100 Notable alumni of
Manhattan School of Music
Updated:
The Manhattan School of Music is 424th in the world, 169th in North America, and 156th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the Manhattan School of Music sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Charlie Puth
- Occupations
- songwriterYouTubersingermusician
- Biography
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Charles Otto Puth Jr. is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. His initial exposure came through the viral success of his song covers uploaded to YouTube. Puth signed with the record label eleveneleven in 2011.
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Harry Connick Jr
- Occupations
- film producerfilm actortelevision actorconductorrecording artist
- Biography
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Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and former television host. As of 2019, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16 million in certified sales. He has had seven top 20 U.S. albums, and ten number-one U.S. jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in U.S. jazz chart history as of 2009.
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Herbie Hancock
- Occupations
- bandleaderpianistactorkeyboardistsinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, he experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles using a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this time that he released one of his best-known and most influential albums, Head Hunters.
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Dr. Luke
- Occupations
- songwriterrecord producer
- Biography
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Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He began his professional music career as the Saturday Night Live Band's lead guitarist in 1996. In 2004 produced Kelly Clarkson's single "Since U Been Gone" with Swedish record producer Max Martin, and later collaborated with Canadian producer Cirkut and fellow American Benny Blanco.
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Ahmed Best
- Occupations
- percussionistrecord producertelevision actorvoice actorsinger
- Biography
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Ahmed Best is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is known for providing the voice and motion capture for the character Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars franchise.
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Steve Gadd
- Occupations
- session musiciandrummerjazz musician
- Biography
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Stephen Kendall Gadd is an American drummer and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and most highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. Gadd's performances on Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1976) and "Late in the Evening" (1980), Herbie Mann's "Hi-jack" (1975) and Steely Dan's "Aja" (1977) are examples of his style. He has worked with other popular musicians from many genres including Van McCoy, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Randy Crawford, Eric Clapton, Michel Petrucciani, Paul McCartney, and David Gilmour.
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Sophie B. Hawkins
- Occupations
- singerguitaristcomposersinger-songwritersongwriter
- Biography
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Sophie Ballantine Hawkins is an American singer-songwriter. Born in New York City, she attended the Manhattan School of Music for a year as a percussionist before leaving to pursue a music career. In the 1990s, she achieved critical and commercial success with her first two albums, producing a string of single hits including "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover", "Right Beside You", and "As I Lay Me Down". A dispute with her record label Sony Music over her third album, Timbre, led her to establish her own independent label, Trumpet Swan Productions, which has published her subsequent recordings.
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Rupert Holmes
- Occupations
- songwriterrecording artistscreenwriterfilm producersinger
- Biography
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Rupert Holmes is a British-born American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and "Him" (1980). He is also known for his musicals The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which earned him two Tony Awards, and Curtains, his AMC television series Remember WENN, and his novel Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide.
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Bernie Williams
- Occupations
- baseball playerjazz musician
- Biography
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Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and current musician. He played his entire 16-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees from 1991 through 2006.
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Max Roach
- Occupations
- bandleaderjazz musiciancomposeruniversity teacherpercussionist
- Biography
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Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He worked with many famous jazz musicians, including Clifford Brown, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Benny Carter, and Booker Little. He also played with his daughter Maxine Roach, a Grammy-nominated violist. He was inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1992.
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Ron Carter
- Occupations
- composeruniversity teachercellistjazz bassistdouble-bassist
- Biography
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Ronald Levin Carter is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded numerous times on the instrument. In addition to a solo career of more than 60 years, Carter is well-known for playing on numerous iconic Blue Note albums in the 1960s, as well as being the anchor of trumpeter Miles Davis's "Second Great Quintet" from 1963-1968.
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Melissa Manchester
- Occupations
- musicianfilm actorsongwritertelevision actorsinger
- Biography
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Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter and actress. During the 1970s and 1980s, her music found widespread success and popularity, particularly in the adult contemporary market. Throughout her career, she has written many of her own songs, most notably her first mainstream hit single, 1975's "Midnight Blue". She is also well-known for her song "Come In from the Rain", her rendition of "Don't Cry Out Loud", and the Academy Award-nominated "Through the Eyes of Love". Her most successful song on the music charts is 1982's "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", landing at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. She has also gone on to appear on television, in films, and on stage.
