List of centenarians (musicians, composers and music patrons)
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of centenarian
s – specifically, people who became famous as musicians, composers and music patrons – known for reasons other than their longevity
. For more lists, see: Lists of centenarians.
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
s – specifically, people who became famous as musicians, composers and music patrons – known for reasons other than their longevity
Longevity
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
. For more lists, see: Lists of centenarians.
| Name | Lifespan | Age | Notability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frances Adaskin Frances Adaskin Frances Marr Adaskin, was a Canadian pianist.Born in Ridgetown, Ontario, the daughter of Del and Eunice Marr, she began playing the piano at an early age.In 1976, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.... |
1900–2001 | 100 | Canadian pianist Pianist A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:... |
| Robert Alexander Anderson Robert Alexander Anderson (composer) Robert Alexander Anderson was an American composer who wrote many popular Hawaiian songs within the Hapa haole genre including "Lovely Hula Hands" and "Mele Kalikimaka" , the latter the best known Hawaiian Christmas song.-Background:Anderson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii... |
1894–1995 | 100 | American composer |
| Irving Berlin Irving Berlin Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous... |
1888–1989 | 101 | Russian-American lyricist Lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:... and composer |
| Ralph Berkowitz Ralph Berkowitz Ralph Berkowitz was an American composer, classical musician, and painter.-Biography:Berkowitz was born in New York City, New York in 1910 and grew up in Brooklyn. In 1927, he enrolled at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where he later became a member of the teaching staff... |
1910–2011 | 100 | American composer and classical pianist |
| Bernard Bierman Bernard Bierman Bernard Bierman is an American composer of popular songs. He was born in New York City.He studied pre-law and law at NYU and Brooklyn Law School, passing the bar in 1930. He practised law until 1942 when he joined the U.S... |
1908– | American composer | |
| Slim Bryant | 1908–2010 | 101 | American country music Country music Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music... singer and songwriter |
| Henri Büsser Henri Büsser Henri Büsser was a French classical composer, organist, and conductor.- Biography :Paul-Henri Büsser was born in Toulouse, of partly Teutonic ancestry. He entered the Conservatoire in Paris in 1889; there he studied organ with César Franck and composition with Ernest Guiraud... |
1872–1973 | 101 | French composer |
| Irving Caesar Irving Caesar Irving Caesar was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for "Swanee," "Sometimes I'm Happy," "Crazy Rhythm," and "Tea for Two," one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written. He was born and died in New York.Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jew, was... |
1895–1996 | 101 | American composer |
| Elliott Carter Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music... |
1908– | American classical music Classical music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times... composer |
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| Giacobbe Cervetto Giacobbe Cervetto Giacobbe Cervetto was an important cellist and composer of music for cello in 18th century England.Giacobbe Bassevi il Cervetto was born into a Jewish family in Livorno in 1682. He moved to London in 1739 and was a leading musical figure there for decades, an excellent cellist, and a dealer in... |
1682–1783 | 100–101 | Italian-English cellist Cello The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is... |
| Alice Chalifoux Alice Chalifoux Alice Chalifoux was Principal Harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1931–1974 and, for many years, was its only female member.-Education:... |
1908–2008 | 100 | American harp Harp The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings... ist |
| Gina Cigna Gina Cigna Gina Cigna was a French-Italian opera singer, one of the leading dramatic soprano of the inter-war period.- Biography :... |
1900–2001 | 101 | Italian soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
| Orlando Cole Orlando Cole Orlando Cole was a cello teacher who taught two generations of soloists, chamber musicians, and first cellists in a dozen leading orchestras, including Lynn Harrell, Daniel Lee, David Cole, Ronald Leonard, Lorne Munroe, Peter Stumpf, Anne Martindale Williams, Michael Grebanier, and Marcy Rosen.In... |
1908–2010 | 101 | American cellist |
