Meet the Composer!

The great composers we know and love are not too different from all of us today!

Discover what sparked their love of music, who supported them along the way, and fun facts about the people behind the great music.

Listen to the episodes below and use the activity sheet to deepen your understanding.

Activity Sheet

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Meet the Composer!

As you learn about the composer, take notes on their life and music with the given questions in mind. With your notes, write a biography of the composer. Unlike other biographies, include your personal thoughts on their life and music!

Teachers/Parents:
The goal of this exercise is to inform the student about the lives of composers and what their music is like, and for them to realize great music was written by everyday people following their passions. After a critical listen to each episode and taking guided notes, students will use the gathered information to creatively write a biography, thinking about what stood out the most to them about the composer.
 

Episodes

  • Olly Wilson, an American composer that will change how you hear music!

    Olly Wilson, an American composer that will change how you hear music!

    Episode 125 February 18, 2025

    This American composer was a pioneer in electronic music, commissioned works with major orchestras, and did groundbreaking work in musicology connecting music traditions from West Africa to the United States. John Banther and Evan Keely explore 3 of his works and look at his work in musicology that will change how you hear music!
  • Aaron Copland: The Sound of America

    Aaron Copland: The Sound of America

    Episode 120 December 10, 2024

    One of the most iconic American composers was at one point even considered by some to be "un-American." John Banther and Evan Keely explore Copland's life, works you probably don't know, what influenced him, how he created an "American" sound, and why he was questioned at length in a senate subcommittee hearing in 1953. 
  • Jean Sibelius, how a composer became the voice of a nation!

    Jean Sibelius, how a composer became the voice of a nation!

    Episode 99 December 26, 2023

    Few countries have elevated a composer like Finland and Jean Sibelius. John Banther and Evan Keely look into his breakout success, symphonies, dramatic life events, and how he incorporates Finnish culture into music. Plus, what do Sibelius, Gilmore Girls, and Lord of The Rings have in common?
  • The short yet musically prolific life of Franz Schubert

    The short yet musically prolific life of Franz Schubert

    Episode 92 September 19, 2023

    He was a composer who seemed to fit some of the "tragic artist" stereotypes of the Romantic period, he was prolific, had unrequited love, and died tragically young. John Banther and James Jacobs explore Schubert's life, his unrivaled gift for melody, efficiency with composing, his arrest, and more!

Support for arts and education programming on WETA comes from the Estate of Toni A. Ritzenberg.