Aaron Copeland

In 1762, Mozart and his elder sister Maria Anna (best known as Nannerl) who was also a gifted keyboard player, were taken by their father on a short performing tour, of the courts at Vienna and Munich. Encouraged by their reception, they embarked the next year on a longer tour, including two weeks at Versailles, where the children enchanted Louis XV. In 1764 they arrived in London. Here Mozart wrote his first three symphonies, under the influence of Johann Christian Bach, youngest son of Johann Sebastian, who lived in the city. In Paris, Mozart published his first works:four sonatas for clavier: with accompanying violin in 1764.

Finally, his parents found the renouned piano instructor, Charles Hambitzer, who said in a letter to his sister,"I have a new pupil who will make his mark if anyone will. The boy is a genius." During his sessions with Hambitzer, he was introduced to many famous works, including pieces from Bach and Lizst. Through out his musical career, Gershwin studied with many instructors. Early stages of Career At age fifteen, Gershwin quit school to follow his dream of being a professional pianist.

Both children played the harpsichord, but Mozart had also mastered the violin. In 1763, when Mozart was seven years old, his father took leave of his position at the Salzburg court to take the family on an extended concert tour of western Europe. Mozart and his sister performed in the major musical centers, including Stuttgart, Mannheim, Mainz, Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris, London, and Amsterdam. They did not return to Salzburg until 1766. During this time, Mozart continued to compose, completing his first symphony at age nine and publishing his first sonatas the same year.

At age four he could learn a piece of music in half an hour, and by age six he was performing publicly and began writing his own symphonies. At around this time, the family began going on tour across Europe, performing in the courts of Munich, Paris and London. Mozart met many famous composers during his tours, including Johann Sebastian Bach, who would end up having a strong influence on him. By the time Mozart was thirteen, he and his sister had toured extensively across Europe. However, while his sister had to quit touring and prepared to find a husband, Wolfgang was appointed the assistant concertmaster to the Archbishop at the age of seventeen.

He was also skilled in sight-reading and improvisation. There are have piano pieces that were composed by Mozart when he was six years old and are still frequently played today. One of the pieces are "Twinkle Twinkle." When he's sister was at the age of ten and he at the age of six, their father took them to Munich and Vienna to play a series of concerts. In 1763, Leopold Mozart took a leave from his position at Salzburg court to take his family on a tour of Western Europe.

On September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York the legend was born. George Gershwin the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. George sparked his interest in music when his mom and dad bought a castoff piano for George’s older brother, Israel. At the age 15, Gershwin dropped out of school, and began playing in New York night clubs. He spent his day and nights playing pianos for demanding customers.

Jonathan Larson ~ RENT (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) Composer-lyricist-librettist of RENT, a rock opera inspired by "La Bohème", Jonathan Larson was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in suburban White Plains, the second child of Allan and Nanette Larson. Both Jonathan's parents loved music and theatre, and show tunes and folk music were always playing in their home. Jon and his sister Julie took piano lessons during elementary school. He could play by ear, and his teacher encouraged him to experiment with rhythm, harmony, and setting words.

In 1914, Copland began studying with his first professional piano teacher, Ludwig Wolfsohn in Brooklyn, New York. His first public performance as a pianist was in 1917, one year before his graduation from high school in Brooklyn. Upon it’s grand opening in 1921, Copland attended the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, a music conservatory designed to introduce the best American composers to the French traditions of teaching music, composing and performing. In 1927, Copland’s first major performance as a pianist took place with his “Piano Concerto” featuring Russian conductor/composer Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Over the next twenty years, Copland would achieve many feats including teaching at Harvard, writing a film score for the documentary The City, and winning a Pulitzer Prize in Music for Appalachian Spring a ballet composed in 1944.

He owned one of the unique voices in the music field together with the ability to link texts with a musical tune. Born on 17th September 1884 in New York, Griffles developed his interest in music at very tender age. When he was 10 years old, his sister’s tutor, Miss Broughton, acted as his piano coach. Being a piano teacher at Elmira College, Miss Broughton was better placed to provide music classes to him. In 1903, she financed Charles’ trip to Berlin in order to study music at the Stern Conservatory (Donelson, pp.78).

Before he graduated in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his on incidental music to “The Bird,” and he directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein’s “The Cradle Will Rock.” After graduating Harvard he attended the Curtis Institute of Music located in Philadelphia. At the Curtis Institute of Music he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, orchestration with Randall Thompson, and conducting with Fritz Reiner. After leaving the Curtis Institute of Music he studied at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s newly made summer institute, Tanglewood, in 1940. At Tanglewood he studied with Serge Koussevizky the orchestra’s conductor. In later years, Bernstein became a conducting assistant for Koussevisky.