A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instruments, such as the jazz quartet or the orchestra. Some music ensembles consist solely of singers, such as choirs and doo wop groups. In both popular music and classical music, there are ensembles in which both instrumentalists and singers perform, such as the rock band or the Baroque chamber group for basso continuo and one or more singers. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles. Some ensembles blend the sounds of a variety of instrument families, such as the orchestra, which uses a string section, brass instruments, woodwinds and percussion instruments, or the concert band, which uses brass, woodwinds and percussion.
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by the American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.
The Wagner tuba is an infrequently-used brass instrument that combines tonal elements of both the French horn and the trombone. Wagner tubas are also referred to as Wagner horns or Bayreuth tubas in English and as Bayreuth-Tuben or simply Tuben in German. The term Wagner tuba has been used in English since the 19th century and is standard today. Wagner's published scores usually refer to these instruments in the plural, Tuben, but sometimes in the singular, Tuba.
Sky were an English/Australian instrumental rock group that specialised in combining a variety of musical styles, most prominently rock, classical and jazz. The group's original and best-known line-up featured classical guitarist John Williams (Australian), bass player Herbie Flowers, electric guitarist Kevin Peek (Australian), drummer Tristan Fry and keyboard player Francis Monkman.
Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than the earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue. It was written in 1925 on a commission from the conductor and director Walter Damrosch. It is just over half an hour long.
The Hooked on Classicsseries was a collection of record albums first introduced in 1981, toward the end of the disco era's peak in popularity. The series was disliked by many classical music purists, not least because of the background beat produced by a Linn Drum, but had the positive effect of reviving interest in classical music among a new generation. Several volumes in the series were issued. However, interest and sales waned after the initial album. RCA Records issued the series on its Victor label, rather than the Red Seal label, in order to appeal to the wider pop-oriented audience.
Paul Seiko Chihara is an American composer.
Craig H. Russell is an American composer of classical music.
Classical music is art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western culture, including both liturgical (religious) and secular music. While a more precise term is also used to refer to the period from 1750 to 1820, this article is about the broad span of time from before the 6th century AD to the present day, which includes the Classical period and various other periods. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common-practice period.
Tolga Kashif is a British born musical conductor, composer, orchestrator, producer and arranger of Turkish Cypriot descent.
Carlos Bonell is an English Classical guitarist of Spanish origin. He has been described by Classical Guitar Magazine, UK as "one of the great communicators of the guitar world". He started to play at the age of five, learning to play Spanish folk music on the guitar from his father who was a keen amateur guitarist, while also studying the violin more formally at school. Carlos continued his studies at the Royal College of Music with John Williams, where upon completing his studies in 1972, he was appointed professor.
David Flynn is an Irish composer and musician with a number of major awards and commissions to his name. He is the founder and artistic director of the Irish Memory Orchestra. His recent music is noteworthy for merging the influence of traditional Irish music with contemporary classical music and jazz. He is also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who works across many genres including classical, jazz, rock and traditional Irish music. He performs regularly on guitar, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and vocals.
Loris Ohannes Chobanian is an American composer of classical music, conductor, and guitar and lute teacher and performer. He served as Professor of Composition as well as Composer-in-Residence at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory.
Michael Nicolella is an American classical guitarist and composer. Described as an iconoclast, he is known for his versatile, adventurous and eclectic approach to repertoire, including the incorporation of electric guitar into his concert programs and recordings. Nicolella's repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the present. His most recent recording is his own arrangement of the complete cello suites of Johann Sebastian Bach; while his past four recordings focused on contemporary music, including his own compositions, alongside those of Toru Takemitsu, Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze and Steve Reich. He has championed music by such emerging composers as Laurence Crane and Jacob ter Veldhuis and has premiered many works written for him by other composers, including: Joshua Kohl,, David Mesler, Christopher DeLaurenti and John Fitz Rogers, who in 2001 wrote the forty-five-minute piece Transit for Nicolella, scored for electric guitar and computer generated sound. His own compositions include works for solo guitar, chamber music with guitar, a classical guitar concerto, and an electric guitar concerto. His most recent major composition for soprano, guitar and orchestra, The Flame of the Blue Star of Twilight, was premiered by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and soprano Alexandra Picard in April 2012. He has performed and collaborated with a wide range of groups and artists including: violinist Gil Shaham, rock singer Jon Anderson, best known for his work as lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes, broadway legends Bernadette Peters and Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Seattle Guitar Trio, jazz singer Johnaye Kendrick, classical music comedians Igudesman and Joo and is a frequent guest with the Seattle Symphony. Nicolella is a graduate of Yale University, Berklee College of Music and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana. He is currently based in Seattle, where he serves on the music faculty of Cornish College of the Arts. He is married to the painter Ann Gale.
Wine Dark Sea is a large scale orchestral work composed by British composer/guitarist Stephen Caudel for full orchestra with classical and electric guitars supported by a rock section.
The Edel Rhapsody is a musical work written in 1993 by British composer Stephen Caudel. He was commissioned by the North Pennine Orchestra along with Northern Arts to create a new musical composition for the little-known 19th-century instrument the Wagner tuba.
Allan Zavod was an Australian pianist, composer, jazz musician and occasional conductor whose career was mainly in America.
Kerry Turner is an American composer and horn player. Turner is a recognized name in the horn and brass industry. Turner’s major ensembles with whom he performs include the American Horn Quartet, the Virtuoso Horn Duo, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Turner has performed internationally as a soloist and clinician. Turner also sings tenor in a semi-professional octet.
Spirit of the American Range is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar, released by Dutch record label Pentatone on February 10, 2015. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon in April 2013 and January 2014. It contains works by three American 20th-century composers: Walter Piston's ballet suite from The Incredible Flutist, George Antheil's "A Jazz Symphony", and Aaron Copland's Symphony No. 3. The recording was the third by the orchestra under Kalmar's leadership, following the highly successful Music for a Time of War (2011) and This England (2012). Spirit of the American Range received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Orchestral Performance, and its producer, Blanton Alspaugh, was nominated for Producer of the Year, Classical.
Stuart Greenbaum is an Australian composer and professor of music composition at the University of Melbourne. He is currently the Head of Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
