c. 1525–2 February 1594 Born somewhere between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526 (we like to keep composers on their toes with those date uncertainties!), Palestrina was a central figure in the world of late Renaissance music. He stands tall as the leading composer of late 16th-century Europe, alongside luminaries like Orlande de Lassus…
c. 1505 – 23 November 1585) Tallis was an influential composer during the High Renaissance period. His compositions primarily focused on vocal music, and he holds a special place in the anthologies of English choral works. Born around the early 16th century (historians estimate between 1500 and 1520), Tallis lived through the reigns of several…
In his history of the Danish Royal Orchestra 1648-1848, Carl Thrane writes that Franz Keyper was born in Neurode, County Glatz, Silesia, with no date of birth suggested, but in the Danish census of 1801 he is listed as being 45 years old, with the occupation ‘Hofviolon’ (Court Musician), and 1756 as a possible year…
Born in Liège in 1822 and died in Paris in 1890. FRanck was an important composer, organist and teacher of his day and from the early 1870s was organ professor at the Paris Conservatoire. Franck was a prolific composer, writing symphonic, chamber and keyboard works, particularly for the organ, and much of his music has…
Ruth Mulligan is a music teacher, piano accompanist and composer based in Cheltenham, England. She plays the viola, performing regularly with the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra and participates in a local choir. She completed her B.Mus (hons) at the University of Wales, Bangor and her PGCE in secondary music at Oxford Brookes University. Ruth has composed…
Jacques Vanherenthals (b.1948) began his musical career as a double bassist at Antwerp Opera, now Flemish Opera, in 1969. From 1973-1988 he was at the RTBF Symphony Orchestra, in 1988 he became Director of the Academy of Nivelles and the following year was appointed Director of the Academy of Music, Dance & Spoken Arts of…
Mack J. Wilberg is an American composer, arranger, conductor, and choral clinician who has been the music director of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square since 20081. He was born on February 20, 1955, in Price, Utah1. Wilberg’s early life was marked by his musical talent, which was evident from a young age. He learned…
Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, and teacher born on March 4, 1678, in Venice1. He is best known for his contributions to the development of the concerto form and for his numerous concertos for violin and other instruments. Vivaldi’s most famous work is “The Four Seasons,” a series of violin concertos…
Born on 14 February 1933 in Norwich, Connecticut Bertram Turetzky took up the` tenor banjo at the age of 12 or 13, he switched to the guitar in high school, having fallen in love with jazz, and then changed to the double bass which he described as ‘…the core of everything, the glue between the…
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian composer, one of the most influential figures in the world of opera, and a key figure in the development of the Italian Romantic movement. He was born on either October 9 or 10, 1813, in Roncole, near Busseto, in the Duchy of Parma, Italy, and passed away on…
