100 Notable alumni of New England Conservatory of Music
Updated: June 14, 2026 EliteDegrees
New England Conservatory of Music is ranked #3,827 in the world and #1,007 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from New England Conservatory of Music sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with New England Conservatory of Music won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Jesús Maria Sanromá
1902-1984 (aged 82)
music educator
pianist
Jesús María Sanromá was a Puerto Rican pianist who is one of the 20th century's most accomplished and important pianists. In 1932 he gave the first North American performance of Maurice Ravel's Concerto in G under the baton of Serge Koussevitzky, the same day as Sylvan Levin did with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
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2. Arthur Shepherd
1880-1958 (aged 78)
music educator
conductor
composer
Arthur Shepherd was an American composer and conductor in the 20th century.
3. Zaccai Curtis
1981-. (aged 45)
bandleader
conductor
jazz musician
Zaccai Greg Curtis is an American pianist and composer. He won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for his album Cubop Lives!
4. Tom Varner
1957-. (aged 69)
horn player
jazz musician
Tom Varner is an American jazz horn (French horn) player and composer.
5. Ed Schuller
1955-. (aged 71)
university teacher
jazz musician
Edwin Gunther Schuller is an American jazz bassist and composer. His father is Gunther Schuller, a composer, horn player, and music professor, and his younger brother is drummer George Schuller.
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6. John Vincent
1902-1977 (aged 75)
composer
conductor
John Nathaniel Vincent Jr. was an American composer, conductor, and music educator.
7. Suguru Goto
1966-. (aged 60)
composer
Suguru Goto is a Japanese composer and new media artist who lives in Paris. He performances using new technology such as projection mapping, Kinect, motion capture and robotics and programming which he invented himself. He integrates dances, sounds and images into the performance, highlighting boundaries between human and machine, reality and virtual. He was also a researcher and invited composer...
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8. Bill McHenry
1972-. (aged 54)
saxophonist
recording artist
jazz musician
Bill McHenry is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the leader of the Bill McHenry Quartet and has released over a dozen albums under his own name, in addition to collaborating on many more.
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9. Tupac Mantilla
1978-. (aged 48)
musician
Tupac Mantilla is a percussionist from Bogotá, Colombia. He is the founder and director of the Global Percussion Network PERCUACTION and the director of the percussion group Tekeyé. He has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Esperanza Spalding, Zakir Hussain, Bill Cosby, Danilo Perez, Julian Lage, Bob Moses, and Medeski, Martin and Wood.
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10. Maud Cuney Hare
1874-1936 (aged 62)
music historian
pianist
writer
folklorist
biographer
Maud Cuney Hare was an American pianist, musicologist, writer, and African-American activist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. She was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of famed civil rights leader Norris Wright Cuney, who led the Texas Republican Party during and after the Reconstruction Era, and his wife Adelina (née Dowdie), a schoolteacher. In 1913, Cuney Hare published...
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11. Henry F. Gilbert
1868-1928 (aged 60)
composer
musicologist
Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert was an American composer and collector of folk songs. He is best remembered today for his interest in the music of African Americans around the turn of the 20th century.
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12. Marcus Rojas
1963-. (aged 63)
music educator
composer
jazz musician
Marcus Rojas is an American tubist from New York City.
13. Louis Alter
1902-1980 (aged 78)
composer
songwriter
pianist
film score composer
Louis Alter was an American pianist, songwriter and composer. At 13, he began playing piano in theaters showing silent films. He studied at the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Stuart Mason.
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14. Claude Williamson
1926-2016 (aged 90)
pianist
jazz musician
Claude Berkeley Williamson was an American jazz pianist.
15. Sophia Brous
1985-. (aged 41)
singer
Sophia Brous is an artist, performance-maker, musician and curator based in New York and Melbourne, Australia.
16. Mat Maneri
1969-. (aged 57)
violinist
jazz musician
Mat Maneri is an American composer, violin, and viola player. He is the son of the saxophonist Joe Maneri and Sonja Maneri.
17. Tim Brady
1956-. (aged 70)
composer
jazz musician
Timothy Wesley John Brady is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, improvising musician, concert producer, record producer and cultural activist. Working in the field of contemporary classical music, experimental music, and musique actuelle, his compositions utilize a variety of styles from serialism to minimalism and often incorporate modern instruments such as electric guitars and other electroacoustic instruments. His music is marked...
