Which Composers Were Influenced by Jazz?

by Emily E. Hogstad  

Jazz, a catch-all term for a musical style that began to emerge from Black communities in the American South during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, revolutionized the international musical landscape around the turn of the century and beyond.

Jazz popularized musical ideas that would prove popular across multiple musical genres, including

• Syncopation (“the practice of displacing the beats or accents in music or a rhythm so that strong beats become weak and vice versa”)
• Swing (“to play music with an easy flowing but vigorous rhythm”)
• Blue notes (“a minor interval where a major would be expected”)
• Polyrhythm (“a rhythm which makes use of two or more different rhythms simultaneously”)

(All of those definitions come from Oxford Languages.)

© omniamericanfuture.org

Those four features are only scratching the surface of the traits that jazz provided to so-called “classical” composers, who, after the chaos of World War I, were looking for new musical languages to be inspired by.

Many of these composers drew profound inspiration from jazz and the blues, integrating elements of these genres into their own compositions.

Today, we’re looking at some prominent composers who incorporated jazzy influences into their works.

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel in 1925

Maurice Ravel was a French composer celebrated for his precise compositional technique and innovative orchestrations. He was fascinated by jazz.

His Violin Sonata, which he wrote between 1923 and 1927, has an entire middle movement called “Blues.”

Ravel’s contemporary, African-American composer and bandleader W. C. Handy, nicknamed The Father of the Blues, performed in Paris in the mid-1920s.

Ravel and his violinist friend Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, who was the dedicatee of this sonata, heard Handy and became inspired by his musical language. 

Jazz continued to inspire Ravel, especially after he made a concert tour of America in 1928 and had the chance to hear more of it.

His 1931 Piano Concerto in G-major takes features of jazz, like syncopated rhythms and blue notes, and integrated them into the traditional concerto structure. The result was fresh, touching, and immediately engaging. 

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud (born in 1890) was another significant French composer who was influenced by jazz.

He heard his first jazz band – Billy Arnold’s Novelty Jazz Band – in London in 1920. He later wrote about them:

“Their constant use of syncopation in the melody was done with such contrapuntal freedom as to create the impression of an almost chaotic improvisation, whereas in fact, it was something remarkably precise.”

Later, in 1922, Milhaud took a trip to the United States and heard American jazz firsthand there.

Milhaud took these ideas and ran with them, composing his ballet La création du monde (The Creation of the World) between 1922 and 1923.

It merged an orchestral chamber ensemble and a jazz band into a six-part ballet lasting around eighteen minutes, utilizing saxophones, trumpets, and a rhythm section. 

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky, who left Russia for other continental European cities after the Russian Revolution, also drew inspiration from jazz.

He began in the mid-1910s with his “Ragtime for 11 instruments” and continued exploring jazz influences for decades to come.

His “Ebony Concerto” from 1945 is a quintessential example of his jazz-influenced work. It was commissioned by clarinettist and big band leader Woody Herman, who led the First Herd band.

The band wasn’t used to playing music in Stravinsky’s style. Herman remembered later:

“After the very first rehearsal, at which we were all so embarrassed we were nearly crying because nobody could read, he walked over and put his arm around me and said, ‘Ah, what a beautiful family you have.’”

They all soldiered on. Saxophonist Flip Philips remembered:

“During the rehearsal…there was a passage I had to play there and I was playing it soft, and Stravinsky said ‘Play it, here I am!’ and I blew it louder and he threw me a kiss!”

This concerto took elements of classical form (the piece can be classified as a modern tongue-in-cheek interpretation of a Baroque concerto grosso) and combined those elements with jazz idioms, employing syncopated rhythms and swing.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin is one of the composers who, being American and a popular songwriter, was most comfortable with weaving jazz into his “classical” compositions.

His “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924) for piano and orchestra is a landmark piece that blends the two genres.

The work’s famous opening clarinet glissando, lush harmonies, and rhythmic vitality are unmistakably inspired by the work of the era’s jazz bands.