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Dave Grusin
- Occupations
- bandleaderpianistactorcomposerconductor
- Biography
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Robert David Grusin is an American composer, arranger, producer, jazz pianist, and band leader. He has composed many scores for feature films and television and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy Award and 10 Grammy Awards. Grusin was also a frequent collaborator with director Sydney Pollack, scoring many of his films like Three Days of the Condor (1975), Absence of Malice (1981), Tootsie (1982), The Firm (1993), and Random Hearts (1999). In 1978, Grusin founded GRP Records with Larry Rosen, and was an early pioneer of digital recording.
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Donald Byrd
- Occupations
- jazz musiciancomposerrecording artistmusic educatorjazz trumpeter
- Biography
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Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop musicians who successfully explored funk and soul while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock and many others.
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Bob McGrath
- Occupations
- singertelevision actorwritervoice actoractor
- Biography
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Robert Emmett McGrath was an American actor, singer, and children's author best known for playing original human character and music teacher Bob Johnson on the educational television series Sesame Street from 1969 to 2016.
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David Campbell
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
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David Richard Campbell is a Canadian-American arranger, composer, musician, and conductor. He has composed and arranged music for many films, including North Country (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), August: Osage County (2013), Annie (2014), Foxcatcher (2014), Rock of Ages (2012), Dreamgirls (2006), and Joy (2015). He has also worked on over 450 gold and platinum albums by artists of a wide range of genres, including The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, Metallica, Radiohead, Evanescence, Rush, Beyoncé, Muse, Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Aerosmith, Juanes, Garth Brooks, and various albums by his son Beck.
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Alondra de la Parra
- Occupations
- pianistconductormusician
- Biography
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Alondra de la Parra is a Mexican conductor.
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Angela Bofill
- Occupations
- composersongwriterjazz musiciansinger
- Biography
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Angela Tomasa Bofill was an American singer, songwriter and composer. A New York native, she began her professional career in the mid-1970s and is most known for singles such as "This Time I'll Be Sweeter", "Angel of the Night", and "I Try". Her career spanned over four decades.
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Yusef Lateef
- Occupations
- jazz saxophonistoboistcomposernon-fiction writeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Yusef Abdul Lateef was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in the United States.
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Page Hamilton
- Occupations
- composerjazz guitaristjazz musicianguitaristsinger
- Biography
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Page Nye Hamilton is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer who founded the American heavy metal band Helmet in 1989. In the 1990s, Helmet and Hamilton were forerunners of alternative metal with the albums Meantime (1992) and Betty (1994) and are considered one of the most influential metal bands of all time. Although he is mainly known for his work in heavy metal and post-hardcore music, Hamilton also earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and later earned a Master's degree in jazz guitar from the Manhattan School of Music. Hamilton also has connections to avant-garde music and film soundtrack composition.
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Leo Pellegrino
- Occupations
- musician
- Biography
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Leonardo Antonio Pellegrino, also known as Leo P, is an American baritone saxophonist from Pittsburgh who is based in New York City. He is a member of the "brass house" band Too Many Zooz and former member of the Lucky Chops brass band. He is known for his energetic dancing that he performs while playing, often in public areas.
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Shuler Hensley
- Occupations
- actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Shuler Paul Hensley is an American singer and actor. Shuler has appeared in eight Broadway productions, earning a Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2002 for his performance as Jud Fry in the revival of Oklahoma!, along with several nominations for Drama Desk Awards and Outer Critics Circle Awards in his career.
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Herbie Mann
- Occupations
- saxophonistcomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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Herbert Jay Solomon, known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (including bass clarinet), but Mann was among the first jazz musicians to specialize on the flute. His most popular single was "Hi-Jack", which was a Billboard No. 1 dance hit for three weeks in 1975.
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Elliot Goldenthal
- Occupations
- composersongwriterfilm score composerlyricist
- Biography
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Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2002 for his score to the motion picture Frida, directed by his longtime partner Julie Taymor.