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18. Yasmine Azaiez
1988-. (aged 38)
violinist
actor
Yasmine Azaiez is a British-born violinist of Tunisian descent. She currently resides in Tunisia.
19. Benjamín Gutiérrez
1937-. (aged 89)
composer
Benjamín Gutiérrez is a celebrated composer in Costa Rica. He is a conductor, composer, and pianist. Gutiérrez began by studying music with his grandmother, Rosa Jiménez Nuñez, daughter of the composer Pilar Jiménez.” Gutiérrez then studied music in Guatemala City, Boston, Ann Arbor, Aspen, and Buenos Aires. The following were among his teachers: Ross Lee Finney, Darius Milhaud, and Alberto...
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20. Marilinda Garcia
1983-. (aged 43)
politician
Marilinda Joy Garcia is an American lobbyist and politician from the state of New Hampshire. A Republican, she served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, representing the Rockingham 8th district from 2012 to 2014. She previously represented the Rockingham 4th district from 2007 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2012. A harpist, Garcia is also a music teacher.
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21. Sofia Rei
singer
Sofia Eugenia Koutsovitis, known professionally as Sofia Rei, is an Argentine vocalist, songwriter, producer, and educator. A classically trained mezzo-soprano, Rei's influences include South American folk styles, jazz, pop, new classical and electronic music. Singing in Spanish, English and Portuguese, her voice was described by The Boston Globe as "possessing a voluptuously full voice, comprehensive command of Latin American rhythms,...
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22. Louis Krasner
1903-1995 (aged 92)
musician
concertmaster
composer
music educator
violinist
Louis Krasner was a Russian-born American classical violinist who premiered the violin concertos of Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg.
23. Tessa Lark
violinist
Tessa Lark is an American concert violinist.
24. Darcy James Argue
1975-. (aged 51)
bandleader
composer
jazz musician
Darcy James Argue is a jazz composer and bandleader known for his work with his 18-piece ensemble, Secret Society.
25. Henry Kimball Hadley
1871-1937 (aged 66)
composer
conductor
Henry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.
26. Sergiu Comissiona
1928-2005 (aged 77)
violinist
conductor
Sergiu Comissiona was a Romanian-Israeli-American conductor and violinist.
27. Billy Hill
1899-1940 (aged 41)
songwriter
William Joseph Hill was an American songwriter, violinist, and pianist who found fame writing Western songs such as "They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree", "The Last Round-Up", "Wagon Wheels", and "Empty Saddles". Hill's most popular song was "The Glory of Love", recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936 and by Peggy Lee, Otis Redding, Paul McCartney, and others.
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28. Dan Tepfer
1982-. (aged 44)
pianist
music educator
musician
Dan Tepfer is a French-American jazz pianist and composer. He is best known for his 2011 album Goldberg Variations/Variations and his 2019 multimedia project Natural Machines.
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29. Lillian Nordica
1857-1914 (aged 57)
opera singer
stage actor
Lillian Nordica was an American opera singer who had a major stage career in Europe and her native country.
30. Melissa Ferlaak
1979-. (aged 47)
singer-songwriter
opera singer
Melissa Marie Ferlaak is an American soprano, best known as the former singer of symphonic metal bands Aesma Daeva, Visions of Atlantis, and Echoterra. She is the singer of doom/death metal project Plague of Stars and the ambient band MY Eternel with Voa voxyd. She wrote the libretto and vocal parts for the opera Demandolx, and sang the role of...
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31. Phyllis Curtin
1921-2016 (aged 95)
university teacher
music educator
opera singer
Phyllis Curtin was an American soprano and academic teacher who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She is known for her creation of roles in operas by Carlisle Floyd, such as the title role in Susannah and Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights. She was a dedicated song recitalist, who retired from...
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32. Christopher O'Riley
1956-. (aged 70)
radio personality
pianist
Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host. He was the host of the weekly National Public Radio program From the Top. O'Riley is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative musicians.
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33. Hisato Ohzawa
1907-1953 (aged 46)
composer
conductor
Hisato Ohzawa was a Japanese composer and conductor. Renewed interest in his work reflects the view that he was one of the preeminent Japanese composers of his day.