Meanwhile, the use of the word Rhapsody (a type of free-flowing piece written by classical giants like Liszt, Dvořák, and Brahms), along with the concerto-like technical virtuosity required to play the solo part, paid tribute to influences from the “classical” world.

Gershwin’s ability to synthesise the improvisational spirit of jazz with classical structures turned him into one of the most successful jazz-inspired classical composers in the modern canon.

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland, 1946

Like Gershwin, Aaron Copland was American and incorporated jazz elements into many of his most popular works.

Copland’s “Music for the Theatre” (1925) and Piano Concerto are packed with jazz vibes.

In 1964, New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein programmed during one of his famous televised New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, and had Copland join him onstage to perform the solo part.

It was a reunion of sorts. Years before this performance, conductor and soloist had briefly been lovers, and their long-standing friendship and chemistry are certainly obvious in their joint advocacy of this 1926 concerto! 

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Which brings us to Leonard Bernstein, a conductor, composer, and pianist who was deeply influenced by jazz.

His 1957 musical West Side Story employs jazzy rhythms and harmonies, particularly in songs like “Cool” and “Jet Song.”

His “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” (written in 1949 for The Herd bandleader Woody Herman, the commissioner of Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto”) is another notable example, composed for a jazz ensemble and incorporating elements of swing and blues. (Unfortunately, Herman never got a chance to perform it, as The Herd disbanded in 1946.)eonard Bernstein was an enthusiastic believer in the universality of music. His fascination with bridging gaps between styles and genres in his compositions (and indeed, over the course of his career) provides a fascinating lens with which to view this music – and the broader history of the intersection of “jazz” and “classical music.”

William Grant Still

William Grant Still

Of course, the elephant in the room here is that jazz is a genre pioneered by Black Americans, and yet the most famous composers of jazz- or blues-inspired classical music are all white.

For many decades, as evidenced by just one glance at the whiteness of the established canon, Black composers have had trouble having their work taken as seriously as white composers.

This changed somewhat after 2020, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Time will tell if organizations are serious about championing incredible works that have been sidelined because of the race of their composers.

One Black composer who incorporated jazz elements into his classical compositions was William Grant Still, who was born in 1895.

His brilliant “Afro-American Symphony” from 1930 draws especially heavily on the musical language of the blues. 

Conclusion

Composers like Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and William Grant Still were all inspired by rhythms, harmonies, and improvisational spirit of jazz and the blues. And these are only the most famous of hundreds of composers who, in some way or another, weaved jazz into their music.

Their works stand as testaments to the magic that can happen when the unnecessary boundaries between classical and popular music melt away, creating exciting new varieties of music.

Bernstein: West Side Story - 'Maria' - BBC Proms

1,321,852 views Sep 12, 2015 #bbc

Subscribe and 🔔 to the BBC 👉 https://bit.ly/BBCYouTubeSub Watch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/iPlayer-Home Sung by Julian Ovenden with the John Wilson Orchestra under John Wilson.

Chevalier: 13 Facts About Composer Joseph Bologne That Inspired the New Movie

 Chevalier: 13 Facts About Composer Joseph Bologne That Inspired the New Movie

by Emily E. Hogstad  April 21st, 2023

Classical music movies are having a moment. Last year, Cate Blanchett played a renowned conductor in Tár, and Bradley Cooper is set to portray Leonard Bernstein in 2023’s Maestro. But the next big classical music movie due to hit our screens is Chevalier, about the life of violinist and composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges .

Here are thirteen facts about him to whet your appetite for the movie.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

1. Joseph Bologne was born in 1745 in Guadeloupe to a wealthy planter named Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges and his sixteen-year-old slave Nanon. But they didn’t stay in the Caribbean for long: at the age of seven, Bologne was taken to France to be educated. Two years later, his parents sailed together to Paris to join him.

2. He was ridiculously multi-talented. Not only was he trained as a fencer and overall sportsman, but he was also an accomplished violinist, composer, and conductor. 

