The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. From this point until their first break-up in 1986, Lynne, Bevan, and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
Procol Harum were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for their baroque and classical influence, Procol Harum's music is described as psychedelic rock and proto-prog with hints of the blues, R&B, and soul.
Salmonella Dub is a dub/drum n bass/reggae/roots band from New Zealand. The band was formed in 1992 by Andrew Penman, Dave Deakins, and Mark Tyler. The band has toured extensively throughout New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, including the UK and Ireland.
Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. Its name was inspired by the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. "To Mega Therion" is Greek for "The Great Beast" and was a title used by occultist Aleister Crowley. Originally a death metal band, Therion adjusted its musical style by adding orchestral elements, including choirs, classical musicians, and even a full orchestra at their concert performances. As a result, they are considered pioneers of the symphonic metal genre.
Rage is a German heavy metal band formed in 1984 by Peavy Wagner. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene which emerged in the early to mid-1980s, and have been referred to as one of the country's so-called "big four" of power metal, along with Grave Digger, Helloween and Running Wild.
Richard Reed Parry is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching between guitar, double bass, drums, celesta, keyboards, and accordion.
Christopher Scott Thile is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. From 2016 to its cancellation in 2020, he hosted the radio variety show Live from Here.
Lauri Porra is a Finnish bass guitarist and composer who has written scores for films and other media, as well as commissions from orchestras such as the Lahti Symphony and the Finnish Radio Symphony. He is also known for his work as the bass guitarist in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius. Porra is a fourth generation musician, and the great-grandson of famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
The Juan de la Cruz Band was a Filipino rock group formed in 1970, that pioneered what became known as Pinoy rock.
Wolf Hoffmann is a German musician, primarily known as the guitarist and last remaining original member of heavy metal band Accept since 1976. His work in Accept influenced the development of speed metal genre. He is also one of the first players of neoclassical metal.
Michael Mantler is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music.
Haydamaky is a Ukrainian folk rock band formed in 1991. The music of Haydamaky is inspired by various ethnic music from around the world, especially from various regions of Ukraine, such as Polesia, Bukovina, and Transcarpathia. Other influences include the Romanian folklore, punk music sound of Shane MacGowan and by the reggae of such bands like Burning Spear and Black Uhuru. The name refers to haidamakas, 18th century Ukrainian paramilitary and rebels.
Pohoda is an open-air summer music festival in Slovakia, first organized in 1997 in Trenčín. It is the biggest Slovak music event organized annually. The current venue is Trenčín Airport.
Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso, and jazz drummer Mikko Sirén. Originally a classical-style Metallica tribute band, the band eventually adopted a neoclassical metal style without the use of conventional guitars and bass. They have sold over four million albums to date.
Sylvie Bodorová is a Czech composer. During a career spanning from the late 1970s to the present day she has composed a large number of works for various instruments, both solo and orchestral pieces, and produced commissions for cities, festivals and organisations around the world. She was a founder member of the Czech classical group Quattro, formed in 1996.
Longital is a Slovak music group. They take their name from the old name for the Bratislava suburb, Dlhé diely, in which they live.
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.
Hjaltalín is an Icelandic indie rock band that has published four studio albums as of 2020. Their second record, Terminal, was chosen as the album of the year at the 2010 Icelandic Music Awards. They have also played throughout Europe, most notably at Roskilde and Latitude festivals (2009) and at Sziget Festival (2010).
SEVI is a Bulgarian rock band from Sofia. The current members are Svetlana "Sevi" Bliznakova, Alexander Kirilov, Rally Velinov and Pavlin Ivanov. The band describes their music genre as heart rock,[1] a name given to their style due to the emotional, heartfelt content and message of their songs.
Welicoruss is a Russian symphonic black metal music band from Novosibirsk, Russia, formed in 2005 by leader and main composer Alexey Boganov. Their lyrics are amongst the lines of Theosophy, Philosophy the Esoteric subjects and the Occult. The band is currently signed to El-Puerto Records, Germany. As of 2019, Welicoruss have released three studio albums: Wintermoon Symphony, Apeiron, Az Esm` and on March 27, 2020, they are planning to release their fourth album, Siberian Heathen Horde.