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34. Jamie Saft
1971-. (aged 55)
pianist
record producer
jazz musician
film score composer
Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was raised a Conservative Jew, and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music.
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35. Werner Janssen
1899-1990 (aged 91)
film score composer
conductor
composer
Werner Janssen was an American composer and conductor of classical music and film scores. He was the first New York-born conductor to lead the New York Philharmonic. For his film work he was nominated for six Academy Awards.
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36. Marilyn Crispell
1947-. (aged 79)
composer
recording artist
pianist
jazz musician
Marilyn Crispell is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote: "Hearing Marilyn Crispell play solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano... She is one of a very few...
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37. Justino Díaz
1940-. (aged 86)
opera singer
Justino Díaz is a Puerto Rican operatic bass-baritone. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the first Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut in October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto as Monterone.
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38. Tony Yike Yang
1998-. (aged 28)
pianist
Tony Yike Yang is a Canadian-Chinese pianist.
39. Lukáš Vondráček
1986-. (aged 40)
pianist
Lukáš Vondráček is a Czech pianist. Noted by The Chicago Tribune for his "considerable tenderness of tone" and "expressive impact" and by The Washington Post for his "astonishing delicacy", Vondráček won the first prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2016, the first Czech musician to do so.
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40. Adolph Herseth
1921-2013 (aged 92)
military officer
trumpeter
Adolph Sylvester "Bud" Herseth was principal trumpet in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1948 until 2001, and served as principal trumpet emeritus from 2001 until his retirement in 2004.
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41. Heather Masse
singer
Heather Masse is an American alto singer and member of the Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys. She was born and grew up in Maine, and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music as a jazz singer. She is currently based in Taos, New Mexico.
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42. Matthew Shipp
1960-. (aged 66)
pianist
recording artist
jazz musician
Matthew Shipp is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader.
43. Don Byron
1958-. (aged 68)
composer
saxophonist
jazz musician
clarinetist
Donald Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet but has also played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer.
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44. Rachel Z
1962-. (aged 64)
jazz pianist
Rachel Carmel Hakim, better known as Rachel Z, is an American jazz and rock pianist and keyboardist. She has recorded 13 albums as a leader and jazz musician. Her musical style, especially her improvisation, has been described as adjacent to Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.
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45. Jane Morgan
1880-1972 (aged 92)
television actor
stage actor
violinist
actor
Jennie "Jane" Morgan was a British-born American actress and singer whose career encompassed concert halls, vaudeville, the legitimate stage, radio, television, and film, best known as Eve Arden's nosy landlady Mrs. Davis on the radio and television versions of Our Miss Brooks.
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46. George Li
1995-. (aged 31)
pianist
George Li is an American concert pianist who was a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2016 and silver medalist of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition.
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47. J. Rosamond Johnson
1873-1954 (aged 81)
composer
John Rosamond Johnson was an American composer and singer during the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, much of his music career was in New York City. Johnson is hailed well over a century later as the music composer of the civic anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" first performed live by 500 Black American students from racially-segregated Jacksonville, Florida's...
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48. Katherine Kennicott Davis
1892-1980 (aged 88)
pianist
hymnwriter
music teacher
lyricist
composer
Katherine Kennicott Davis was an American composer, pianist, arranger, and teacher, whose best-known composition is the Christmas song "Carol of the Drum", later known as "The Little Drummer Boy".
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49. Deke Sharon
1967-. (aged 59)
composer
singer
Deke Sharon is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer, author, coach, pioneer, and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders and promoters of the contemporary a cappella community. He has been referred to as "the father of contemporary a cappella" and "the godfather of a cappella".
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50. Monir Vakili
1923-1983 (aged 60)
television producer
opera singer
artist
music director
Monir Vakili was an Iranian soprano. She was the first Persian singer to popularise Persian folk songs in Iran and the international music scene.
51. Ralph Burns
1922-2001 (aged 79)
film score composer
conductor
composer
jazz musician
pianist
Ralph Joseph P. Burns was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
52. Stephen Gould
1962-2023 (aged 61)
opera singer
musician
Stephen Grady Gould was an American heldentenor and leading interpreter of Richard Wagner's stage works. He performed around 100 times at the Bayreuth Festival, notably as Tannhäuser starting in 2004, and later Siegfried and Tristan. In 2022, his performance in all three roles earned him nicknames such as Iron Man.