3. At the age of 13, he began studying with fencing master Nicolas Texier de la Boëssière, one of the men instrumental in the development of modern fencing. A rival fencing master named Picard once insulted a young Bologne, derisively referring to him as “Boëssière’s mulatto.” After the insult, Picard and Bologne played a famous match. Whether Bologne wanted it to or not, that match was rife with symbolism about race, and pro-slavery and pro-abolitionists wagered over the outcome. The winner? Bologne! His father was so pleased, he bought his son a horse and carriage: one of the ultimate status symbols in eighteenth-century France.

4. He wasn’t just a great fencer; he was a great athlete, period. He was a fabulous runner, boxer, shot, swimmer, dancer, and even skater…and he excelled at all of those disciplines while also becoming one of the best musicians in Paris!

5. When he graduated from the Royal Polytechnique Academy in 1766, Bologne was made both a gendarme and a chevalier, resulting in his new name and title: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. 

6. Because of French law and custom at the time that forbid mixed-race marriages, it was high-nigh impossible for Bologne to ever marry anyone, especially from his aristocratic social circle. However, that didn’t stop wealthy French women from falling in love with him. His most intense relationship was with married actress Marie-Josephine de Montalembert. She bore him a son, but tragically, her husband sent the baby away after its birth, leading Bologne to lose both his lover and his child in one blow. In 1779 Bologne was assaulted in the street, and gossip theorized that the gang was paid off by the jealous husband.

7. We don’t know who taught Bologne how to play violin, but we know he was an extraordinary player. In 1769 he joined the orchestra of the Concert des Amateurs, Gossec’s orchestra. In 1772 he performed two of his own violin concertos, and in 1773 he became the orchestra’s concertmaster and conductor. Audiences raved about his leadership.

8. After the Concert des Amateurs had to be dissolved due to lack of money, it regrouped. This reconstituted ensemble was known as the Concert de la Loge Olympique. Perhaps its most famous contribution to music history is that it commissioned Joseph Haydn’s famous Paris Symphonies. Apparently, Bologne traveled to Austria to meet with Haydn before premiering the set of six symphonies back in Paris, to great acclaim.

9. Due to his work with the Concert des Amateurs and Concert de la Loge Olympique, Bologne was considered to be a natural candidate to take over the Paris Opéra. However, several singers presented a petition to Queen Marie-Antoinette, stating they could not “submit to the orders of a mulatto.” Bologne was a favorite of the queen, and although Bologne was ultimately not named to be the leader of the Paris Opéra, he was invited to her private musicales. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

10. During the summer of 1788, Bologne was living in quarters provided by the Duc d’Orléans’s wife, who had hired him to conduct in her private theater. The Duc’s personal secretary also lived in the mansion, and that summer the secretary welcomed a guest of his own: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! So for a few months, the two great musicians lived at the same address.

11. During the French Revolution, Boulogne volunteered to join the National Guard. In September 1792, a corps of one thousand “colored” soldiers was formed. That corps eventually earned the nickname of the “Légion St-Georges” after their celebrated leader. During the confusion and paranoia of the Reign of Terror, Boulogne was imprisoned for a year and a half, and somehow he – unlike many of his friends and patrons – managed to escape execution.

12. Late in his life, he traveled to Saint-Domingue, now present-day Haiti, to take part in the revolution there. He stayed for such a long time that some of his friends gave him up for dead, but he eventually returned to Paris, horrified at the brutality of the conflict.

13. He suffered from poor health in the late 1790s and died – with no one near but a few faithful friends – in 1799 of gangrene.

So now that you know more about Joseph Bologne’s extraordinary life and accomplishments, take a look at the trailer and see how they might be dramatized for the big screen! Chevalier is scheduled to be released in theaters in April 2023.

When Latin Meets Classical

The Latin Music Elements in Classical Music

What is often called Latin music consists of music made in South America, from the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico to Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and the broader continent.