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Jared Bernstein
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 71)
- Occupations
- writereconomistjournalistpolitician
- Biography
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Jared Bernstein is an American government official who was the chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers. He is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama administration. In 2008, Michael D. Shear described Bernstein as a progressive and "a strong advocate for workers".
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Joseph Trapanese
- Enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music
- Graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- conductorrecord producercomposerorchestratormusic arranger
- Biography
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Joseph Trapanese is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and music producer. He works in the production of music for films, television, records, theater, concerts, and interactive media.
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Lucia Micarelli
- Occupations
- violinisttelevision actorjazz musician
- Biography
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Lucia Micarelli is an American violinist, singer and actress best known for her collaborations with Josh Groban, Chris Botti, Jethro Tull, and her role as Annie Talarico in Treme.
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Anton Coppola
- Occupations
- composerconductormusic educatorfilm score composer
- Biography
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Antonio Francesco Coppola was an American opera conductor and composer. He was the uncle of film director Francis Ford Coppola, academic August Coppola, and actress Talia Shire, as well as the great-uncle of Nicolas Cage, Christopher Coppola, Sofia Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman, and the younger brother of American composer and musician Carmine Coppola.
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Phil Woods
- Occupations
- bandleaderconductorsaxophonistcomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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Philip Wells Woods was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.
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John Lewis
- Occupations
- film score composercomposerrecord produceruniversity teacherpianist
- Biography
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John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger, best known as the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
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Chris Potter
- Occupations
- composersaxophonistjazz musicianclarinetist
- Biography
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Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.
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Nellie McKay
- Occupations
- stage actorpianistcomposersinger-songwriterstand-up comedian
- Biography
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Eleanora Marie McKay is an English–American singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera (2006).
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Joshua Cohen
- Occupations
- writernovelist
- Biography
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Joshua Aaron Cohen is an American novelist and story writer, best known for his works Witz (2010), Book of Numbers (2015), and Moving Kings (2017). Cohen won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Netanyahus (2021).
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Adam Neely
- Years
- 1988-.. (age 38)
- Enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music
- In 2012 graduated with master's degree
- Occupations
- television producerbassistYouTubervlogger
- Biography
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Adam Neely is an American bassist, YouTuber, and jazz musician based in New York City. His YouTube content includes Q&A videos, vlogs about performing music, and video essays about online music culture. As a musician, he performs with groups including the electro-jazz duo Sungazer (with drummer Shawn Crowder) and the instrumental band Aberdeen.
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Jane Monheit
- Occupations
- singerjazz musician
- Biography
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Jane Monheit is an American jazz and traditional pop singer.
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Rhoda Scott
- Occupations
- jazz singerorganistjazz musician
- Biography
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Rhoda Scott is an American soul jazz organist and singer. She is nicknamed "The Barefoot Lady".
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Catherine Russell
- Occupations
- singerjazz musiciansinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Catherine Russell is an American jazz and blues singer. She is best known for her 2016 album Harlem on My Mind and for touring with David Bowie and Steely Dan.
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Kristjan Järvi
- Occupations
- composerpianistconductorrecord producer
- Biography
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Kristjan Järvi is an Estonian conductor, composer and producer. Born in Tallinn, Estonia, he is the younger son of the conductor Neeme Järvi and brother of conductor Paavo Järvi and flutist Maarika Järvi.
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Jason Moran
- Occupations
- composerjazz pianistrecording artistmusic educator
- Biography
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Jason Moran is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical installations.
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Miho Hazama
- Occupations
- bandleaderradio personalityconductorcomposerpianist
- Biography
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Miho Hazama is a Tokyo-born composer and jazz musician, based in New York City.
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Jonathan Tetelman
- Years
- 1988-.. (age 38)
- Occupations
- opera singer
- Biography
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Jonathan Tetelman is an American operatic tenor who has established an international career, especially in Europe, in such roles as Alfredo in Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata, the title role in Jules Massenets Werther, Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Loris Ipanov in Umberto Giordano's Fedora (opera).