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53. Filiz Ali
1937-. (aged 89)
piano teacher
art director
pianist
musicologist
music critic
Filiz Ali is a Turkish pianist, musicologist, music critic and writer. She is the daughter of one of the greatest authors of Turkish literature Sabahattin Ali (1907–1948).
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54. Joseph Douglass
1871-1935 (aged 64)
violinist
Joseph Henry Douglass was an American violinist, the son of Charles Remond Douglass and Mary Elizabeth Murphy, and grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
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55. Rita Johnson
1913-1965 (aged 52)
film actor
actor
stage actor
Rita Ann Johnson was an American actress.
56. Denyce Graves
1964-. (aged 62)
opera singer
music educator
Denyce Graves is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.
57. Sean Callery
1964-. (aged 62)
composer
film score composer
Sean Callery is an American musician and composer, best known for composing the music for the action/drama 24 and the Marvel adaptation Jessica Jones. Other projects include the 2004 video game, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing and the television series La Femme Nikita and Homeland. Most recently he composes the music for the series Designated Survivor and Bull.
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58. John Medeski
1965-. (aged 61)
pianist
composer
jazz musician
Anthony John Medeski is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano and an eclectic array of keyboards, including the Hammond B3 organ, melodica, mellotron, clavinet, ARP String Ensemble, Wurlitzer electric piano, Moog...
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59. Jaimie Branch
1983-2022 (aged 39)
composer
musician
Jaimie "Breezy" Branch was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.
60. Fred Hersch
1955-. (aged 71)
jazz pianist
academic musician
composer
Fred Hersch is an American jazz pianist, composer, and a 17-time Grammy nominée. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has written and recorded more than 75 original compositions.
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61. Dave Holland
1946-. (aged 80)
music educator
bandleader
composer
jazz musician
double-bassist
David Holland is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States since the early 1970s.
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62. Freddy Cole
1931-2020 (aged 89)
pianist
jazz musician
singer
musician
Lionel Frederick Cole was an American jazz singer and pianist whose recording career spanned almost 70 years. He was the brother of musicians Nat King Cole, Eddie Cole, and Ike Cole, father of Lionel Cole, and uncle of Natalie Cole and Carole Cole.
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63. Bridget Kearney
1986-. (aged 40)
musician
Bridget Kearney is an American musician and songwriter. She is a founding member of the band Lake Street Dive and winner of the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Jazz category.
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64. Luis A. Ferré
1904-2003 (aged 99)
engineer
businessperson
politician
musician
Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo, most commonly known as Luis A. Ferré, was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and patron of the arts who served as the third democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973. Ferré previously served as an at-large member of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico from 1953 to 1957. After...
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65. Josephine Hull
1877-1957 (aged 80)
actor
television actor
director
film actor
theatrical director
Marie Josephine Hull was an American stage and film actress who also was a director of plays. She had a successful 50-year career on stage while taking some of her better known roles to film. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Harvey (1950), a role she originally played on the Broadway stage. She was...
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66. Mabel Loomis Todd
1856-1932 (aged 76)
painter
editor
writer
Mabel Loomis Todd or Mabel Loomis was an American editor and writer. She is remembered as the editor of posthumously published editions of Emily Dickinson's poetry and letters. She wrote several novels and books about her travels with her husband, astronomer David Peck Todd, as well as co-authoring a textbook on astronomy.
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67. Vic Firth
1930-2015 (aged 85)
musician
composer
entrepreneur
percussionist
musical instrument maker
Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion sticks and mallets. He was also known for his association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
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68. Eleanor H. Porter
1868-1920 (aged 52)
writer
children's writer
Eleanor Emily Hodgman Porter was an American novelist. She was best known as the creator of the Pollyanna series of books, starting with Pollyanna (1913), which were a popular phenomenon.
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69. Aoife O'Donovan
1982-. (aged 44)
singer-songwriter
composer
Aoife Maria O'Donovan is an American singer and Grammy Award-winning songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still, as well as one-third of the supergroup folk trio I'm with Her alongside Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins. As a solo artist, O'Donovan has released four critically acclaimed studio albums: Fossils (2013), In the Magic...
