European Romantic/Modern
This Polish child prodigy and virtuoso pianist mainly composed solo works, of which, his Nocturnes are some of the most enduring pieces of music from the time.
Fredric Chopin
Every Christmas, you can go see his "Nutcracker Suite" performed by the Kansas City Ballet.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Known for his military marches, this composer's "Stars and Stripes Forever", was made the official March of the United States in 1987.
John Philip Sousa
This pianist, who once lived in Sedalia, Missouri, was considered by many to be the "King of Ragtime". Many of his compositions are still played to today including "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer".
Scott Joplin
This jazz saxophonist from Kansas City, nicknamed "Bird", revolutionized the sound of jazz with his incredible soloing abilities and innovative chord techniques.
His legacy has been tarnished by his influence on Nazism, but this German composer's opera "Tristan and Isolde" and his song cycle "The Ring" have continuously been among the most revered works of the 19th century.
Richard Wagner
An iconoclast in his time, this Russian composer's ballet "La Sacre Du Printemps" or "The Rite Of Spring of Spring", caused a near-riot when it was first performed in 1913.
Igor Stravinsky
Leonard Bernstein
This jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans was 66 years old when he recorded his final hit song, "What A Wonderful World".
Louis Armstrong
This trumpeter's career spanned 4 decades and encompassed everything from early bebop all the way through to jazz fusion. He routinely used a mute on his trumpet starting in the mid 50s which gave him his signature sound.
Miles Davis
This Italian opera composer's works are still often performed across the world today, which include La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Otello.
Giuseppe Verdi
This Russian pianist and composer wrote the definitive ballet version of "Romeo and Juliet", which includes the monumental "Dance of The Knights".
Sergei Prokofiev
"Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American In Paris" made him famous, but his opera, Porgy & Bess, set in Charleston, South Carolina, is considered to be his best work.
George Gershwin
One of the first composers to lead a "jazz orchestra", this seminal American figure was immortalized in Stevie Wonder's song "Sir Duke".
Duke Ellington
This saxophonist's best-selling album "A Love Supreme" is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all-time and a testament to the musician's relationship with God.
John Coltrane
Relatively neglected in his time, this Austrian composer is considered to be a bridge between the Romantic and Modern Periods. In 2016, a BBC Music Magazine survey of 151 conductors ranked three of his symphonies in the top ten symphonies of all time.
Gustav Mahler
This Russian composer had a complex relationship with Stalin and Soviet regime even though he composed much of his music for the state. Although he struggled with depression for most of his life, he was able to write 15 symphonies, and 15 highly regarded pieces for string quartet.
Dmitri Shostakovich
This composer's music evokes the vast landscape of the American West, and it's deliberately accessible style has been called populist. Name the American composer whose works include 'Appalachian Spring', 'Rodeo', and 'Fanfare For The Common Man'.
Aaron Copland
This, "Queen of Jazz", known for her horn-like voice and distinctive "scat-singing", was the first African American woman to win at the Grammy Awards. She won 13 total over her career.
Ella Fitzgerald
This vocal Jazz artist was the first to record the song "Strange Fruit", which was first written as a poem by Abe Meeropol, but then was later set to music by Abe and made into a protest song.
Billie Holliday
This French composer's most enduring symphony is the Symphony Fantastique, in which, an artist gifted with a lively imagination, has poisoned himself with opium in the depths of despair because of hopeless, unrequited love.
Hector Berlioz
Perhaps the most accomplished pianist of all the great Russian composers, this virtuoso fled with his family from Russia to the United States after the Russian Revolution of 1918.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Part of the American musical movement known as 'Minimalism', this composer was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in 2018, and composed the music for the 1982 experimental film Koyaanisqatsi.
Philip Glass
This Mississippi delta blues musician is best known for the Faustian tale of him selling his soul to the devil to gain fame as a blues guitarist. It worked, because he's one of the most revered today.
Robert Johnson
A jazz bassist, composer, and bandleader, he was a proponent of collective improvisation and wrote the most compositions of any jazz artist second only to the great Duke Ellington.
Charles Mingus