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Charles Calello
- Occupations
- singersongwritercomposerrecord producerconductor
- Biography
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Charles Calello is an American arranger, composer, conductor, record producer, and singer born in Newark, New Jersey. Calello attended Newark Arts High School and the Manhattan School of Music, in New York City. His track record of successfully collaborating with various artists to produce or arrange Billboard hit songs led to his nickname in the industry as the "Hit Man".
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Megan Marie Hart
- Enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music
- 2006-2007 graduated with Professional Studies Certificate
- Occupations
- opera singer
- Biography
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Megan Marie Hart is an American operatic soprano from Eugene, Oregon, performing in leading operatic roles and concerts in America and Europe.
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Kirill Gerstein
- Occupations
- pianist
- Biography
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Kirill Gerstein is a Russian-American concert pianist. He is the sixth recipient of the Gilmore Artist Award. Born in the former Soviet Union, Gerstein is an American citizen based in Berlin. Between 2007-2017, he led piano classes at the Stuttgart Musik Hochschule. In 2018, he took up the post of Professor of Piano at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin in addition to the Kronberg Academy’s Sir András Schiff Performance Programme for Young Artists.
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Ambrose Akinmusire
- Occupations
- trumpetercomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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Ambrose Olusiji Akinmusire is an American avant-garde jazz composer and trumpeter.
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David Amram
- Occupations
- autobiographercomposersinger-songwriterconductorjazz musician
- Biography
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David Werner Amram III is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of orchestral, chamber, and choral works, many with jazz flavorings. He plays piano, French horn, Spanish guitar, and pennywhistle, and sings.
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Edwin Birdsong
- Occupations
- musiciankeyboardistrecord producerjazz musicianorganist
- Biography
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Edwin L. Birdsong was an American keyboardist and organist, known in the 1970s and 1980s for his experimental funk/disco music. Birdsong did not achieve much chart success, but developed a strong fan base. Birdsong has also been sampled by other artists many times, most famously by Daft Punk who sampled "Cola Bottle Baby" in "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", and Gang Starr who sampled his single "Rapper Dapper Snapper" for their song "Skills".
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Robert Ashley
- Occupations
- university teacherfilm producercomposer
- Biography
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Robert Reynolds Ashley was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve intertwining narratives and take a surreal multidisciplinary approach to sound, theatrics and writing, and have been continuously performed by various interpreters during and after his life, including Automatic Writing (1979) and Perfect Lives (1983).
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Iiro Rantala
- Occupations
- jazz musicianpianistfilm score composercomposermusic educator
- Biography
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Iiro Rantala is a Finnish jazz pianist. He studied piano in the jazz department of Sibelius Academy and classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music. He is one of the best known Finnish jazz pianists, both in Finland and abroad. Rantala is a pianist and composer with Trio Töykeät, a Finnish jazz trio. In addition to jazz, he has composed some classical pieces, most notably the Concerto for Piano and Concerto in G♯ΔA♭.
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Anthony Roth Costanzo
- Occupations
- writerrecord producerperforming artistcountertenoractor
- Biography
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Anthony Roth Costanzo is an American countertenor and opera director. He began his career in musical theater at the age of 11. Costanzo is a graduate of Princeton University and of the Manhattan School of Music. In 2012, he won first place at the Operalia competition. In 2009, he was a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has been an actor in film and a producer and curator. He is the designated general director and president of Opera Philadelphia, where he has instituted a flexible ticket pricing policy.
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John Frizzell
- Occupations
- composerfilm score composer
- Biography
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John Frizzell is an American film and television composer, known for his work with Mike Judge. He scored Judge's films Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, Office Space and Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022), and he supplied the music for Judge's television sitcom King of the Hill. Frizzell also gained notice for his score to Crime of the Century in 1996, followed by Dante's Peak and Alien Resurrection in 1997.
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Mauro Refosco
- Occupations
- percussionistmusician
- Biography
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Mauro Refosco, is a Brazilian percussionist. He is best known for his work with singer David Byrne and the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He was a member of the experimental supergroup Atoms for Peace – featuring Thom Yorke and Flea – and the forró band Forro in the Dark. Refosco was also briefly a member of Dirty Projectors.