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70. Vaughn Monroe
1911-1973 (aged 62)
singer
bandleader
conductor
film actor
recording artist
Vaughn Wilton Monroe was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another for radio performance.
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71. Cecil Taylor
1929-2018 (aged 89)
classical pianist
writer
composer
jazz pianist
poet
Cecil Percival Taylor was an American pianist and poet.
72. Anton Fig
1952-. (aged 74)
session musician
drummer
musician
Anton Fig is a South African session drummer perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band. David Letterman, for whom the band served as house band on his late-night talk shows, often called Fig "Anton Zip" or "Buddy Rich Jr." Fig is also known for his work with Kiss, Ace Frehley,...
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73. Bernie Worrell
1944-2016 (aged 72)
composer
George Bernard Worrell, Jr. was an American keyboardist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, and a touring member of Talking Heads in the 1980s. He also worked with such producers and musicians as Keith Richards, Yoko Ono, Bill Laswell, Mos Def, Sly and Robbie, Fela Kuti and Cream's Jack Bruce. The New York...
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74. Florence Price
1887-1953 (aged 66)
music educator
composer
classical pianist
Florence Beatrice Price was an American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music, and was active in Chicago from 1927 until her death in 1953. Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have...
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75. Coretta Scott King
1927-2006 (aged 79)
activist
writer
politician
Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968. As an advocate for African-American equality, she was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. King was also a singer who often incorporated music into her civil rights work....
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76. Rachael Price
1985-. (aged 41)
singer
jazz musician
Rachael Price is an Australian-American jazz and blues singer, known for her work as the lead singer for the band Lake Street Dive. She was born in Perth, Australia, and grew up in Tennessee, graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in the class of ‘07. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Seventh-day Adventist leader George McCready Price, the granddaughter...
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77. Regina Carter
1966-. (aged 60)
violinist
jazz musician
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter.
78. Neal E. Boyd
1975-2018 (aged 43)
opera singer
Neal Evans Boyd was an American singer who developed an interest in opera after listening to the performances of the Three Tenors. Despite being raised in conditions of poverty within the U.S. state of Missouri, he achieved a degree in music and eventually entered the third season of America's Got Talent, winning that year's competition. In addition to music, he...
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79. Halim El-Dabh
1921-2017 (aged 96)
composer
pianist
ethnomusicologist
university teacher
Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh was an Egyptian-American composer, musician, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who had a career spanning six decades. He is particularly known as an early pioneer of electronic music. In 1944 he composed one of the earliest known works of tape music, or musique concrète. From the late 1950s to early 1960s he produced influential work at the Columbia-Princeton...
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80. Hettienne Park
1983-. (aged 43)
stage actor
television actor
voice actor
actor
film actor
Hettienne Park is an American actress and writer, having played roles in Young Adult, Bride Wars (2009), Blindspot (2018), and The Outsider (2020), with her most notable role being Beverly Katz on the psychological horror television series Hannibal (2013–2014).
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81. Cindy Bradley
1977-. (aged 49)
composer
jazz musician
Cindy Lynn Bradley is an American smooth jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player and composer.
82. Rick Beato
1962-. (aged 64)
session musician
record producer
YouTuber
guitarist
television producer
Richard John Beato is an American YouTuber, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and educator. Since the early 1980s, he has worked variously as a musician, songwriter, audio engineer, and record producer; he has also lectured on music at universities.
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83. Carl Davis
1936-2023 (aged 87)
film score composer
conductor
composer
Carl Davis was an American-born British conductor and composer. He wrote music for more than 100 television programmes, notably the landmark ITV series The World at War (1973) and BBC's Pride and Prejudice (1995), and he created new scores for concert and cinema performances of vintage silent movies and composed many film, ballet and concert scores that were performed worldwide,...
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84. Alfred Allen
1866-1947 (aged 81)
actor
Alfred Allen was an American silent film actor and author.
85. Rose Kennedy
1890-1995 (aged 105)
socialite
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the Kennedy family. She was deeply embedded in the "lace curtain" Irish-American community in Boston. Her father, John F. Fitzgerald, served in the Massachusetts State Senate (1892–1894), in the U.S. House of Representatives (1895–1901, 1919), and as Mayor of Boston (1906–1908, 1910–1914). Her husband, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.,...