| Hugues Cuénod Hugues Cuénod Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod was a Swiss tenor known for his performances in opera, operetta, both traditional and musical theatre, and on the concert stage, where he was particularly known for his light, romantic and expressive interpretation of mélodie... |
1902–2010 | 108 | Swiss tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
| Annette Richardson Dinwoodey Annette Richardson Dinwoodey Annette Richardson Dinwoodey was an American radio singer and centenarian. She sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir from 1971 to 1973.-Biography:... |
1906–2007 | 100 | American Latter Day Saint Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members... vocalist |
| Roy Douglas Roy Douglas Roy Douglas is a British composer and arranger. He worked with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Addinsell.-Works as composer:*Oboe quartet [1932]... |
1907– | British composer | |
| Hellmut Federhofer Hellmut Federhofer Hellmut Federhofer is an Austrian musicologist.Born in Graz, he studied music there and in Vienna at the Vienna Conservatory, graduating in 1936. In 1937, he became a librarian at the library of the Technische Hochschule Graz and later the Universitätsbibliothek Graz. He became director of the... |
1911– | Austrian musicologist | |
| Lionel Ferbos Lionel Ferbos Lionel Charles Ferbos is a New Orleans jazz trumpeter.Of slight sickly build in his childhood, his family denied his desire to play trumpet early in his youth. When he saw a petit woman trumpet player with Phil Spitalny's All Girl Orchestra, he insisted he should be able play trumpet. He learned... |
1911– | American jazz trumpeter | |
| Anthony Galla-Rini Anthony Galla-Rini Anthony Galla-Rini was a celebrated American accordionist, arranger, composer, conductor, author, and teacher, and is considered by many to be the first American accordionist to promote the accordion as a "legitimate" concert instrument.-Early life:Galla-Rini was born in Manchester, Connecticut,... |
1904–2006 | 102 | American accordion Accordion The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist.... ist |
| Manuel García Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García , was a Spanish singer, music educator, and vocal pedagogue.-Biography:García was born on 17 March 1805 in the town of Zafra in Badajoz Province, Spain. His father was singer and teacher Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García... |
1805–1906 | 101 | Spanish music and singing teacher |
| John Gerrish John Gerrish John O'Neill Gerrish was an American composer of the 20th century, best known for The Falcon, a cappella piece for SATB based on the Middle or Early Modern English Corpus Christi Carol.-Early life:... |
1910–2010 | 100 | American composer |
| Peggy Gilbert Peggy Gilbert Peggy Gilbert, born Margaret F. Knechtges , was an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader. She was born in Sioux City, Iowa.-Biography:... |
1905–2007 | 102 | American jazz Jazz Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th... saxophonist Saxophone The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... |
| Sidonie Goossens Sidonie Goossens Sidonie "Sid" Goossens OBE was one of Britain's most enduring harpists. She made her professional debut in 1921, was a founder member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and went on to play for more than half a century until her retirement in 1981.- The Goossens Family :She was a member of the famous... |
1899–2004 | 105 | English harpist |
| Roy Henderson | 1899–2000 | 100 | English baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
| Alice Herz-Sommer Alice Herz-Sommer Alice Herz-Sommer, also known as Alice Sommer-Hertz and Alice Sommer, is a Czech pianist, music teacher and survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Herz-Sommer has lived in North London, United Kingdom since 1986, and is the world’s oldest known Holocaust survivor... |
1903– | Czech pianist | |
| Dolores Hope Dolores Hope Dolores Hope, DC*SG was an American singer, philanthropist and wife of actor/comedian Bob Hope.-Early life and career:... |
1909–2011 | 102 | American singer and philanthropist |
| Mieczysław Horszowski | 1892–1993 | 100 | Polish pianist |
| William Manuel Johnson | 1872–1972 | 100 | American jazz musician |
| Maurice Journeau | 1898–1999 | 100 | French composer |
| Abdul Rashid Khan Abdul Rashid Khan Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan is a vocalist of Hindustani music genre. His sings in the tradition of Mian Tansen. Apart from khayal, he sings dhrupad, dhamar and thumri with equal versatility.-Early life:... |
1908– | 102 | Indian musician |
| Mykola Kolessa Mykola Kolessa Mykola Kolessa was a prominent Ukrainian composer and conductor, born in the village of Sambir near Lviv and died in Lviv.... |