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Aaron Parks
- Occupations
- pianistjazz musician
- Biography
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Aaron Parks is an American jazz pianist.
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Susan Graham
- Occupations
- pianistmusic educatoropera singer
- Biography
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Susan Graham is an American mezzo-soprano.
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Ron Miles
- Occupations
- trumpeterrecording artistmusician
- Biography
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Ronald Glen Miles was an American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, and composer. He recorded for the labels Prolific (1986), Capri (1990), and Gramavision. His final album, Old Main Chapel, his second on the Blue Note label, was released posthumously in 2024.
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Art Tripp
- Occupations
- percussionistdrummermusician
- Biography
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Arthur Dyer Tripp III is an American retired musician who is best known for his work as a percussionist with the original version of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention during the 1960s and Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band during the 1970s. Thereafter, Tripp retired from music. He attended an accredited chiropractic college in Los Angeles from 1980 through 1983, graduating with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree and later practising in Gulfport, Mississippi.
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Edward Downes
- Occupations
- conductoroboist
- Biography
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Sir Edward Thomas "Ted" Downes, CBE was an English conductor, specialising in opera.
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Dolora Zajick
- Occupations
- opera singermusician
- Biography
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Dolora Zajick is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who specializes in the Verdian repertoire. Zajick has been described as having "one of the greatest voices in the history of opera".
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Kenny Werner
- Occupations
- composerjazz pianistpianistmusic educator
- Biography
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Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.
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Christian Sands
- Occupations
- pianistjazz pianistcomposer
- Biography
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Christian Sylvester Sands is an American jazz pianist and composer. His third album for Mack Avenue Records, Be Water, was released in 2020 and received a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Instrumental Composition category for the song "Be Water II".
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Larry Willis
- Occupations
- pianistjazz musicianmusician
- Biography
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Lawrence Elliott Willis was an American jazz pianist and composer. He performed in a wide range of styles, including jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop, and avant-garde.
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Hyung-ki Joo
- Years
- 1973-.. (age 53)
- Occupations
- composerpianist
- Biography
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Hyung-ki Joo is a British-Korean pianist, composer, comedian and one half of the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo. Billy Joel chose Joo to arrange and record his classical piano pieces for the album Fantasies & Delusions. It was recorded in the Mozart Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus.
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Adolphus Hailstork
- Enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music
- In 1966 graduated with Bachelor of Music in music composing
- Occupations
- university teachermusic educatorcomposer
- Biography
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Adolphus Cunningham Hailstork III is an American composer and educator. He was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in Albany, New York, where he studied violin, piano, organ, and voice. He currently resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
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Sullivan Fortner
- Occupations
- pianistjazz musician
- Biography
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Sullivan Joseph Fortner is an American jazz pianist. He was the regular pianist in trumpeter Roy Hargrove's band from 2010 to 2017, and has released two albums on Impulse! Records. He has received three Grammy Awards, including Best Jazz Performance for his collaboration with Samara Joy on the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Me".
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Eric Lewis
- Occupations
- pianistjazz musician
- Biography
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Eric Robert Lewis, popularly known as ELEW, is an American jazz pianist who has found cross-over success playing rock and pop music. He is known for his unconventional and physical playing style, which eschews a piano bench and includes reaching inside the piano lid to pull at the strings directly, as well as the creation that he calls "Rockjazz", a genre that "takes the improvisational aspect of jazz and 'threads it through the eye of the needle of rock.'"
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Simon Shaheen
- Occupations
- violinistcomposeroud player
- Biography
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Simon Shaheen is an American oud and violin player, and composer.
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Linda May Han Oh
- Occupations
- composerjazz bassistjazz musiciandouble-bassist
- Biography
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Linda May Han Oh is an Australian jazz bassist and composer. She is currently Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music and is also part of the Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice.
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Miguel Zenón
- Occupations
- flautistsaxophonistjazz musicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Miguel Zenón is a Puerto Rican alto saxophonist, composer, band leader, music producer, and educator. He is a Grammy Award winner, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Doris Duke Artist Award. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree in the Arts from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Zenón has released many albums as a band leader and appeared on over 100 recordings as a sideman.