© bbc.co.uk

These music — as they are all unique and different depending on the place of origin, and reducing it to one style only would be too limiting — represent a fascination for the European world. Indeed, they are often much more rhythm centered than the former, and while very complex, somehow natural and organic. Additionally, they display a treatment of harmony and melody that is quite different from the one in the old continent, at times simpler but with hidden qualities. Latin music also represents a way of thinking that is different from the one in traditional European music — more on this below — and therefore which allows — for one who wishes to take inspiration from these — for creative stunts and a door to musical explorations. Furthermore, while music from South America and Western Europe might rightfully appear as being very different — particularly with the fact that most of the former are popular in its essence, while the latter is considered academic —, history has proven that they tend to work beautifully together when they meet.

© madison365.com

One interesting element to point out with their association, as a matter of fact, is that while most Western classical music avoids putting emphasis on strong percussive instruments, Latin music does very much so! And this particular reverse in the rhythmical balance is what creates such an interesting orchestral sound. It is also what makes Latin music so attractive to listeners; as it brings the focal point back to some of its original purposes; dance. Indeed, while in Europe and through baroque music, for instance, the focus had been on rhythm, and many of its musical mediums were based on dances, it all progressively faded away as the genres developed and a form of intellectualism, both from the composers and the listeners, took over. Latin music still keeps this dance element as central. In fact, it is well-known that all music is made of a pulse; a heartbeat. In the Western world, this is often represented by a crotchet — or quarter note. In Latin music, it is represented by a rhythmic cell, rather than a single entity, the most famous of it being the clave; instead of one single unit, it is the association of rhythms which constitutes the basis of music. 

Latin music is a blend of South American traditional music and colonialism influence. If most of it is the result of traditional folk music evolving, it would not have taken the shape it has today if it was not for the influence of Western Europe’s instruments, such as the guitar for instance, imported from Spanish settlers. There are of course many South American composers, who not only have explored their native folk traditions, but have also included instruments often left out of the orchestra — the guitar, once again, takes a much more important role than on the other side of the Atlantic. Brower, Powell, Villa-Lobos, Rodrigo are some of the most famous names, and more recently Golijov and Guarnieri have stood out. Then there are the musicians and composers inspired by Latin music, through their travels and discoveries. The influence that the music has had on European and North American classical music though, is immense; from Varèse and his “Ionisation”, Reich — throughout his entire body of work, Gershwin and his “Cuban Overture”, Bernstein with West Side Story to Copland’s El Salon Mexico, or Milhaud’s “Le Bœuf sur le toit”.

This Latin influence has been so important — in Western European culture in general too —, that nowadays we barely notice that it is here; yet it is. Through jazz and popular music — genres in which the influence has been even greater, with bossa nova, reggae, funk, and soul music amongst others. Let’s not forget indeed, that in many instances, Latin music has entered the realms of Western classical music through the door of jazz; and it is thanks to Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, Charlie Haden, Sergio Mendes, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Gil Evans, Paul Desmond and many others that European composers such as Leonard Bernstein discovered the intricate rhythms of latin music, and a fresh approach to harmony, melody, and rhythm!

The 30 greatest classical music artists performing today

 

Maxim Vengerov, Lise Davidsen, Yo-Yo Ma: among today’s leading classical artists. Picture: Getty/Alamy

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM

 

As Classic FM turns 30, we look at some of today’s most celebrated classical artists – one for every year since Handel’s Zadok The Priest heralded our day one.

In 2022, classical music – an artform now over a millennium old, depending on your definition of the small ‘c’ – continues to sell out some of the world’s most impressive concert halls, attract billions of video views across the Internet, and capture imaginations young and old.

And a large part of its success, is owed to the artists who bring the music to life.

To mark 30 years of Classic FM, we’ve selected 30 of the greatest classical musicians who are performing and recording today. We pay tribute to their musicianship, their star appeal, critical acclaim, and the broader impact they’ve had on music, the arts, and education worldwide.

In alphabetical order, here is our top 30...

1. Marin Alsop – conductor

   American conductor Marin Alsop has been a crucial figure in progressing classical music over the past century. With a string of ‘firsts’ to her name, her historic move to the helm of the Baltimore Symphony in 2007 made her the first woman appointed director of a major US orchestra. Today, she is chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Emeritus of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and a staunch campaigner for music and arts education.

