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Galli-Curci, Amelita

(Encyclopedia)Galli-Curci, Amelita ämālēˈtä gälˈlē-ko͞orˈchē [key], 1889–1963, Italian coloratura soprano. She studied piano at the Milan Conservatory and meanwhile trained her own voice. From the time...

Jamal, Ahmad

(Encyclopedia)Jamal, Ahmad, 1930–, American jazz pianist, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. He started playing the piano at the age of three and became interested in jazz during the bop era. He began playing professionally at 1...

Khachaturian, Aram Ilich

(Encyclopedia)Khachaturian, Aram Ilich ərämˈ ĭlyēchˈ khäˌchəto͞oryänˈ [key], 1903–78, Russian composer of Armenian parentage, b. Tiflis (now Tbilisi). Khachaturian moved to Moscow in the early 1920s a...

Kirchner, Leon

(Encyclopedia)Kirchner, Leon, 1919–2009, American composer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Kirchner studied at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, with Ernest Bloch, Arnold Schoenberg, and Roger Sessions. Although he used many...

Pfitzner, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Pfitzner, Hans häns pfĭtsˈnər [key], 1869–1949, German conductor and composer, b. Moscow. Pfitzner studied music at Hoch's Conservatory in Frankfurt/ Main. His music, conservative in idiom (Pfit...

syncopation

(Encyclopedia)syncopation sĭngˌkəpāˈshən, sĭnˌ– [key] [New Gr.,=cut off ], in music, the accentuation of a beat that normally would be weak according to the rhythmic division of the measure. Although th...

Bream, Julian Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Bream, Julian Alexander brēm [key], 1933–2020, English guitarist and lutenist. Bream was first taught guitar by his father and studied piano and cello at the Royal College of Music. He made his deb...

Zimbalist, Efrem

(Encyclopedia)Zimbalist, Efrem ĕˈfrəm zĭmˈbəlĭst [key], 1889–1985, Russian-American violinist. Zimbalist was a pupil of Leopold Auer at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He made his debut in Berlin in 1907,...

Respighi, Ottorino

(Encyclopedia)Respighi, Ottorino ôttōrēˈnō rāspēˈgē [key], 1879–1936, Italian composer, studied with Rimsky-Korsakov and Max Bruch. He was director (1924–25) of the Conservatory of St. Cecilia, Rome, a...

Cleveland, James

(Encyclopedia)Cleveland, James, 1931–91, African-American gospel singer, composer, and arranger, b. Chicago. Known as the King of Gospel, he was renowned for his rough baritone voice. He revolutionized gospel mus...