Franz Liszt (1811, Doborján, Hungary - 1886, Bayreuth, Germany)(Hungarian: Ferencz Liszt, in modern usage Ferenc Liszt, from 1859 to 1865 officially Franz Ritter von Liszt) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher. He was also the father-in-law of Richard Wagner. Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 1800s.
Yann Tiersen (born June 23, 1970 in Brest, Brittany, France) has been honing his musical aesthetic since he could stand on two legs. He started learning piano at the age of four, taking up violin at the age of six and receiving classical training at musical academies in Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne. Then, at the age of 13, he chose to alter his destiny, breaking his violin into pieces, buying a guitar and forming a rock band.
1932 was a momentous year for Sydney. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, an engineering miracle of the day was opened in March. In July 1932 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was established, and with it the group of musicians that would become the Sydney Symphony. The Orchestra consisted of just 24 players, who performed incidental music for radio plays, music for the dinner hour and broadcasts of concert repertoire.
John Hardy is a British composer for live performance and film. His music has been described by listeners as 'heart-warming', 'incredibly moving' and 'brilliant', and by critics as 'gripping and intensely theatrical' (Opera Now), 'engrossing...unique' (Guardian) 'epic' (Daily Telegraph) and 'achingly beautiful' (Composers of Wales). More of John's music is available at www.johnhardymusic.com or at record label www.ffinrecords.co.uk
Bernd Glemser (born 1962, Dürbheim) is a German pianist. A student of Vitaly Margulis, in 1989 he became Germany's youngest piano professor at Saarbrücken's Musikochschule. He has recorded major pieces by Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Schumann, Scriabin, and Tchaikovsky. In 2003 Glemser was decorated with the Bundesverdienstkreuz. His recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 was featured in Spider-Man 3 (2007).
Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (born December 6, 1933 in Czernica, Silesia, Poland. Died 12 November 2010 in Katowice, Poland) was a Polish composer of classical music. Though his earlier work in the late 1950s and 1960s were characterised by a dissonant modernism influenced by Nono, Stockhausen and contemporaries Penderecki and Serocki, he moved in the mid 1970's towards a 'pure' sacred minimalist sound encapsulated by the 1976 Symphony No. 3.
Richard Tognetti (born 4 August 1965) is an Australian violinist, composer and conductor. He was born in Canberra and raised in Wollongong. He is currently Artistic Director and Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Tognetti studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Alice Waten and undertook post-graduate study at the Berne Conservatory with Igor Ozim, where he was awarded the Tschumi prize in 1989.
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is a composer from the United States. His music is frequently described as minimalist, though he prefers to describe himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures". Although his early, mature music is minimalist, he has evolved stylistically. Currently, he describes himself as a "Classicist", pointing out that he is trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Nadia Boulanger.
Sophie Hutchings is Australian pianist and composer. Having begun playing piano young growing up in a musical family, Sophie started writing properly in her teens. Sophie’s compositions move from disarmingly spare and elegant beginnings to curl out with a tingling edge, propelling its austerity into urgent and epic realms. Violin, cello, drums, percussion and organ heighten the flight these pieces can take as well as dip and swell within the more dimly lit moods of gentler nuance, casting a particular spell across the range of feeling captured in Sophie’s playing.