2. Martha Argerich – pianist

   Arguably the best living pianist, Martha Argerich is revered for her interpretations of 19th and 20th-century piano music. With Deutsche Grammophon the Argentine musician has recorded the solo works of Bach and Liszt, and concertos of Chopin and Prokofiev, and continues to perform today with concert dates coming up in Europe and the Middle East. In recent years she has devoted much of her time to supporting young musicians.

3. Alison Balsom – trumpeter

   Forward-looking, genre-crossing, with a refreshingly personable style – English trumpeter Alison Balsom is one of 2022’s classical superstars. Her latest album Quiet City, a celebration of modern American music in contrast to her 2019 celebration of the era of the natural trumpet, is No.1 in the UK’s Classical Artist Album Chart as of September 2022.

4. Daniel Barenboim – pianist

   Hailed by Opera Now as “one of the most versatile cultural figures of our time”, Argentine-born pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is among today’s most in-demand performers on the concert stage. Currently general music director of the Berlin State Opera and Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim also founded the ground-breaking West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which aims to promote mutual understanding between Israeli and Palestinian musicians. He remains a committed chamber musician, performing regularly with friends Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yo-Yo Ma.

5. Joshua Bell – violinist

   Raised in Indiana, American violinist Joshua Bell has been music director of one of Britain’s foremost classical ensembles, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, since 2011. As a soloist he has recorded the great violin repertoire, and can also be heard on the soundtracks of blockbuster films including Hans Zimmer’s Angels and Demons. Ever curious about the future of music, Bell has experimented with virtual experiences, and famously conducted a social experiment on the subway in 2007. 

6. Nicola Benedetti – violinist

   Winner of a Grammy Award in 2020 for her recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto, Scottish-Italian violinist Nicola Benedetti is an unstoppable force for good. Her Benedetti Foundation is changing the landscape of music education for children in Scotland and beyond, providing learning opportunities not only to young players but to music educators, too. One of today’s most thrilling and engaging musicians, she was also announced as the first woman director of the Edinburgh International Festival.

7. Khatia Buniatishvili – pianist

   French-Georgian concert pianist Khatia Buniatishvili has established herself as one of today’s foremost solo artists. Her playing comes with show-stopping style and striking sensitivity, with a focus on the big Romantics – Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky. She has dipped her toe in pop music, playing for Coldplay on their album A Head Full of Dreams, and is a social rights ambassador, playing at concerts to speak out against human rights violations, and championing equality for women and girls.

8. Gautier Capuçon – cellist

   Celebrated for his masterful tone on the instrument, Gautier Capuçon is a star French cellist and talent of today. He is the founder and leader of the Classe d’Excellence de Violoncelle at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and ambassador for the Orchestre à l’École Association, which brings classical music to more than 40,000 school children in France.

9. Lise Davidsen – soprano

   Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen is going from strength to strength, raising bars and excitement levels across Europe’s major opera houses and concert halls. Having made her debut recording of Wagner and Strauss arias as recently as 2019, Davidsen has since performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the UK’s Royal Opera House, whose music director Antonio Pappano proclaimed, after her performance in Fidelio, that she has “a one-in-a-million voice… when she opened her mouth, we were all stunned. The voice has a light in it.”  

10. Joyce DiDonato – mezzo soprano

    With a beguiling command of the stage and a voice described by The Times as “nothing less than 24-carat gold”, American mezzo Joyce DiDonato is one of today’s most celebrated opera singers. The multi–Grammy Award winner is famed for her interpretations of Handel, Mozart and Rossini, and has had residencies at Carnegie Hall and the Barbican Centre. Famously, after breaking her leg on the opening night of The Barber of Seville at Covent Garden, Joyce completed the series of performances in a wheelchair, much to the delight of the public. 

11. Gustavo Dudamel – conductor

    The Venezuelan maestro’s impact is felt in three continents, his roles taking him from the helm of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, to the LA Philharmonic and the Paris Opera. In 2017 he became the youngest conductor in history to lead the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day Concert, and in 2019 he conducted the soundtrack recording for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. And we’d be remiss to mention perhaps his best-loved moment – conducting penguins on Sesame Street and bringing classical music to American children, many for the first time.

12. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – conductor

    Lithuanian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla has electrified audiences in her role at the helm of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, after taking the baton from Sir Simon Rattle. Gražinytė-Tyla signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2019, and became the first female conductor ever to do so.

13. Angela Gheorghiu – soprano

    Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu is famed for her stunning interpretations of Puccini and Verdi, and her extraordinary range. At one rehearsal of her highly acclaimed 1994 La Traviata at the Royal Opera House, Sir Georg Solti said: “I was in tears. I had to go out. The girl is wonderful. She can do everything.” In the 2020s, over 25 years since she created a storm on the Covent Garden stage, she’s still wowing audiences and critics alike. A great diva of our time, who we’re proud to share a birthday with!

14. Benjamin Grosvenor – pianist

    British classical pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is one of the finest in the country today, celebrated for his understated brilliance. In 2011 he signed to Decca Classics, becoming the youngest British musician ever to sign to the label and the first British pianist to sign to the label in almost 60 years. When his 2020 album of Chopin Piano Concertos won a Diapason d’Or de L’année award, the critic said the recording is “a version to rank among the best, and confirmation of an extraordinary artist”.

15. Hilary Hahn – violinist

    A fan favourite wherever she goes, Hahn is one of the 21st century’s most forward-thinking classical artists, putting her audiences first and famously holding signings after pretty much every concert. A three-time Grammy Award winner and named “America’s Best Young Classical Musician” by Time magazine, Hahn plays exquisite Bach and Sibelius, but is also an advocate for new music, and regularly commissions works by diverse contemporary composers.

16. Barbara Hannigan – conductor, soprano

    Some conduct and play – Barbara Hannigan conducts and sings, with panache. The Canadian conductor-singer is the LSO’s first ever associate artist, and a firm supporter of new music and contemporary opera. Performing across Europe with the Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony and Munich Philharmonic, Hannigan creates excitement and inspires awe in audiences wherever she goes, and has also established brilliant mentoring initiatives and programmes for young artists.

17. Lucie Horsch – recorder

    Putting the recorder on the map, 22-year-old Dutch rising star Lucie Horsch is in high demand as a solo artist, while also playing in baroque ensembles, symphony orchestras and in recitals. In 2022, Horsch is reframing the narrative around the humble recorder. She told Canada’s Classic 107: “The good thing is a lot of people know the instrument... but the bad side is that usually it’s a bad memory, because a lot of people were forced to play it in school. Luckily, I never was. I really chose the instrument because I thought that this is something I can do for myself.”

18. Isata Kanneh-Mason – pianist

    The eldest of seven extraordinary, musically talented siblings, including her brother Sheku with whom she recorded duet album Muse in 2022, Isata Kanneh-Mason is a brilliant pianist whose recording career has seen her champion the works of Clara Schumann, alongside more widely known 19th and 20th-century repertoire. One of today’s most in-demand young classical solo artists in the UK, she is also the recipient of the 2021 Leonard Bernstein Award.

19. Sheku Kanneh-Mason – cellist

    Sheku shot to fame after he performed solo to an audience of two billion at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in St George’s Chapel Windsor. Two years later, it was reported that more young people were taking up the cello than ever, thanks to ‘the Sheku effect’. Inspired to take up cello by Jacqueline du Pré’s monumental recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Sheku’s 2020 album Elgar made him the first cellist in history to land a place in the official UK album chart Top 10, in a groundbreaking moment for classical and pop music.

20. Jonas Kaufmann – tenor

    German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has recorded the big Italian opera roles, playing Cavaradossi in Tosca to great acclaim, but his versatility makes him just as comfortable performing in Wagner’s Die Walküre or singing German lieder. Kaufmann is outspoken on the importance of the arts in our society. In June 2020, he told the FT: “What is Germany, other than language, culture, art, architecture, music and…  well, also football? This is the essence of our society. If you destroy that, what is left?”