1903–2006 | 102 | Ukrainian composer |
| Margaret Ruthven Lang Margaret Ruthven Lang Margaret Ruthven Lang was an American composer, affiliated with the Second New England School. Lang was also the first woman composer to have a composition performed by a major American symphony orchestra.-Life:... |
1867–1972 | 104 | American composer |
| Johnny Lange Johnny Lange Johnny Lange was a songwriter, author and publisher. He was educated in a Philadelphia high school. He joined the music staff at film studios in 1937 and resumed his film music career in 1946 and 1947. He also wrote special material for night club singers, and the "Ice Capades of 1950"... |
1905–2006 | 100 | American Academy Award-nominated songwriter Songwriter A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer... |
| Paul Le Flem Paul Le Flem Paul Le Flem was a French composer and music critic. Born in Brittany and living most of his life in Lezardrieux, Le Flem studied at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent d'Indy and Albert Roussel, later teaching at the same establishment, where his pupils included Erik Satie and André Jolivet... |
1881–1984 | 103 | French composer |
| Conrad Leonard Conrad Leonard George Conrad Leonard was a British composer and pianist. He was born in South Norwood.Leonard served in the Middlesex Regiment during the First World War; he left the army in 1919 with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant... |
1898–2003 | 104 | British pianist and composer |
| Huey Long Huey Long (singer) Huey Long was an African American singer and musician and was the last living member of the Ink Spots.... |
1904–2009 | 105 | American jazz singer |
| Lawrence Lucie Lawrence Lucie Lawrence Lucie was an American jazz guitarist.- Early life :Lucie was born in Emporia, Virginia. He learned banjo, mandolin, and violin as a child and played with his family at dances. Lucie's father, a barber, also played jazz music... |
1907–2009 | 101 | American jazz musician |
| Wade Mainer Wade Mainer Wade Mainer was an American singer and banjoist. With his band, the Sons of the Mountaineers, he is credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass and is sometimes called the "Grandfather of Bluegrass." In addition, he innovated a two-finger banjo fingerpicking style,... |
1907–2011 | 104 | American country music singer and banjo Banjo In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new... ist |
| Draga Matkovic Draga Matkovic Draga Matkovic is a contemporary German classical pianist of Croatian origin.- Life :... |
1907– | German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... classical pianist Pianist A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:... |
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| Sir Robert Mayer | 1879–1985 | 105 | German born British philanthropist |
| Blanche Honegger Moyse Blanche Honegger Moyse Blanche Honegger Moyse was a conductor living in Brattleboro, Vermont. She was particularly admired for her devotion to the choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach and her ability to draw deeply moving performances from both amateur and professional musicians... |
1909–2011 | 101 | Swiss-born American conductor |
| Marcel Mule Marcel Mule Marcel Mule was a French classical saxophonist.Marcel Mule was known worldwide as one of the great classical saxophonists, and many pieces were written for him, premiered by him, and arranged by him. Many of these pieces have become staples in the classical saxophone repertoire... |
1901–2001 | 100 | French classical saxophonist |
| Magda Olivero Magda Olivero Magda Olivero is a soprano of the verismo-school of singing. She was born in Saluzzo, Italy. Olivero made her operatic debut in 1932 on Turin radio in Cattozzo’s oratorio I misteri dolorosi. She performed widely and increasingly successfully until 1941, when she married and retired from performing... |
1910– | Italian soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
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| Leo Ornstein Leo Ornstein Leo Ornstein was a leading American experimental composer and pianist of the early twentieth century... |
1893–2002 | 108 | American pianist and composer |
| Uncle Charlie Osborne Uncle Charlie Osborne Charles Nelson Osborne, , affectionately known as "Uncle Charlie," was a musician in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia. He was born in what is now known as Cowan Osborne Hollow, named for his father, in Copper Creek, Virginia... |
1890–1992 | 101 | American Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians... musician |
| Ernest "Doc" Paulin | 1907–2007 | 100 | American brass band Brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert... leader |
| H. Owen Reed H. Owen Reed Herbert Owen Reed is an American composer, conductor, and author.-Education:Reed was raised in rural Odessa, Missouri, where his first exposure to music was his father's playing of the old-time fiddle... |