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86. Will Lamartine Thompson
1847-1909 (aged 62)
composer
William Lamartine Thompson was an American composer and music publisher. He founded the W. L. Thompson Music Company and tried his hand with some success at secular compositions before finding his forte in hymns and gospel songs.
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87. Mildred Miller
1924-2023 (aged 99)
opera singer
musician
Mildred Miller Posvar was an American classical mezzo-soprano who had a major career performing in operas, concerts, and recitals during the mid twentieth century. She was notably a principal artist at the Metropolitan Opera from 1951 through 1974. In 1978 she founded the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, serving as the company's Artistic Director through 1999.
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88. Mohammed Fairouz
1985-. (aged 41)
composer
Mohammed Fairouz is an American composer.
89. Eric Lu
1997-. (aged 29)
pianist
Eric Lu is an American classical pianist. The winner of the 2025 XIX International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and the 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition, he has performed with many of the world's major orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, and...
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90. Charlie Albright
pianist
Charlie Albright is an American pianist and composer. He is an official Steinway Artist, 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient, 2010 Gilmore Young Artist (2010) and former Young Concert Artist. He graduated from Harvard College (AB) and the New England Conservatory (MM) as the first classical pianist in the schools' five-year AB/MM Joint Program, was named the Leverett House Artist...
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91. Walter Pidgeon
1897-1984 (aged 87)
singer
stage actor
television actor
trade unionist
film actor
Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian-American actor. A major leading man during the Golden Age of Hollywood, known for his "portrayals of men who prove both sturdy and wise," Pidgeon earned two Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his roles in Mrs. Miniver (1942) and Madame Curie (1943).
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92. Li Shude
1929-2014 (aged 85)
violinist
Shu-De Li(English: 李淑德, 1929–)was a Taiwanese music educator and violinist. She graduated from the Department of Music at National Taiwan Normal University. She served as a conductor for various orchestras and earned a reputation as the "Mother of Violin Education in Taiwan" due to her significant contributions to music education in the country.
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93. Yitzhak Yedid
1971-. (aged 55)
composer
pianist
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli-Australian composer of contemporary classical music. He is also a pianist and an educator.
94. Lior Navok
1971-. (aged 55)
composer
Lior Navok is an Israeli classical composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. Navok studied composition privately with the Israeli composer Moshe Zorman, and completed a Bachelor's degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he studied composition (with Yinam Leef) and conducting. He later completed he studied for a Master's and Doctorate at the...
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95. Chou Wen-chung
1923-2019 (aged 96)
composer
Chou Wen-chung was a Chinese American composer of contemporary classical music. He emigrated in 1946 to the United States and received his music training at the New England Conservatory and Columbia University. Chou is credited by Nicolas Slonimsky as one of the first Chinese composers who attempted to translate authentic East Asian melo-rhythms into the terms of modern Western music.
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96. Herbert Blomstedt
1927-. (aged 99)
conductor
musician
Herbert Thorson Blomstedt is an American-born Swedish conductor of classical music. At the age of 98, he continues to conduct concerts in Europe and the United States.
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97. Shirley Brill
1982-. (aged 44)
clarinetist
university teacher
Shirley Brill is an Israeli clarinetist living in Germany.
98. George Whitefield Chadwick
1854-1931 (aged 77)
university teacher
music educator
composer
George Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with John Knowles Paine, Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what is called the Second New England School of American composers of the late 19th century. Chadwick's works are influenced by the Realist movement in the arts, characterized by a down-to-earth depiction of...
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99. Gavriel Lipkind
1977-. (aged 49)
cellist
musician
music executive
Gavriel Lipkind is an Israeli classical cellist based in The Netherlands. Lipkind made his radio debut performance aged eight, left Israel at an age of about 18, and received degrees from three music colleges. He won awards in music competitions and performed with orchestras until 2002, when he took time off from touring for three years to study music and...
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100. Nobu Kōda
1870-1946 (aged 76)
violinist
pianist
composer
Nobu Kōda 幸田延 was a Japanese composer, violinist, and music teacher. She was one of the first Japanese women to study music overseas. She studied at the New England Conservatory. She later studied in Europe. She was the sister of Kōda Rohan.
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