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Stefon Harris
- Occupations
- jazz musician
- Biography
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Stefon DeLeon Harris is an American jazz vibraphonist.
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Catherine Malfitano
- Occupations
- opera singercreatorperforming artistmusic educatormusician
- Biography
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Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the High School of Music and Art and studied at the Frank Corsaro Studio and Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1971. She often mentions that she was rejected from The Juilliard School.
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Tobias Picker
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
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Tobias Picker is an American composer, pianist, and conductor, noted for his orchestral works Old and Lost Rivers, Keys To The City, and The Encantadas, as well as his operas Emmeline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, An American Tragedy and Lili Elbe, among many other works.
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Ben Lanzarone
- Occupations
- composerpianist
- Biography
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Benjamin Anthony Lanzarone was an American composer, arranger and music director. He was best known for composing incidental soundtrack music for television shows, including episodes of Dynasty, Happy Days and The Tracey Ullman Show.
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Herbert Deutsch
- Occupations
- composerinventoruniversity teachermusician
- Biography
-
Herbert Arnold "Herb" Deutsch was an American composer, inventor, and educator. Until his death in 2022, he was professor emeritus of electronic music and composition at Hofstra University. He was best known for co-inventing the Moog synthesizer with Bob Moog in 1964.
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Carol Williams
- Occupations
- organist
- Biography
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Carol Anne Williams D.M.A., ARAM, FRCO, FTCL, ARCM is a British-born international concert organist and composer, residing in America. She served from October 2001 and resigned her post in October 2016 as Civic Organist for the city of San Diego, California, performing regularly at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. She was formerly the Artist in Residence at St. Paul's Cathedral San Diego.
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John Bernard Riley
- Occupations
- musiciandrummerjazz musicianmusic educatorpercussionist
- Biography
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John Bernard Riley is an American jazz drummer and educator. He has performed with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, Franck Amsallem, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci, and Bob Berg.
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Lauren Jelencovich
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- opera singer
- Biography
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Lauren Jelencovich is an American singer.
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Mitchel Forman
- Occupations
- pianistcomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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Mitchel Forman is an American jazz and fusion keyboard player.
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Max Neuhaus
- Occupations
- sound artistcomposerpercussionistvideo artistvisual artist
- Biography
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Max Neuhaus was an American musician, sound artist, and noted interpreter of contemporary and experimental percussion music in the 1960s. He created dozens of permanent and short-term sound installations during his career, which spanned four decades.
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Ryan Kisor
- Occupations
- jazz musician
- Biography
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Ryan Kisor is an American jazz trumpeter.
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Simon O'Neill
- Occupations
- opera singer
- Biography
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Simon O'Neill ONZM is a New Zealand operatic tenor internationally recognised for his performances of the major Heldentenor roles in the operas of Richard Wagner.
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Antal Zalai
- Enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music
- Studied in 2001-2002
- Occupations
- violinist
- Biography
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Antal Zalai is a Hungarian concert violinist.
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Joe Wilder
- Occupations
- composerjazz musician
- Biography
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Joseph Benjamin Wilder was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.
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Franck Amsallem
- Occupations
- pianistjazz musician
- Biography
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Franck Amsallem is a French-American jazz pianist, arranger, composer, singer and educator. He was born in 1961 in Oran, French Algeria, but grew up in Nice, France.
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Edward W. Hardy
- Occupations
- instrumentalistviolinistmusical theatre composermusic directorclassical composer
- Biography
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Edward W. Hardy is an American composer, music director, violinist and violist. He is known as the composer, co-conceiver, music director, and violinist of the Off-Broadway show The Woodsman and is the owner of The Black Violin.
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Anne-Marie McDermott
- Occupations
- pianist
- Biography
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Anne-Marie McDermott is an American classical pianist and member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She is also the artistic director of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in Key Largo, Florida, and the Avila Chamber Music Celebration in Curaçao.
