Category Archives: Music > Composer

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

As the 21st century dawns and the musical offerings of the world are more varied than ever before, few composers have emerged with the unique personality of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Her music is widely known because it is performed, recorded, broadcast, and above all, listened to and liked by all sorts of audiences the world over. Like the great masters of bygone times, Zwilich produces music “with fingerprints,” music that is immediately recognized as the product of a particular American composer who combines craft and inspiration in reflecting her optimistic and humanistic spirit in her compositions.

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Grethe Agatz

Grethe Agatz was a fervent jazz enthusiast and a pioneer in Danish children’s music and music teaching. Her work has inspired many of her successors.

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Alison Bauld

Her compositions gain their dramatic structure by combining elements of theatre with musical forms which use voice as well as instruments. A series of songs for voice and piano reveal her strong interest in lieder, arguably the form of composition which she finds most satisfying.

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Lili’uokalani

Growing up in a royal family, Queen Lili‘uokalani was trained to be a monarch. Even though becoming queen was probably not a surprise to her, she may not have known that she would also become the last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Unfortunately, she was only able to reign for three years because the United States overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy. However, Lili‘uokalani published her side of the story in a memoir that became the only autobiography written by a Hawaiian monarch.

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Ma Rainey

Often called the “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey was known for her deep-throated voice and mesmerizing stage presence that drew packed audiences and sold hit records in the early twentieth century. Also a songwriter, her lyrics and melodies reflected her experiences as an independent, openly bisexual African-American woman.

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Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter was an American jazz and blues singer and songwriter from the 1910s to the late 1950s, who returned to singing in her 80s after 20 years working as a nurse.

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Valerie Rodway

Valerie Muriel Rodway was a composer of Guyanese cultural and patriotic songs, inspired by the events surrounding Guyana’s independence in 1966.

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Wanda Landowska

Wanda Aleksandra Landowska was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings helped revitalize the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 1900s.

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