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Eric Whitacre: Nevada's most famous composer, who has broken records with his virtual choirs

Meet Eric Whitacre, the hugely popular US composer, conductor and founder of the Virtual Choir
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Richard Wagner: the composer who shook the opera world

Composer of the Ring cycle: discover the life and work of opera's colossus, Richard Wagner
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Errollyn Wallen: why sea, sky and solitude are key to her magical soundworld

From her first piano lesson, composer Errollyn Wallen has lived and breathed music; and though inspired by a range of styles, her composing is a deeply personal expression, as she tells Kate Wakeling
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Mieczysław Weinberg: how the scars of war and Soviet politics shaped his music and life

The powerful work of Mieczysław Weinberg, a composer who lived through war and imprisonment, is at last being celebrated, says Erik Levi
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Wang, Jie

Meet Wang Jie, the Chinese-born composer of the chamber opera It Rained on Shakopee and more
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William Walton: romantic modernist

From gritty, complex symphonies to hugely popular film scores, the music of Walton is notably tricky to pin down. And that, says Malcolm Hayes, is part of its enduring appeal
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Walker, George

Over the course of a long career, the American composer George Walker produced works as individual as they were immaculately crafted, says Elizabeth de Brito
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Who was Philip Heseltine, also known as Peter Warlock?

A peerless song-writer and the craftsman of exquisite carols such as Bethlehem Down, Warlock was not without his dark and dangerous side, as Calum MacDonald explains
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Williams, John

It’s likely more people around the world know some music written by John Williams than they do Bach or Beethoven. From Star Wars to Harry Potter, via Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, his music for films has made him a bit of a superstar. Here’s everything you ought to know about the legendary composer.
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Webern, Anton von

20th-century modernist pioneer
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Wolf, Hugo

The wild man of 19th-century song
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Weber, Carl Maria von

If one had to choose a symbolic moment when musical Romanticism was born, then the 18 June 1821 would surely be it. That was the day when the 35-year-old Carl Maria von Weber conducted the premiere of his new opera Der Freischütz (The Free shot) at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. This fairy-tale opera about a pact between a huntsman and the devil to achieve a miraculously perfect shot ‘set the German people’s pulse racing’ as a contemporary observer wrote, and it transformed Weber’s reputation at a stroke.

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Weill, Kurt

Two distinct styles dominate the music of Kurt Weill: the sharp satire of the Weimar Republic and the instant popular appeal of the Broadway musical. Which was truer to his spirit?
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