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Astrith Baltsan
- Occupations
- pianistmusicologistlecturer
- Biography
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Astrith Baltsan,is a concert pianist, winner of Israel Emmy Award 2025 and Israel Culture Prize for lifetime achievement in music 2024, known for her Beethoven interpretations and her concert style, mediating classical music to large audiences. Her concerts, some in collaboration with leading Israeli orchestras, were described as a "revolutionary multisciplinary approach to presenting classical music". She is also known for her research on Israel national anthem – Hatikva.
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Luis Bonilla
- Occupations
- jazz musician
- Biography
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Luis Diego Bonilla is an American jazz trombonist of Costa Rican descent. He is also a producer, composer, and educator.
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Tineke Postma
- Occupations
- composerjazz saxophonist
- Biography
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Tineke Postma is a Dutch jazz saxophonist and composer.
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The Potash Twins
- Occupations
- musician
- Biography
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Adeev and Ezra Potash professionally known as The Potash Twins are American identical twin musicians and television personalities from Omaha, Nebraska. The twins have hosted several TV shows on Food Network, Bravo TV and Travel Channel.. They have performed with John Legend, Jonas Brothers, Diplo, Snoop Dogg, Lil Baby, Jon Batiste, Robert Glasper, Major Lazer and Wynton Marsalis. In 2025, the twins were named Nebraska’s first Composer Laureates by Governor Jim Pillen.
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Koh Gabriel Kameda
- Occupations
- violinistwritermusician
- Biography
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Koh Gabriel Kameda is a German and Japanese concert violinist and violin teacher.
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David Ludwig
- Years
- 1974-.. (age 52)
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
-
David Serkin Ludwig is an American composer, teacher, and Dean of Music at The Juilliard School. His uncle was pianist Peter Serkin, his grandfather was the pianist Rudolf Serkin, and his great-grandfather was the violinist Adolf Busch. He holds positions and residencies with nearly two dozen orchestras and music festivals in the US and abroad. His choral work, The New Colossus, was performed at the 2013 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
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Katherine Hoover
- Occupations
- composerconductormusic educatorflautist
- Biography
-
Katherine Hoover was an American composer of contemporary classical music and chamber music, flutist, composition and theory educator, poet, and conductor. Her career as a composer began in the 1970s, when few women composers earned recognition in classical music. She composed pieces for solo flute, mixed ensembles, chamber orchestra, choir, full orchestra, and many other combinations of instruments and voice. Two works of hers were co-written under the pseudonym Kathryn Scott. Some of her flute pieces incorporate Native American themes.
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Ross Mintzer
- Occupations
- singerguitaristsongwritersaxophonistjazz musician
- Biography
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Ross Philip Mintzer is an American musician, singer‑songwriter, and bandleader. Since 2012, he has been the lead vocalist and frontman of the Ross Mintzer Band. In June 2005, he appeared as a performer on National Public Radio's From the Top. In 2011, he started a girls' choir in Karachi, Pakistan and has been recognized by the National Association for Music Education.
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Oliver Schnyder
- Occupations
- pianistmusician
- Biography
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Oliver Schnyder is a Swiss classical pianist.
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Jeremy Davenport
- Occupations
- jazz musician
- Biography
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Jeremy Davenport is an American jazz trumpeter and singer based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Sam Most
- Occupations
- clarinetistsaxophonistflautistcomposerjazz musician
- Biography
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Samuel Most was an American jazz flutist, clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, based in Los Angeles. He was "probably the first great jazz flutist", according to jazz historian Leonard Feather.
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Alex Shapiro
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
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Alex Shapiro is an American composer and creator advocate. Her acoustic and electroacoustic music concert works are characterized by their genre eclecticism incorporating influences including minimalism, 12-tone serialism, pop, jazz, electronic dance music, and cinematically inspired sound worlds.
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Wang Jie
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
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Wang Jie is a Chinese-born American composer.
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Jaleel Shaw
- Occupations
- saxophonistmusician
- Biography
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Jaleel Shaw is an American jazz alto saxophonist.
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Salvatore Di Vittorio
- Occupations
- composerconductor
- Biography
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Salvatore Di Vittorio is an Italian composer and conductor. He is the music director and conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of New York.