21. Lang Lang – pianist

    Chinese-born piano superstar Lang Lang might be classical music’s greatest showman. In 2008, an audience of four billion watched him play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, marking the beginning of the pianist’s power to reach the masses. A music education ambassador, his Lang Lang International Music Foundation brings music to children in schools across China and beyond.

22. Yo-Yo Ma – cellist

    18-time Grammy Award winner, Yo-Yo Ma is arguably the world’s most celebrated classical cellist and has recorded music from the beloved Bach Cello Suites to American bluegrass, to traditional Chinese melodies. Born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, he appeared as a boy in a televised concert with Leonard Bernstein. Today, Ma is a cultural icon and arts ambassador, known for bringing the healing power of music to world events, from the global pandemic, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and President Joe Biden’s inauguration. 

23. Klaus Mäkelä – conductor

    Aged only 26, thrilling young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä is already at the helm of two leading European orchestras, the Oslo Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris, is artistic director of the Turku Music Festival in Finland, and will take up a position at the Concertgebouw orchestra from next season, becoming chief conductor from 2027. The third conductor in history to be signed exclusively to Decca, Mäkelä’s recording debut this year was an ambitious cycle of Sibelius symphonies. A true star of the future of classical music.

24. Wayne Marshall – organist

    Organist Wayne Marshall heard Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue aged eight and was spellbound. “For me, your American music is just as important as any Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Brahms,” Marshall has said. The British pianist, organist and conductor is a celebrated interpreter of Gershwin and Bernstein, among other 20th-century American composers. As a conductor, he led the first concert of the Chineke! Orchestra, Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, in 2015.

25. Anne-Sophie Mutter – violinist

    A soloist and visionary, Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of the world’s leading violinists, famously supported in her early career by the great Herbert von Karajan. Mutter has had several works composed for her in recent years, including by the film music legend John Williams, who penned a special Violin Concerto and rewrote his Across the Stars album for the German virtuoso. In 2022 she joined forces with Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for a special recording of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra.

26. Emmanuel Pahud – flautist

    Swiss-French flautist Emmanuel Pahud is one of today’s busiest classical musicians and a staunch advocate for new music, performing around 160 concerts a year, many of them premieres of flute commissions he has made. Aged 22, Pahud famously became the youngest player in the Berlin Philharmonic, and when he signed with EMI Classics in 1996, he became the only flautist in the world to have a solo recording contract with a major record company.

27. Sir Simon Rattle – conductor

    A legendary conductor of our times, Sir Simon Rattle has been music director of the London Symphony Orchestra since 2015, famously conducting the orchestra three years earlier at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in a sketch with Rowan Atkinson. Sir Simon also led Berlin Philharmonic for 16 years, and had a long-standing relationship with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. 

28. One of the greatest classical pianists of the 20th century, Mitsuko Uchida is renowned for her peerless interpretations of Mozart and Schubert. The Japanese-born British musician was made a Dame in 2009 for her contributions to music. Aged 73, Uchida continues to record and perform, and is set to give several concerts throughout the US, Europe and Asia over the next six months, playing with major orchestras including the LSO and Berlin Philharmonic.

29. Maxim Vengerov – violinist

    Hugely popular with both younger and older audiences, Maxim Vengerov is often referred to as the greatest string player in the world today. The Russian-born Israeli violinist – who is Classic FM’s first solo artist in residence – is also internationally acclaimed as a conductor, and in 1997 became the first classical musician to be made an International Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF, taking his violin to Uganda, Thailand and Kosovo, and playing for young children. “Helping children in need and sharing classical music with young people is perhaps the greatest responsibility of my life,” Vengerov said. 

30. Yuja Wang – pianist

    One of today’s most popular pianists, Yuja Wang sells out the world’s concert halls with her virtuosic Mozart, Rachmaninov and Liszt. A formidable force at the piano, Wang has exquisite technique and dynamic control, her performances exhilarating from start to finish. Wang firmly believes in the excitement and spontaneity of live music-making telling the New York Times, “I firmly believe every program should have its own life, and be a representation of how I feel at the moment”.