John Lambert and at Cambridge University under Alexander Goehr. He studied privately with Tristan […]
Anthony Braxton About Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 1994. He was also honored as a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. Life Before Becoming Famous He studied philosophy at Roosevelt University. He was in a trio with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and violinist Leroy Jenkins. Other Informations He mastered the […]
Igor Krutoy About The recipient of the 1989 Lenin Komsomol Prize, this Soviet-born composer, performer, and music business executive wrote and produced pop songs such as “Nezakonchenniy Roman” and wrote the soundtracks to films such as The Snow Queen (2003) and Thirst for Passion (1991). In addition, he produced a Russian television series titled Star […]
Ace Waters About American composer and multi-instrumentalist who specializes in creating video game and geek culture arrangements. The synth-rock clips on his personal YouTube channel have been viewed a combined 4.4 million times. Life Before Becoming Famous He studied composition and music theory at North Central University. Other Informations His most-viewed YouTube video became 2015’s Determination – UNDERTALE […]
Frank Wildhorn About American composer who wrote the musical Jekyll & Hyde which played for four years on Broadway. Life Before Becoming Famous He started playing the piano in his teens and discovered he wanted to compose music. Other Informations He co-founded GlobalVision Records in 2005 with his collaborator Jeremy Roberts. Family Life He married […]
Edwin Eugene Bagley About Composed patriotic classic “National Emblem,” which was played during the military’s presenting and retiring of colors. Life Before Becoming Famous He composed “National Emblem” while on a train with his family band, but unhappy with its end, tossed the composition paper into the trash, where his family retrieved it. Other Informations […]
Roger Reynolds About Pulitzer Prize-winning composer whose work often incorporated text of poetic or mythological origin. Some of his source material was written by Jorge Luis Borges, Aeschylus, and Euripides. Life Before Becoming Famous He studied engineering physics at the University of Michigan. He became famous for “The Emperor of Ice Cream” from 1961 to […]
MM Keeravani About Award-winning film composter known for his work on countless Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi films. He has accumulated more than 100 credits since his career began in the early 1990s. Life Before Becoming Famous His career began in 1987 after he became the assistant music director to composer K. Chakravarthy. Other Informations From […]
Philip Glass About Influential musician known for his minimal music and for his film scores, Portrait Trilogy, symphonies, concertos, and chamber music. Life Before Becoming Famous He worked as a composer-in-residence for the public school system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after finishing his studies at the Juilliard School of Music. Other Informations He won a Golden […]
Ariel Ramírez About Notable for his internationally acclaimed Argentine folk music composition Misa Criolla (1964), he is also well known for his more than three hundred other works, which include Mujeres Argentinas (1969) and Cantata Sudamericana (1972). Life Before Becoming Famous Early in his career, he trained under the famous vocalist and composer Atahualpa Yupanqui […]
Leonard Slatkin About Composer and conductor who was the principal guest conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2004 to 2007. He made the first digital stereo recording of “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky in 1985. Life Before Becoming Famous He studied conducting at the Juilliard School where he was a student of Jean Morel. He […]