Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Eric Dolphy. Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize ensembles to pioneering the post-bop style on seminal recordings like Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and Mingus Ah Um (1959) and progressive big band experiments such as The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963).
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist. Born to Chinese parents in Paris, remaining there until age 7, then raised and educated in New York City. He was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from the Juilliard School and Harvard University, attended Columbia University, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world. He has recorded more than 92 albums and received 19 Grammy Awards.
Sharon Isbin is an American classical guitarist and the founding director of the guitar department at the Juilliard School.
Indigenous music of Canada encompasses a wide variety of musical genres created by Aboriginal Canadians. Before European settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by many First Nations, including the West Coast Salish and Haida, the centrally located Iroquois, Blackfoot and Huron, the Dene to the North, and the Innu and Mi'kmaq in the East and the Cree in the North. Each of the indigenous communities had their own unique musical traditions. Chanting – singing is widely popular and most use a variety of musical instruments.
Emily Pauline Johnson, also known by her Mohawk stage name Tekahionwake, was a Canadian poet, author, and performer who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her father was a hereditary Mohawk chief, and her mother was an English immigrant.
Joanne Lynn Shenandoah was a Native American singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based in the United States. She was a citizen of the Oneida Indian Nation, Wolf clan, based in New York. Her music combined traditional melodies with a blend of modern instrumentation, and her lyrics conveyed her interests in nature, women's lives and Iroquois culture.
William Alan Hawkshaw was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company in the 1950s to the 1970s, composing and recording many stock tracks that have been used extensively in film and TV.
Constance Mary Demby was an American musician, composer, painter, sculptor, and multimedia producer. Her music included new age, ambient, and space music styles. She is best known for her 1986 album Novus Magnificat and her two experimental musical instruments, the sonic steel space bass and the whale sail.
Gabriela Lena Frank is an American pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.
Timothy Archambault is an American architect, composer, and musician who plays Native American flute. He lives in Miami, Florida.
Laura Elise Schwendinger was the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin's Berlin Prize.
Tina Guo is a Chinese-born American cellist and erhuist from San Diego. Her international career as a cellist, electric cellist, erhuist, and composer is characterized by videos featuring theatrical backdrops and elaborate costumes, a range of genres, and an improvisatory style in film, television, and video game scores.
Maxine Neuman was an American cellist based in New York City.
Frances Elaine Keillor C.M. is a Canadian musicologist and pianist. She has been a professor of music at Carleton University since 1977, specializing in the music of Canadian composers and the music of North American indigenous groups.
Kristina Reiko Cooper is an American cellist. Although she first began her career as a classical artist, she has received critical acclaim for her diversity in music genres.
Jessie Montgomery is an American composer, chamber musician, and music educator. Her compositions focus on the vernacular, improvisation, language, and social justice.
Marlui Miranda is a Brazilian singer, musician, and researcher known for her performances of indigenous music from the Amazon. She has collaborated with Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil, Egberto Gismonti, Milton Nascimento, and Nana Vasconcelos.
Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk is an Inupiaq scholar of ethnomusicology and a musician. She is the daughter of Ronald Senungetuk and Turid Senungetuk and granddaughter of Helen and Willie Senungetuk, and her family roots originate from Wales (Kiŋigin), Alaska. Senungetuk spent her childhood in Fairbanks, where her father founded the Native Art Center and acted as head of the Department of Art at the University of Alaska.