1910– | American composer, conductor, and author | |
| Elsa Respighi Elsa Respighi Elsa Respighi was an Italian composer. She was the wife and former pupil of Ottorino Respighi.... |
1894–1996 | 101 | Italian composer, singer and wife of Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals... |
| Rosa Rio Rosa Rio Rosa Rio , born Elizabeth Raub, was an American organist who began her career as a silent film accompanist. She became a leading organist on network radio and continued to perform until age 107... |
1902–2010 | 107 | American organ Organ (music) The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with... ist |
| Edmundo Ros Edmundo Ros Edmundo William Ros OBE was a Trinidadian musician, vocalist, arranger and bandleader who made his career in Britain. He directed a highly popular Latin American orchestra, had an extensive recording career and owned one of London's leading nightclubs.- Life :Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad... |
1910–2011 | 100 | Trinidadian musician, vocalist, and bandleader |
| Olga Rudge Olga Rudge Olga Rudge was an American-born concert violinist, now mainly remembered as the long-time mistress of the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary.... |
1895–1996 | 100 | American violin Violin The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.... ist and mistress of Ezra Pound Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry... |
| Joseph Salemi Joseph Salemi Joseph "Pete" Salemi was an American jazz trombonist.Salemi was born in Corleone in Sicily on September 15, 1902. Salemi was the youngest of three sons and a daughter. He came to the United States in 1914 with his father... |
1902–2003 | 100 | American jazz trombonist Trombone The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate... |
| Teresa Saporiti Teresa Saporiti Teresa Saporiti was an Italian soprano, most remembered today for creating the role of Donna Anna in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.... |
1763–1869 | 106 | Italian soprano |
| George Beverly Shea George Beverly Shea George Beverly "Bev" Shea is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian-born American gospel singer and hymn composer. Shea has often been described as "America's beloved Gospel singer" and is considered "the first international singing 'star' of the gospel world," as a consequence of his solos at Billy... |
1909– | Canadian-born American gospel music Gospel music Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music.... singer and songwriter |
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| Nicolas Slonimsky Nicolas Slonimsky Nicolas Slonimsky was a Russian born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" ; "a reviser or interpolator."- Life :... |
1895–1996 | 101 | Russian-American composer and conductor |
| Jenő Takács Jeno Takács Jenő Takács was an Austrian composer of Hungarian extraction.-Life and work:Born in Cinfalva, Hungary, he studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Joseph Marx in composition and Paul Weingarten in piano until 1926 at the University of Vienna with Hans Gál counterpoint... |
1902–2005 | 103 | Austrian-Hungarian composer and pianist |
| Bill Tapia Bill Tapia Uncle Bill “Tappy” Tapia is an American musician, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, of Portuguese parents. At age 10, Tapia was already a professional musician, playing “Stars and Stripes Forever” for World War I troops in Hawaii.... |
1908– | American musician | |
| Tillit Sidney Teddlie Tillit Sidney Teddlie Tillit Sidney Teddlie was a singing school teacher, composer, publisher, and minister of the Church of Christ.Teddlie was born June 3, 1885 at Swan, Texas , the son of Theodore and Sarah Ann Teddlie. In 1903, he was baptized into the Church of Christ, and also taught his first singing school,... |
1885–1987 | 102 | American hymn Hymn A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification... composer |
| Roman Totenberg Roman Totenberg Roman Totenberg is a Polish-American violinist and educator.He is the father of National Public Radio journalist Nina Totenberg... |
1911– | Polish-born American violinist and educator | |
| Orrin Tucker Orrin Tucker Robert Orrin Tucker was an American bandleader born in St. Louis, Missouri, whose theme song was "Drifting and Dreaming". His biggest hit was "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" , sung by vocalist "Wee" Bonnie Baker.... |
1911–2011 | 100 | American bandleader and composer |
| Stanley Vann Stanley Vann William Stanley Vann FRCO, ARCM was an English composer, organist, choral conductor, and choir trainer, primarily in the Anglican cathedral tradition.-Early life:... |
1910–2010 | 100 | English composer |